Witness Lee
Encyclopedia
Witness Lee (September 3, 1905–June 9, 1997) was a Chinese Christian preacher associated with the Local Churches movement, and the founder of the Living Stream Ministry
. He was born in the city of Yantai
, Shandong Province, China, in 1905, to a Southern Baptist
family. He became a born again Christian in 1925 after hearing the preaching of Peace Dang Wang. He later joined the work started by the late Chinese Christian worker Watchman Nee
. Witness Lee moved to Taiwan
in the late 1940s as the Communists were advancing in mainland China
. During the 1950s, Lee worked with T. Austin-Sparks
, who held conferences with him in Taiwan in 1955 and 1957. In 1948, Lee extended his ministry from Taiwan to cities in Malaysia and Indonesia. In 1950 his ministry reached Manila, Japan in 1957, the United States in 1958, and extending to other countries in the Americas and Africa, including Ghana by 1972.
Witness Lee's teachings emphasized the experience of "Christ as life" and the believers as the Body of Christ. Lee taught that God's goal can only be carried out as believers renounce all forms of sectarianism, adopt the proper standing as a church in their locality, and maintain the oneness of the Body of Christ. These "local churches" were soon established in the Western hemisphere
and South-East Asia. In the last decade, a number of churches have been founded in Russia and in eastern European countries
. The Local Church movement is now in the Middle East
, Africa
, and South Asia
.
According to the account provided by the local churches, Witness Lee was born in September 3, 1905 in the Shandong
province of northern China and raised in a Southern Baptist home. His older sister introduced him to a Chinese Independent Congregational Church in his hometown. At age 19, influenced by his sister and by a preacher named Peace Wang, he had a conversion experience and chose to dedicate himself to the task of preaching the gospel.
He began researching the Bible and read some articles written by Watchman Nee
. Eventually, he left the Chinese Independent Congregational Church and began meeting with the Benjamin Newton branch of the Brethren Assembly in Yantai. Striking up a correspondence with Watchman Nee, Lee became influenced by his call to "experience the divine life" instead of pursuing knowledge alone. Leaving his job in 1933, Lee moved his family to Shanghai and entered full-time ministry with Watchman Nee, becoming responsible for his publishing operations. Starting in 1934, Lee began traveling throughout China, preaching and establishing local congregations. In the face of Japanese invasion during the Second Sino-Japanese War
, Lee returned to Yantai.
At the start of 1943, the church in Yantai is said to have experienced a revival lasting for a hundred days, during which some believers decided to become missionaries. In May of that year, Witness Lee was arrested by the Imperial Army of Japan and spent a month in prison. During this time he contracted tuberculosis
and spent two years in Qingtao recovering. At the end of World War II
, fully recovered, Lee resumed his travels throughout China. Lee helped to recover Watchman Nee's ministry, which had been suspended for six years as a result of "several misunderstandings".
, Lee was directed by Nee to evacuate to Taiwan, and to assume responsibility for continuing the publication efforts of Nee's Shanghai Gospel Bookroom outside of China, resulting in the formation of the Taiwan Gospel Bookroom and the Hong Kong Gospel Bookroom. The two met once more in Hong Kong
, where Watchman Nee entrusted the church in Hong Kong and all publishing operations outside of China to Witness Lee. This was the last time the two saw or communicated with each other.
Lee started directing conferences and training sessions in Taiwan. Outside of China, the Taiwan Gospel Bookroom became the public face of Watchman Nee's works. Lee's magazine, The Ministry of the Word, ran from 1950 to 1986. The churches in Taiwan experienced a season of growth, claiming 20,000 to 40,000 members over "five to six years". Lee began efforts to minister in the Philippines
as well, and the workers trained at his sessions went to other locations in the "Far East".
, the publisher of the local churches movement.
In November 1980, Witness Lee filed a lawsuit against a countercult organization called Spiritual Counterfeits Project
(SCP), denying that the church of Witness Lee is a cult.
Lee began to preach messages in expository
fashion, moving book by book through the Bible. These messages became known as his "Life-Study" series. He also wrote notes, outlines, and cross references for the New Testament, to eventually be included in the movement's Recovery Version of the Bible
. In 1984, Lee began working on a "'small group' church life", focusing on meeting at homes to study the Bible and to pray, and also including door to door evangelism
and a system for teaching new believers individually. Lee continued training others, establishing two training centers for those serving in full-time ministry, and also traveling to Taiwan and other local church congregations around the world.
