This issue of The Ministry contains the last nine messages given during the 2006 spring term of the full-time training in Anaheim, California. The general subject of this series of messages is "Knowing and Experiencing the Intrinsic Constitution of the Building of God." The processed and consummated Triune God Himself is the constituent of God's building. When this processed and consummated Triune God as the constituent is dispensed into us, wrought into us, and built into us by being mingled with us, the result is not simply the constituent but a constitution. This constitution issues in a unique kind of being--a redeemed, regenerated, transformed, tripartite human being mingled with and one with the processed and consummated Triune God to be a real God-man. The intrinsic significance of 2 Samuel 7:12-14a--a prophecy concerning the building of God--is that the Triune God is working Himself in His processed and consummated Trinity into our being to make us His abode and to make Himself our abode. This is the focus of the messages contained in this volume. The all-inclusive life-giving Spirit as the extract of the processed and consummated Triune God in His economy is the constituent. God's central work is to dispense this constituent into every fiber of our being, saturating us, permeating us, constituting us, sonizing us, Christifying us, divinizing us, and deifying us so that although we remain human and therefore creatures, we become Triune God-constituted men, whose being is a constitution of the processed and consummated Triune God as the constituent. Now we, in our being, become this constitution, and as such we are part of the building of God. Last of all, we include a report concerning the Lord's move in Ivory Coast, a French-speaking country of West Africa.

This issue of The Ministry contains a complete record of the nine messages given during the International Training for Elders and Responsible Ones, held in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, October 5-7, 2006. The general subject of the training was "Shepherding the Flock of God." These messages are a continuation of the training given in the spring of 2006 (see The Ministry, Vol. 10, No. 5). The burden of these messages is not about the technique of shepherding but about what we are in our person and how we behave in the church. This is according to Paul's word to the elders in Ephesus in Acts 20. He said, "Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock" (v. 28). We first need to take care of ourselves, to be shepherded in our own person before we take care of all the flock. Messages 1 and 2 show us that our shepherding must be according to the plan of God and the word of God, according to the teaching of the apostles, and according to God. These form the basis of our shepherding. Messages 3, 5, and 7 show us that our shepherding is in our living by the grace of God, in an organic way according to His initiation and with our cooperation, and in dealing with peculiarity. These are the conditions of our shepherding. Messages 4, 6, and 8 show us that our goal must be to shepherd the saints into the faith of the truth, into a life of living through dying, and into a life of prayer for the organic practice of the God-ordained way in the vital groups. Finally, in Message 9, if the elders are constituted with the basis, the conditions, and the goal of shepherding, the flock of God will be shepherded to know the Body of Christ. May the Lord speak to us His light-shedding and life-imparting word. Last of all, we include letters and reports concerning the recent gospel move in the Russian-speaking world.

This issue of The Ministry contains a complete record of the twelve messages given during the 2006 winter training on the Crystallization-study of Mark, held December 25-30 in Anaheim, California. The crucial truth and the burden embodied in these twelve messages may be summarized in four statements: (1) When we live in the mingled spirit, we are learning Christ according to the reality in Jesus by the Spirit of reality so that His biography becomes our history to be the reality of the Body of Christ. (2) The kingdom of God is the Lord Jesus sown as a seed into the believers and developing into a realm over which God can rule in the divine life. (3) Christ's person with His all-inclusive death and His wonderful resurrection is our all-inclusive replacement for the producing of the one new man, so we must "hear Him" and see "Jesus only." (4) Let us go forth and preach Christ to all the creation, proclaiming the gospel, presenting the truth, and ministering life for the growth, development, and manifestation of the kingdom of God. These messages are being published immediately following the training in order that they may benefit the saints participating in the many video trainings that are held throughout the earth. The Announcements section includes a presentation of the present burden in the recovery concerning the Lord's move to Europe and the latest fellowship regarding the plan to build a ministry conference center in Anaheim, California. In the Announcements section we also include the 2007 calendar, giving the dates and locations of the seven Living Stream Ministry conferences and trainings--the seven annual feasts. One cannot measure the benefits derived from the Lord's rich speaking in His ministry and the mutual blending and building up of the saints and the churches in the Lord's recovery from every continent during these feasts.

This issue of The Ministry of the Word includes the last nine messages of the 2007 spring term of the full-time training in Anaheim, California. The general subject of this series of messages is "The Believers." In the final two messages of the previous issue, we covered ten symbols of the believers in the Bible--the wheat of life, the good seed, the salt of the earth, the light of the world, the fishers of men, a lamp, a city situated upon a mountain, the sun, virgins, and plants. In this issue we will consider thirty-one more symbols of the believers in the Bible--living stones, sheep, vessels of mercy unto honor and glory, grains of wheat, branches of the vine, branches of the cultivated olive tree, a wise master builder, stewards, a spectacle, the offscouring of the world and the scum of all things, the temple of the Holy Spirit, threshing oxen, contenders in a game, runners in a race, workman in carpentry, nursing mother, father, captives of Christ in His triumphal procession, incense-bearers, ambassadors, letters of Christ, mirrors, earthen vessels, pillars, luminaries, a laboring husbandman, a good soldier, stars, the man-child, the firstfruits and the harvest, and jasper and other precious stones. These symbols of the believers help us to see who we are in Christ and who Christ is in us. Seeing who we are in Christ and who Christ is in us will revolutionize our living and bring us into the life and living of the divine-human mystical incorporation of the Triune God. In this divine-human incorporation the Triune God abides in us, and we abide in the Triune God as the mutual abode of God and man, in which we are being built together and structured together with the Triune God to be the New Jerusalem. There are no reports or announcements in this issue.

