The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1982, volume 2, contains messages given by Brother Witness Lee from October 11, 1982, through June 15, 1983. From December 22, 1982, through January 1, 1983, Brother Lee spoke twenty-nine messages that were published in Life-study of 1 Peter, Life-study of 2 Peter, and Life-study of Jude. The Life-study messages are not included in The Collected Works of Witness Lee. From the beginning of August until the end of November 1982, Brother Lee remained in Anaheim, California, except for one-day visits to the nearby localities of Cerritos and Huntington Beach, California, at the end of October. At the end of November he traveled to Irving, Texas, and remained there until the first week of January 1983. The contents of this volume are divided into four sections, as follows: 1. A message given in Anaheim, California, on October 11. This message is included in this volume under the title Fellowship concerning the Translation of Watchman Nee's Writings. 2. Six messages given in Irving, Texas, on November 28 through December 27. These messages are included in this volume under the title Experiencing the Processed, All-inclusive, Life-giving Spirit and Raising Up the Young People and the Children for the Increase of the Church. 3. A message given in Cerritos, California, on October 28. This message was translated from Chinese and is included in this volume under the title Eating and Drinking in Remembrance of the Lord and Six Items Related to the Church Life. 4. Sixty-three messages given in Anaheim and Huntington Beach, California; Irving, Texas; and Stuttgart and Tubingen, Germany, on October 31, 1982, through June 15, 1983. These messages were previously published in a book entitled The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of John and are included in this volume under the same title.

The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1982, volume 1, contains messages given by Brother Witness Lee from January 8 through December 19, 1982. In 1982 Brother Lee spoke eighty-six messages that were published in Life-study of 2 Corinthians, Life-study of Exodus, Life-study of 1 Thessalonians, and Life-study of 2 Thessalonians. The Life-study messages are not included in The Collected Works of Witness Lee. During the first three weeks of the year Brother Lee remained in Anaheim, California. He then visited Berkeley, California, on a weekend and returned to Anaheim, where he remained through the first ten days of February. He then spent a day in Vancouver, Canada, visited Seattle, Washington, for a weekend, and returned to Anaheim in the middle of the month. He ministered in Anaheim until the end of May. On the last weekend in May he ministered in Dallas, Texas, and then he traveled further to spend several days in New York City; Cleveland, Ohio; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and Denver, Colorado, before returning to Anaheim in the middle of June. He remained in Anaheim until the end of July and visited Berkeley on the last weekend in July. He remained in Anaheim from early August until the end of November, except for one-day visits to the nearby localities of Cerritos and Huntington Beach, California, at the end of October. At the end of November he traveled to Irving, Texas, and remained there until the first week of January 1983. The contents of this volume are divided into seventeen sections, as follows: 1. Nine messages given in Anaheim, California, on January 8 through October 2. These messages are included in this volume under the title Miscellaneous Messages in Anaheim. 2. Five messages given in Berkeley, California, on January 22 through 25. These messages were consolidated into two chapters, which are included in this volume under the title Propagating the Divine Truth and Ministering the Central Vision of Paul's Completing Ministry and John's Mending Ministry. 3. Six messages given in Anaheim, California, on February 28 through September 9. These messages are included in this volume under the title The Believers' Experience of the Triune God as the Spirit according to Romans 8. 4. Four messages given in Anaheim, California, on February 1 through November 15. These messages are included in this volume under the title Various Meetings in Anaheim. 5. A message given in Vancouver, Canada, on February 11. It is included in this volume under the title The Central Vision of the Bible and the Lord's Present Testimony. 6. Ten messages given in Seattle, Washington, on February 12 through 15. These messages are included in this volume under the title The Ministry of the New Covenant Being the Ministry of the Spirit, Righteousness, and Reconciliation. 7. Eight messages given in Dallas, Texas, on May 28 through 31 and in New York City on June 1 through 3. These messages were previously published in a book entitled The Two Spirits in Romans and are included in this volume under the same title. 8. Three messages given in Dallas, Texas, on May 29 and 30. These messages are included in this volume under the title The Two Spirits in God's Economy for the Producing of Christ's Bride. 9. A message given in Dallas, Texas, on May 29. It is included in this volume under the title Being Controlled by the Unique Vision in the New Testament Ministry. 