At the age of 91, Witness Lee died of cancer on June 9, 1997.
Previous Wiki Photo of Witness Lee that was later removed
, the Plymouth Brethren
, Watchman Nee, and himself. The Living Stream Ministry teaches that the local churches are the issue of the recovery of the reality of Christ and the Church. Hence they refer to themselves as simply, “The Lord’s recovery” and appraise Nee and Lee with this summary, "Watchman Nee was indeed a seer of the divine revelation in the present age, and Witness Lee was just as certainly a wise master builder according to this same divine revelation in the present age."
Lee also taught many vital practices needed to be recovered among believers, practices including calling on the name of the Lord (Acts 2:21), mingling the reading of the Word with prayer, testifying and proclaiming the Word everywhere (1 Pet 2:9, 2 Tim 4:2) and prophesying in the church (1 Cor 14:24).
According to Witness Lee, "the Lord's recovery" is simply the "recovery of Christ"
and by the apostles in the Acts
and the Epistles (1 Cor. 12:3). The local aspect of each church was presented by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 18 and by the apostles in Acts (8:1; 13:1; 14:23), the Epistles (Romans
16:1; 1 Cor. 1:2; Galatians
1:2), and Revelation
(1:14).
Lee taught that the expression of this oneness begins with the practice of believers in their city meeting as the church in that city (for e.g. epistles of the apostles addressed to "the church in Ephesus
", "the church in Corinth
", "the church in Thessalonica", etc.) having only one eldership in each city (with many elders) (Titus 1:5, Acts 14:32) and accepting all believers in Christ as members of the church in each city regardless of racial, cultural, social
, doctrinal or observational differences as long as they hold the common faith. Nee called this practice meeting on "the ground of oneness" (see Local churches (affiliation)). Lee continued to teach this after being sent by Nee out of China.
The believers meeting in this way may declare that "we are the church", with the understanding that the "we" is inclusive not exclusive of some.
According to Lee, "every local church should receive all kinds of genuine believers in Christ", and having a name, such as Baptist
, Methodist or Catholic
, was divisive and contrary to the oneness all the saints have inherited in Christ.
Keeping the oneness was paramount to their existence as "local churches" standing on the ground of oneness. This translated into keeping the fellowship and teaching of the apostles (Acts 2:42), the same spiritual diet (1 Cor 10:4), and one ministry (2 Cor 4:1). Although all believers are received according to God and not doctrine or practice (Rom 14:3), ones who cause such division should be refused (Titus 3:10). In the mid 1980s four leaders who had been with Witness Lee for years believed the churches were no longer practicing the Biblical oneness and resigned as elders and coworkers. Lee responded by calling them “a fermenting rebellion” that needed to be “quarantined”. This was a term that was similar to but distinct from the Brethren’s term, excommunication, borrowed from Leviticus 13:4, and Numbers 12:14 ("shut up outside the camp" until clean). In spite of these and other difficulties, the works of Witness Lee continues to increase and spread Local Churches around the globe.
). Witness Lee stated that this is "not subjective faith as our believing but objective faith as our belief, referring to the things we believe in, the contents of the New Testament as our faith (Acts 6:7; 1 Tim. 1:19, 3:9, 4:1, 5:8, 6:10, 21; 2 Tim. 3:8, 4:7; Titus 1:13), in which we believe for our common salvation
. This faith has been delivered once for all to the saints".
Although Lee saw the local churches as holding the same faith as the rest of Christianity and that Christians should be made one, Lee distanced himself from other Christian church groups and organizations,
Lee taught that any church not organized on the foundational principle of one church per city (what he called "the local ground of unity") was apostate. He thought that recognizing such churches by attending services in anything but a qualified stance was sinful. Lee states,
So although Lee sought to be viewed as an integral part in the recovery of Christian truths and practices alongside a long line of Christian preachers, the result was to be separate from the same:
These and similar statements set up a dividing line between the local churches and other Christian groups. Lee cared little for the acceptance of his contemporaries. He wrote,
Teaching that Christianity had become hopelessly corrupt, he followed a unique theology based on Watchman Nee's. It emphasized a deep, personal, ongoing encounter with God, and a practical, daily commitment to one's local church. Lee taught, as Nee did, that all Christian work was ultimately for the sake of edifying the church and that all other benefits were secondary. He thought that since the rest of Christianity was organized in a way that invalidated its stand as the proper church, there could be nothing for him to learn from or to build upon.