This issue of The Ministry presents the last eight messages given during the 2005 fall term of the full-time training in Anaheim, California. The general subject of this series of messages is entitled "The Overcoming Life as Portrayed in Song of Songs." Four stages of the overcoming life are portrayed in the Song of Songs. In Messages 1 through 8 of this series, the first two stages of overcoming were presented: In the first stage the Lord draws us to pursue Him so that we can be fully satisfied and fully delivered from this world, and in the second stage the Lord calls us to be delivered from the self through our oneness with the cross by the power of His resurrection. In Messages 9 through 16, the last two stages are unfolded. In the third stage we are called to live in ascension as the new creation in resurrection and to overcome everything of the old creation. Finally, in the fourth stage we are called to live within the veil, entering into God as our sanctuary to become the same as God in life and nature and to become the sanctuary of God, the building of God, and the bride of Christ as the Shulammite, the duplication, enlargement, and full expression of Christ for Christ's satisfaction. In this stage we are qualified to work together with Christ, and we have a hope and a longing to be raptured. Last of all, we include both a report concerning the Lord's move in West Africa and an announcement concerning the upcoming international blending conference in July 2007 in Accra, Ghana, West Africa.

This issue of The Ministry contains a complete record of the eight messages given during the International Training for Elders and Responsible Ones in Anaheim, California, held March 30--April 1, 2007. The general subject of the training was "Shepherding the Church of God as a Slave of God," which comes from Acts 20:28, where Paul charges the elders to "shepherd the church of God, which He obtained through His own blood." This is also our charge. Paul says that God purchased the church with His own blood and that we need to shepherd the church of God. In verse 19 Paul said that he served "the Lord as a slave with all humility and tears and trials." This is the pattern that we should follow. We need to shepherd the church of God as a slave of God, serving the Lord with all humility in all trials and even with tears so that we could be dispensing stewards of the grace of God for the building up of the Body. We also include a report concerning the 2007 European Young People's Conference held in Male Ciche, Poland.

This issue of The Ministry contains a complete record of the six messages given during the Memorial Day weekend conference held in St. Paul, Minnesota, May 25-28, 2007. The general subject of the conference was "Caring for the Present Need in the Lord's Recovery," and the main burden of the conference can be summarized by the following four statements: (1) We must walk in the truth of the economy of God, realize the recovery of the Lord, and stay away from death and division. (2) We need to know the present truth, uphold the absoluteness of the truth, and be constituted with the truth for the church as the pillar and base of the truth. (3) The ground of oneness is the processed and consummated Triune God applied to our being, and the essence of the genuine oneness is life and light. (4) We must receive the Lord's mercy to be His overcomers who bring in a new revival to turn the age in the Lord's recovery by arriving at the highest peak of the divine revelation, by living the life of a God-man, and by shepherding people according to God in the vital groups for the building up of the Body of Christ. Last of all, we include a report concerning the International Blending Conference in Buzias, Romania.

This book explores the impact of foreign migrant workers on elements of sovereign power in Japan and examines how the country's immigration control has been reshaped by the existence of these workers. It traces the changing situation of foreign migrant workers in Japan from the mid 1980s to the present day. A particular focus is the transition of these workers from 'temporary workers' to 'long-term stayers' or 'social beings'.

This issue of The Ministry presents the first eight messages given during the 2005 fall term of the full-time training in Anaheim, California. The general subject of this series of messages is entitled "The Overcoming Life as Portrayed in Song of Songs." This general subject is based upon an intrinsic revelation in the Scriptures related to our overcoming and our love relationship with the Lord. This is demonstrated in Romans 8:37--the "theme verse" of this entire series of messages, which says, "In all these things we more than conquer through Him who loved us." The Greek word translated "more than conquer" is hypernikao, which literally means "super-overcome" or "more than overcome." Hence, we more than overcome through Him who loved us. According to this verse, the ones who are really loved by God become super-overcomers, more than conquerors. There is a deep, sweet, rich, essential, intrinsic, organic, and experiential connection between love and overcoming. In Song of Songs the lover of Christ overcomes in four stages: in the first stage (1:2--2:7) she overcomes the attraction of the world by being captivated by Christ; in the second stage (2:8--3:5) she overcomes the self, which secludes her from the presence of Christ, by becoming one with the cross of Christ; in the third stage (3:6--5:1) she overcomes the old creation (the physical things) by living in the ascension of Christ in resurrection after her self has been dealt with by the cross; and in the fourth stage (5:2--6:13) she overcomes the flesh, the natural man, the old man, by living within the veil, requiring a deeper experience of the cross. Last of all, we present a concluding set of testimonies from some who participated in the recent gospel move in the Russian-speaking world.