10. Seven messages given in New York City on June 1 through 3. These messages were expanded into eight chapters and are included in this volume under the title Walking according to the Spirit for the Fulfillment of God's Heart's Desire. 11. Eight messages given in Cleveland, Ohio, on June 4 through 6, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on June 7 and 8, and in Denver, Colorado, on June 9 and 10. These messages were previously published in a book entitled The All-inclusive Indwelling Spirit and are included in this volume under the same title. 12. A message given in Cleveland, Ohio, on June 4. It is included in this volume under the title The Crucial Revelation in Romans 8--the Triune God as the Spirit Working Himself into Our Being. 13. Three messages given in Cleveland, Ohio, on June 5 and 6. These messages are included in this volume under the title The Spirit and Life for the Believers' Experience Revealed in Romans 8. 14. A message given in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on June 8. It is included in this volume under the title Releasing the Truth in the Midst of Opposition. 15. Twelve messages given in Anaheim, California, on June 22 through 25. These messages were previously published in a book entitled The Importance of Living Christ by Walking according to the Spirit and are included in this volume under the same title. 16. Two messages given in Berkeley, California, on July 31. These messages are included in this volume under the title Miscellaneous Messages Given to the Church in Berkeley. 17. Fourteen messages given in Anaheim, California, and Irving, Texas, on August 13 through December 19. These messages were previously published in a book entitled Experiencing Christ as the Offerings for the Church Meetings and are included in this volume under the same title.

The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1981, volume 2, contains messages given by Brother Witness Lee on November 2 through December 11, 1981. From December 23, 1981, through January 2, 1982, Brother Lee spoke twenty-eight messages that were published in Life-study of 1 Corinthians. The Life-study messages are not included in The Collected Works of Witness Lee. From the last week in October until the end of November, 1981, Brother Lee traveled to Seoul, South Korea; Hong Kong; Taipei, Taiwan; and Tokyo, Japan. He returned to Anaheim and ministered there until the end of the year. The contents of this volume are divided into two sections, as follows: 1. Twenty-eight messages given in Hong Kong and in Taipei, Taiwan, on November 2 through 24. These messages were translated from Chinese and are included in this volume under the title The History and Revelation of the Lord's Recovery. 2. A message given in Anaheim, California, on December 11. This message is included in this volume under the title The Center of Paul's Completing Ministry.

This issue of The Ministry of the Word contains the final nine messages given during the spring 2017 term of the full-time training in Anaheim, California. The general subject of this series of messages is "The Mending Ministry of John." The overall subject of John's writings, which include his Gospel, his Epistles, and Revelation, is that the Triune God wants to dispense Himself into His chosen people as their life and life supply to make them divine so that they may express Him in full and for eternity. In Revelation John presents the consummate vision in the Bible and the ultimate fulfillment of God's eternal economy--the New Jerusalem. The mending ministry of John, carried out in the divine and mystical realm of the consummated Spirit, is for the living out and the working out of the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is lived out by the believers becoming the New Jerusalem, and the New Jerusalem is worked out by the believers building the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is the ultimate answer to the Lord's prayer in John 17 for the glorification of the Triune God through the oneness of the believers built into the Triune God. This city is the City of Jehovah, the city of life, the holy city, and the city of glory. Even in the Old Testament the prophets describe this city as a person that is one with Jehovah. Isaiah says, "They will call you the City of Jehovah" (60:14), and Ezekiel concludes his prophecy by declaring that "the name of the city from that day shall be, Jehovah Is There" (48:35). The City of Jehovah means that Jehovah is in His redeemed, regenerated, transformed, and glorified tripartite people and that they are in Him. Jehovah Is There refers to the presence of Jehovah Himself who will be united, mingled, and incorporated with His people to be one entity--the great, corporate God-man. The New Jerusalem is also the city of life. The Christ ministered by John is for the dispensing of the Triune God as life into man's tripartite being. Out of such a ministered Christ, the children of God are brought forth by receiving the eternal life. They then partake of the fellowship of the eternal life by abiding in the Lord and walking in the light. They are taught by the anointing to enjoy the virtues of the divine birth with the divine seed. As a result, they become the testimony of Jesus--the lampstands as the expression of the Triune God--to be the firstfruits and the harvest as the expression of life and the bride of the Lamb as His