. Many of his speeches have been edited and published as over 400 titles in as many as 11 different languages, such as Chinese, Korean, Spanish, etc.
Witness Lee's major work, The Life-Study of The Bible, comprises over 24,000 pages of commentary
on every book of the Bible from the perspective of the believer's enjoyment and experience of God's divine life in Christ through the Holy Spirit. They were originally messages spoken over a number of years by Lee during trainings to believers who met in local churches.
Lee began another major work, Crystallization-Study of the Bible, using messages designed to take a look at the high points, or "crystals", of each book of the Bible. However, Lee died before completing this work.
Witness Lee was the chief editor of a new translation of the New Testament into Chinese, which he called the Recovery Version (Chinese). He also directed its translation into English.
Witness Lee wrote, collected, and translated Christian hymns. From 1963 to 1964, Witness Lee wrote the lyrics to about 200 new hymns which he collated with hymns from other authors. He categorized them by topic for the current edition of Hymns, totaling 1348.
(LSM), located in Anaheim, California, which publishes Witness Lee's and Watchman Nee's books.
Living Stream Ministry
Living Stream Ministry , founded in 1968 by Witness Lee, is a non-profit corporation based in Anaheim, California, within the Local churches...
. He was born in the city of Yantai
Yantai
Yantai is a prefecture-level city in northeastern Shandong province, People's Republic of China. Located on the southern coast of the Bohai Sea and the eastern coast of the Laizhou Bay, Yantai borders the cities of Qingdao and Weihai to the southwest and east respectively.The largest fishing...
, Shandong Province, China, in 1905, to a Southern Baptist
Southern Baptist Convention
The Southern Baptist Convention is a United States-based Christian denomination. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination and the largest Protestant body in the United States, with over 16 million members...
family. He became a born again Christian in 1925 after hearing the preaching of Peace Dang Wang. He later joined the work started by the late Chinese Christian worker Watchman Nee
Watchman Nee
Watchman Nee was a Chinese Christian author and church leader during the early 20th century. He spent the last 20 years of his life in prison and was severely persecuted by the Communists in China. Together with Wangzai, Zhou-An Lee, Shang-Jie Song, and others, Nee founded The Church Assembly...
. Witness Lee moved to Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
in the late 1940s as the Communists were advancing in mainland China
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was a civil war fought between the Kuomintang , the governing party of the Republic of China, and the Communist Party of China , for the control of China which eventually led to China's division into two Chinas, Republic of China and People's Republic of...
. During the 1950s, Lee worked with T. Austin-Sparks
Theodore Austin-Sparks
Theodore Austin-Sparks , usually known as "Mr. Sparks" or just "TAS", was a British Christian evangelist and author.Born in London in 1888, Mr. Austin-Sparks was sent as a boy to live in Scotland with his father's relatives. It was there that he became a Christian at the age of 17 while listening...
, who held conferences with him in Taiwan in 1955 and 1957. In 1948, Lee extended his ministry from Taiwan to cities in Malaysia and Indonesia. In 1950 his ministry reached Manila, Japan in 1957, the United States in 1958, and extending to other countries in the Americas and Africa, including Ghana by 1972.
Witness Lee's teachings emphasized the experience of "Christ as life" and the believers as the Body of Christ. Lee taught that God's goal can only be carried out as believers renounce all forms of sectarianism, adopt the proper standing as a church in their locality, and maintain the oneness of the Body of Christ. These "local churches" were soon established in the Western hemisphere
Western Hemisphere
The Western Hemisphere or western hemisphere is mainly used as a geographical term for the half of the Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian and east of the Antimeridian , the other half being called the Eastern Hemisphere.In this sense, the western hemisphere consists of the western portions...
and South-East Asia. In the last decade, a number of churches have been founded in Russia and in eastern European countries
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
. The Local Church movement is now in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, and South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
.
China (1905–1948)
Witness Lee surrounded by Taipei Full Time Trainees in Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Park, circa mid 1980
According to the account provided by the local churches, Witness Lee was born in September 3, 1905 in the Shandong
Shandong
' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese...
province of northern China and raised in a Southern Baptist home. His older sister introduced him to a Chinese Independent Congregational Church in his hometown. At age 19, influenced by his sister and by a preacher named Peace Wang, he had a conversion experience and chose to dedicate himself to the task of preaching the gospel.
He began researching the Bible and read some articles written by Watchman Nee
Watchman Nee
Watchman Nee was a Chinese Christian author and church leader during the early 20th century. He spent the last 20 years of his life in prison and was severely persecuted by the Communists in China. Together with Wangzai, Zhou-An Lee, Shang-Jie Song, and others, Nee founded The Church Assembly...
. Eventually, he left the Chinese Independent Congregational Church and began meeting with the Benjamin Newton branch of the Brethren Assembly in Yantai. Striking up a correspondence with Watchman Nee, Lee became influenced by his call to "experience the divine life" instead of pursuing knowledge alone. Leaving his job in 1933, Lee moved his family to Shanghai and entered full-time ministry with Watchman Nee, becoming responsible for his publishing operations. Starting in 1934, Lee began traveling throughout China, preaching and establishing local congregations. In the face of Japanese invasion during the Second Sino-Japanese War
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
, Lee returned to Yantai.
At the start of 1943, the church in Yantai is said to have experienced a revival lasting for a hundred days, during which some believers decided to become missionaries. In May of that year, Witness Lee was arrested by the Imperial Army of Japan and spent a month in prison. During this time he contracted tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
and spent two years in Qingtao recovering. At the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, fully recovered, Lee resumed his travels throughout China. Lee helped to recover Watchman Nee's ministry, which had been suspended for six years as a result of "several misunderstandings".
Taiwan (1949–1962)
By 1949, the movement claimed 400 congregations. At this point, with the Communists nearing victory in the Chinese Civil WarChinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was a civil war fought between the Kuomintang , the governing party of the Republic of China, and the Communist Party of China , for the control of China which eventually led to China's division into two Chinas, Republic of China and People's Republic of...
, Lee was directed by Nee to evacuate to Taiwan, and to assume responsibility for continuing the publication efforts of Nee's Shanghai Gospel Bookroom outside of China, resulting in the formation of the Taiwan Gospel Bookroom and the Hong Kong Gospel Bookroom. The two met once more in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, where Watchman Nee entrusted the church in Hong Kong and all publishing operations outside of China to Witness Lee. This was the last time the two saw or communicated with each other.
Lee started directing conferences and training sessions in Taiwan. Outside of China, the Taiwan Gospel Bookroom became the public face of Watchman Nee's works. Lee's magazine, The Ministry of the Word, ran from 1950 to 1986. The churches in Taiwan experienced a season of growth, claiming 20,000 to 40,000 members over "five to six years". Lee began efforts to minister in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
as well, and the workers trained at his sessions went to other locations in the "Far East".
United States (1962–1997)
After having been to the United States and to London on speaking engagements, in 1962, Witness Lee decided to move to the United States and began holding English-language conferences in Los Angeles, eventually moving to Anaheim in 1974. Lee founded Stream Publishers in 1965, which would eventually become Living Stream MinistryLiving Stream Ministry
Living Stream Ministry , founded in 1968 by Witness Lee, is a non-profit corporation based in Anaheim, California, within the Local churches...
, the publisher of the local churches movement.
In November 1980, Witness Lee filed a lawsuit against a countercult organization called Spiritual Counterfeits Project
Spiritual Counterfeits Project
The Spiritual Counterfeits Project is a Christian evangelical parachurch organisation located in Berkeley, California. Since its inception in the early 1970s it has been involved in the fields of Christian apologetics and the Christian countercult movement. Its current president is Tal Brooke...
(SCP), denying that the church of Witness Lee is a cult.