increase and satisfaction. Moreover, the New Jerusalem is the holy city. God's living word--His breathing out as the divine breath into the believers--works within them to separate them from the world and to saturate them with the divine nature to make them a holy city, the corporate and ultimate Holy of Holies as the reality of Zion. To live out and work out the New Jerusalem, the believers partake of the divine nature of the Father by exercising their spirit to enjoy God as Spirit (the nature of God's person) and by remaining in the divine fellowship to enjoy God as love (the nature of God's essence) and as light (the nature of God's expression). Furthermore, the New Jerusalem is the city of glory. The Lord wants to occupy every room in our being, and He desires that we would be filled with His riches unto the fullness of God so that there would be glory to God in the church. The Father will be glorified when His many sons are thus filled with the Triune God. To be filled with the Triune God of glory for His corporate expression, the believers must cooperate with the Spirit, who is daily operating in them, by their allowing the Spirit to infuse and transmit all the riches of the Triune God into them. All believers need to be open to this Spirit to allow the Triune God to fill them, to flow through them, and to overflow out of them so that there would be the full expression of the Triune God in the church as the reality of the Body of Christ. This Body will in turn consummate in the New Jerusalem as the ultimate expression of the consummated Triune God in and through man. The New Jerusalem is the church as the reality of the Body of Christ in its ultimate state and consummation. To live out the New Jerusalem is to grow up into Christ, the Head, by the mingling of God with man, and to work out the New Jerusalem is to function out from the Head for the building up of the Body of Christ. Only the Body of Christ will remain forever as the unique mutual abode of God and man so that God as the Spirit and man as the bride, becoming a married couple, are mingled and incorporated together to be one entity--a great, corporate God-man. Thus, the issue of John's mending ministry is the accomplishing of the goal of God's economy, which is to obtain the enlarged, universal, divine-human incorporation of the consummated Triune God with the regenerated believers--the New Jerusalem in eternity.

The Collected Works of Witness Lee, Letters and Gleanings, volume 1, contains letters written by Brother Witness Lee from October 23, 1937, through October 15, 1994, and miscellaneous messages given from 1948 through 1964. The contents of this volume are divided into ten sections, as follows: 1. One hundred nineteen letters written to Brother Liu Suey on June 3, 1947, through October 5, 1981. These letters are included in this volume under the title Letters to Liu Suey. 2. Eight letters written to Brother Weigh Kwang-hsi (K. H. Weigh) on September 25, 1961, through October 3, 1974. These letters are included in this volume under the title Letters to K. H. Weigh. 3. Three hundred thirty-one letters written from an unknown date in 1948 through October 15, 1994, to various churches and individual saints; five letters written on April 20, 1967, through March 14, 1968, to Brother Carl Althaus; a letter written on February 8, 1992, to Brother Benson Phillips and all the full-time serving brothers and sisters in Moscow, Russia; a letter written on August 7, 1992, to the young brothers and sisters in the church in Moscow; and a letter written on January 29, 1993, to the saints who completed the first term of the full-time training in Moscow. These letters are included in this volume under the title Miscellaneous Letters. 4. A letter written on October 23, 1937, and published in the periodical The Open Door, Issue No. 2; five letters written on September 6, 1962, through April 9, 1963, and published in Church News, Issue Nos. 53 through 55; four letters written on December 4, 1963, through November 6, 1964, and published in The Ministry of the Word, Supplementary Issues, 1964, Issue Nos. 1, 10, and 12; and thirty-six letters written on April 25, 1968, through April 6, 1977, and published in Church News, Resumed, Issue Nos. 12 through 51. These letters are included in this volume under the title Published Letters. 5. A message given in Swatow, China, on January 17, 1948. This message is included in this volume under the title Fellowship concerning the Gospel, Revival, Life, and Loving the Lord. 6. A message given in an unknown location in 1956. This message is included in this volume under the title Recovering God's Temple, God's City, and God's Word. 7. Four messages given at a location believed to be San Francisco, California, in 1963. These messages are included in this volume under the title Miscellaneous Gleanings, 1963. 8. A message given in a location believed to be Los Angeles, California, in 1963. This message is included in this volume under the title Abiding in Christ by Denying Ourselves and Opening Ourselves to Him. 9. Two messages given in uncertain locations in 1964. These messages are included in this volume under the title Miscellaneous Gleanings, 1964. 10. A message given in an uncertain location in 1964. This message is included in this volume under the title The Use of Marriage in God's Hand.

The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1987, volume 2, contains messages given by Brother Witness Lee from February 10 through December 22, 1987. At the end of January Brother Lee traveled to Taipei, Taiwan, where he remained until the middle of June. From Taipei he returned to Anaheim, California, and was there for about three weeks before returning to Taipei after the first week in July. He remained in Taipei until the first week in December, after which he returned to Anaheim briefly before traveling to Irving, Texas, and remaining there for the remainder of the year. The contents of this volume are divided into eight sections, as follows: 1. A message given in Taipei, Taiwan, on February 10. This message is included in this volume under the title The Need of the Training. 2. Five messages given in Taipei, Taiwan, on March 12 through April 11. These messages are included in this volume under the title Going Forth to Bear Fruit and Causing the Fruit to Remain for the Building of the Church. 3. Two messages given in Taipei, Taiwan, on March 29 and June 8. They were spoken in English and are included in this volume under the title Fellowship with the Full-time Trainees. 4. Twenty-four messages given in Taipei, Taiwan, on April 6 through December 3. They were previously published in Chinese and English in a two-volume set entitled Words of Training for the New Way and are included in this volume under the same title. Chapters 1 through 12 were previously published as volume 1, and chapters 13 through 24 were previously published as volume 2. 5. A message given in Taipei, Taiwan, on June 8. It is included in this volume under the title Following the Ministry and Being Delivered from Organization. 6. Nineteen messages given in Anaheim, California, on June 24 through July 4. These messages were previously published in a book entitled The God-ordained Way to Practice the New Testament Economy and are included in this volume under the same title. 7. A message given by phone in Taipei, Taiwan, to elders and full-timers in Irving, Texas, on August 9, and two messages given in Irving, Texas, on December 22. These three messages are included in this volume under the title The Application of the Biblical Way for Christians to Meet and to Serve. 8. A message given in Taipei, Taiwan, on August 12. It is included in this volume under the title Being Shining Stars and Leading the Saints to Be Living to Take the New Way.