Lee began to preach messages in expository
Expository preaching
Expository preaching is a form of preaching that throws light upon the meaning of a particular text or passage of Scripture. As "throwing light," this term is more general than exegesis, which is used for more technical and grammatical exposition, a careful drawing out of the exact meaning of a...
fashion, moving book by book through the Bible. These messages became known as his "Life-Study" series. He also wrote notes, outlines, and cross references for the New Testament, to eventually be included in the movement's Recovery Version of the Bible
Recovery Version of the Bible
The Recovery Version is a study Bible published by Living Stream Ministry, used primarily in the Local churches.The primary translation of the Recovery Version is in English, and there are also partial and complete editions in other languages, including Chinese , Indonesian , Spanish , Portuguese ,...
. In 1984, Lee began working on a "'small group' church life", focusing on meeting at homes to study the Bible and to pray, and also including door to door evangelism
Evangelism
Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....
and a system for teaching new believers individually. Lee continued training others, establishing two training centers for those serving in full-time ministry, and also traveling to Taiwan and other local church congregations around the world.
At the age of 91, Witness Lee died of cancer on June 9, 1997.
Previous Wiki Photo of Witness Lee that was later removed
The Lord's recovery
Witness Lee referred to the Local Churches as “the Lord’s recovery”. The Living Stream Ministry’s version of the Bible is called “The Recovery Version”. Lee taught God was always moving to first establish something, and when it was damaged by Satan, God would move a second time to “recover” what was lost. This happened first in creation. According to Lee the record of God creating the universe is in Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The next verse continues with, “And the earth became waste and empty,” indicating something was lost in the original creation. Then the heavens and the earth were “recovered” in 6 days beginning with “God moved upon the face of the waters.” Similarly the Jewish temple was built by Solomon and then destroyed and subsequently “recovered” when the Jewish remnant returned from Babylon to Jerusalem as recorded in Ezra and Nehemiah. Lee taught that Christ came to build His church; it was established in the 1st century, lost in the Dark Ages, and is now being recovered. mainly beginning during the Reformation and continuing until now. According to Witness Lee, the Lord's recovery can be traced back to many including Martin Luther and the reformers, Madame Guyon, Count Zinzendorf, the Moravian Brethren, John Nelson DarbyJohn Nelson Darby
John Nelson Darby was an Anglo-Irish evangelist, and an influential figure among the original Plymouth Brethren. He is considered to be the father of modern Dispensationalism. He produced a translation of the Bible based on the Hebrew and Greek texts called The Holy Scriptures: A New Translation...
, the Plymouth Brethren
Plymouth Brethren
The Plymouth Brethren is a conservative, Evangelical Christian movement, whose history can be traced to Dublin, Ireland, in the late 1820s. Although the group is notable for not taking any official "church name" to itself, and not having an official clergy or liturgy, the title "The Brethren," is...
, Watchman Nee, and himself. The Living Stream Ministry teaches that the local churches are the issue of the recovery of the reality of Christ and the Church. Hence they refer to themselves as simply, “The Lord’s recovery” and appraise Nee and Lee with this summary, "Watchman Nee was indeed a seer of the divine revelation in the present age, and Witness Lee was just as certainly a wise master builder according to this same divine revelation in the present age."
Lee also taught many vital practices needed to be recovered among believers, practices including calling on the name of the Lord (Acts 2:21), mingling the reading of the Word with prayer, testifying and proclaiming the Word everywhere (1 Pet 2:9, 2 Tim 4:2) and prophesying in the church (1 Cor 14:24).
According to Witness Lee, "the Lord's recovery" is simply the "recovery of Christ"
"Some may define the Lord’s recovery as the recovery of the genuine oneness, but genuine oneness is simply Christ Himself. Others may define the Lord’s recovery as the recovery of the proper church life, but the proper church life also is Christ. Thus, the Lord’s recovery is the recovery of Christ as everything to us."
Church ground
Witness Lee taught that one of the primary elements which God used both Watchman Nee and himself to recover, was the way for believers in Christ to remain in oneness. Witness Lee taught two aspects of the Lord's church (local and universal). He taught that churches should be the expression of the Body of Christ in a locality. According to Lee, the universal aspect of the church was presented by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 16Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...
and by the apostles in the Acts
Acts of the Apostles
The Acts of the Apostles , usually referred to simply as Acts, is the fifth book of the New Testament; Acts outlines the history of the Apostolic Age...
and the Epistles (1 Cor. 12:3). The local aspect of each church was presented by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 18 and by the apostles in Acts (8:1; 13:1; 14:23), the Epistles (Romans
Epistle to the Romans
The Epistle of Paul to the Romans, often shortened to Romans, is the sixth book in the New Testament. Biblical scholars agree that it was composed by the Apostle Paul to explain that Salvation is offered through the Gospel of Jesus Christ...