The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1988, volume 2, contains messages given by Brother Witness Lee from March 21 through June 6, 1988. In the last week of March Brother Lee visited Spokane, Washington, and San Francisco, California, before he returned to Anaheim, California. In the first few days of April he visited San Jose for two days, and in the second week of April he flew to Taipei, Taiwan, and remained there until early June. The contents of this volume are divided into twelve sections, as follows: 1. Four messages given in Spokane, Washington, on March 21 through 23. These messages are included in this volume under the title The Practice of the New Way for the Organic Building Up of the Body of Christ. 2. Three messages given in Spokane, Washington, on March 21 and 22. These messages are included in this volume under the title The Perfecting, Growth, and Functioning of All the Members for the Building Up of the Body of Christ. 3. A message given in Chinese in Anaheim, California, on March 26. This message is included in this volume under the title The Supply of Life and the Building Up of Three Habits. 4. A message given in Anaheim, California, on March 27. It is included in this volume under the title Experiencing God, Christ, the Word, Faith, and the Spirit as Revealed in Galatians 3. 5. Four messages given in San Jose, California, on April 2 and 3. Two of the messages were given in Chinese, and two were given in English. These messages are included in this volume under the title Going Forth to Bear Fruit and Making the Fruit Remain. 6. A message given in Taipei, Taiwan, on April 10. It is included in this volume under the title Letting the Fire of the Gospel Burn throughout the College Campuses. 7. Four messages given in Taipei, Taiwan, on April 13 through June 6. These messages are included in this volume under the title The Leading of the New Testament Ministry and the Organic Work of the New Way. 8. Four messages given in Taipei, Taiwan, on April 13 through May 30. They are included in this volume under the title The Proper Elders' Administration of the Church and the Organic Practice of the New Way. 9. Eleven messages given in Taipei, Taiwan, on April 12 through June 3. The first ten of these messages were previously published in Chinese and English in a book entitled Words of Life from the 1988 Full-time Training. Chapter 11 was discovered later and was added to this previously published book. These eleven messages are included in this volume under the same title. 10. A message given in Taipei, Taiwan, on April 16. This message is included in this volume under the title Questions, Answers, and Fellowship concerning the Living and Service in the New Way. 11. Eight messages given in Taipei, Taiwan, on April 16 through June 5. These messages were previously published in Chinese and English in a book entitled Messages Given to the Working Saints and are included in this volume under the same title. 12. Eighteen messages given in Taipei, Taiwan, during the month of April and through May 6. They were previously published in Chinese and English in a book entitled Crucial Words of Leading in the Lord's Recovery, Book 2: Leading the Saints to Practice the New Way Ordained by the Lord and are included in this volume under the same title.

This issue of The Ministry of the Word contains the eight messages of the international training for elders and responsible ones hosted by Living Stream Ministry on October 8-10, 2021. The messages were provided via webcast from Anaheim, California, and the mutual fellowship, prophesying, and studying by groups were practiced locally in the various churches that participated. The general subject of this series of messages is “Meeting God’s Need and Present Needs in the Lord’s Recovery.” We must see that God has His need. No matter what our human needs or the churches’ needs are, God’s need is much greater. To see God’s need, we need to realize that God has a will, a good pleasure, which is His heart’s desire. God’s good pleasure, that which makes Him happy, is the fulfillment of His eternal purpose to have His eternal habitation for His eternal expression. In order for His will to be done on earth and for His eternal purpose to be fulfilled, God needs our cooperation. He has placed His almighty power under the limitation of the human will; hence, only when He has gained a people who will cooperate with Him by being totally responsive to Him will He have an unhindered way to accomplish His will. God also needs to recover the earth from His enemy by man’s dealing with Satan and subduing and conquering the rebellious earth. Moreover, God needs the “family of Noah” to build the church as today’s ark to terminate the present crooked and perverted age and bring in God’s kingdom. God needs the man-child, the overcomers in the church, as His dispensational instrument for His greatest dispensational move to end the age and bring in His kingdom. To be constituted as overcomers, we must realize that through regeneration we have been made a new creation. As such, we need to walk in newness of life, to serve in newness of spirit, and to be renewed daily. Furthermore, we daily need to labor on the all-inclusive Christ as the good land by seeking and enjoying Christ in every situation. Especially as elders and responsible ones, we should enter into Christ’s wonderful shepherding in His heavenly ministry by enjoying and ministering Christ to shepherd the church of God as a slave of God. In meeting the Lord’s need, prayer is our most direct and intimate cooperation with Him. Prayer is to absorb the elements of the soil of Christ [4] as the good land and to express what God has spoken within us by our contacting and fellowshipping with Him. The best prayer is to pray to God as a friend, as portrayed in Abraham’s glorious intercession, his intimate conversation with God. This kind of intercession expresses God’s desire and carries out His will. The Announcements section at the end of this issue contains a list of upcoming conferences and trainings hosted by Living Stream Ministry and a website link for information related to similar events in Europe.

This issue of The Ministry of the Word contains the eight messages of the international training for elders and responsible ones hosted by Living Stream Ministry in Anaheim, California, on October 7-9, 2022. The general subject of this series of messages is “Loving the Lord and Loving One Another for the Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ.”