16:1; 1 Cor. 1:2; Galatians
Epistle to the Galatians
The Epistle of Paul to the Galatians, often shortened to Galatians, is the ninth book of the New Testament. It is a letter from Paul of Tarsus to a number of Early Christian communities in the Roman province of Galatia in central Anatolia...
1:2), and Revelation
Revelation
In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing, through active or passive communication with a supernatural or a divine entity...
(1:14).
Lee taught that the expression of this oneness begins with the practice of believers in their city meeting as the church in that city (for e.g. epistles of the apostles addressed to "the church in Ephesus
Ephesus
Ephesus was an ancient Greek city, and later a major Roman city, on the west coast of Asia Minor, near present-day Selçuk, Izmir Province, Turkey. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek era...
", "the church in Corinth
Corinth
Corinth is a city and former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Corinth, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit...
", "the church in Thessalonica", etc.) having only one eldership in each city (with many elders) (Titus 1:5, Acts 14:32) and accepting all believers in Christ as members of the church in each city regardless of racial, cultural, social
Social
The term social refers to a characteristic of living organisms...
, doctrinal or observational differences as long as they hold the common faith. Nee called this practice meeting on "the ground of oneness" (see Local churches (affiliation)). Lee continued to teach this after being sent by Nee out of China.
The believers meeting in this way may declare that "we are the church", with the understanding that the "we" is inclusive not exclusive of some.
"The church is expressed on this earth in localities, and where there is an expression of the church, that expression must be one. Let us be simple. Let us not be complicated by the confusion in Christianity. It is a shame to ask people what church they belong to. If someone is a brother, that is all we need to know. I belong to the church, and you belong to the church. We all belong to the church."
According to Lee, "every local church should receive all kinds of genuine believers in Christ", and having a name, such as Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
, Methodist or Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
, was divisive and contrary to the oneness all the saints have inherited in Christ.
"If a believer prefers to keep the Sabbath whereas we take the Lord's Day, or if he eats only vegetables whereas we eat every kind of food, we still must receive him. We must receive him because God has received him (Rom. 14:3) and because Christ has received him (Rom. 15:7). We must receive every believer in Christ according to Christ (Rom. 15:5)."
"If a church does not receive all kinds of genuine believers, it is divisive and becomes a sect."
"Therefore, although we should practice things such as baptism by immersion, the presbytery, and head covering, we should not make these things a special item that divides us from others. Furthermore, we should not make them our creed, and we should not designate ourselves by a name, such as Lutheran, Baptist, or Presbyterian, that is according to a particular teaching or practice."
God's economy
'God’s economy' was a phrase frequently used by Witness Lee. The English word "economy" is the anglicized form of the Greek word "oikonomia", which occurs several places in the New Testament, but is usually translated as "dispensation". According to Lee, many Christians were unfamiliar with God's economy, even though it is the subject of the Bible, the meaning of human life, and the desire of God’s heart. He defined it as God's household ("oikos") law or arrangement ("nomos") for dispensing Himself into His chosen and redeemed people as their life, life supply, and all in all, in order to gain a corporate expression of Himself through the building up of the church which will consummate in the New Jerusalem in eternity. Witness Lee taught that Babylon the Great represents the Roman Catholic Church, the "mother of harlots" and that her "daughters", the harlots, represent the Protestant denominations. He preached that the system of religious Christianity, which includes Roman Catholicism as well as sectarian Protestant denominationalism were contrary to God's economy and would culminate in Babylon the Great, but that all the overcomers throughout the church age who remain faithful to and hold fast the ministry of the Apostles will obtain the reward during the millennial kingdom, and that all true believers would eventually be built together, culminating in the New Jerusalem, which is the glorious Bride of Christ.The New Way
In an attempt to revive and spread the Local Churches, Witness Lee spent from 1984 through the remainder of his life defining and establishing “the new way” due to the perceived degradation and oldness that had crept into the Local Churches. The new way consisted of 4 major pillars:- establishing meetings in homes according to the pattern set forth by the initial church (Acts 2:46)
- going forth to proclaim the Word, especially through door-knocking (2 Tim 4:2,5)
- growing in life through experiencing Christ in the practical daily living, to minister Christ as life (1 Pet 2:2, 2 Cor 3:3)
- perfecting the saints to function properly in the church by having the practice of the church life in the homes (1 Cor 14:1,26,31, Rom 12:6)
Keeping the oneness was paramount to their existence as "local churches" standing on the ground of oneness. This translated into keeping the fellowship and teaching of the apostles (Acts 2:42), the same spiritual diet (1 Cor 10:4), and one ministry (2 Cor 4:1). Although all believers are received according to God and not doctrine or practice (Rom 14:3), ones who cause such division should be refused (Titus 3:10). In the mid 1980s four leaders who had been with Witness Lee for years believed the churches were no longer practicing the Biblical oneness and resigned as elders and coworkers. Lee responded by calling them “a fermenting rebellion” that needed to be “quarantined”. This was a term that was similar to but distinct from the Brethren’s term, excommunication, borrowed from Leviticus 13:4, and Numbers 12:14 ("shut up outside the camp" until clean). In spite of these and other difficulties, the works of Witness Lee continues to increase and spread Local Churches around the globe.
Witness Lee's View of Christianity
Witness Lee preached that the apostle Paul addressed Titus as his "genuine child according to the common faith" (1:4). Lee identified this as "the faith that is common to all believers" (Recovery Version, footnote). Jude exhorted the believers to earnestly contend for the faith: "Beloved, while using all diligence to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you and exhort you to earnestly contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3Epistle of Jude
The Epistle of Jude, often shortened to Jude, is the penultimate book of the New Testament and is attributed to Jude, the brother of James the Just. - Composition :...
). Witness Lee stated that this is "not subjective faith as our believing but objective faith as our belief, referring to the things we believe in, the contents of the New Testament as our faith (Acts 6:7; 1 Tim. 1:19, 3:9, 4:1, 5:8, 6:10, 21; 2 Tim. 3:8, 4:7; Titus 1:13), in which we believe for our common salvation
Salvation
Within religion salvation is the phenomenon of being saved from the undesirable condition of bondage or suffering experienced by the psyche or soul that has arisen as a result of unskillful or immoral actions generically referred to as sins. Salvation may also be called "deliverance" or...
. This faith has been delivered once for all to the saints".
Although Lee saw the local churches as holding the same faith as the rest of Christianity and that Christians should be made one, Lee distanced himself from other Christian church groups and organizations,
"The Lord is not building His church in Christendom, which is composed of the apostate Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant denominations, "!"
Lee taught that any church not organized on the foundational principle of one church per city (what he called "the local ground of unity") was apostate. He thought that recognizing such churches by attending services in anything but a qualified stance was sinful. Lee states,
"The apostate church has deviated from the Lord's word and become heretical. The reformed church, though recovered to the Lord's word to some extent, has denied the Lord's name by denominating herself, taking many other names, such as Lutherans, Wesleyan, Anglican, Presbyterian, Baptist, etc. ... To deviate from the Lord's word is apostasy, and to denominate the church by taking any name other than the Lord's is spiritual fornication.".
So although Lee sought to be viewed as an integral part in the recovery of Christian truths and practices alongside a long line of Christian preachers, the result was to be separate from the same:
"I am afraid that a number of us are still under the negative influence of Christendom. We all have to realize that today the Lord is going on and on to fully recover us and bring us fully out of Christendom." and, "But the organization of the denominations in which they are is not of God. The denominational organizations have been utilized by Satan to set up his satanic system to destroy God's economy of the proper church life."
These and similar statements set up a dividing line between the local churches and other Christian groups. Lee cared little for the acceptance of his contemporaries. He wrote,
"We do not care for Christianity, we do not care for Christendom, we do not care for the Roman Catholic church, and we do not care for all the denominations, because in the Bible it says that the great Babylon is fallen. This is a declaration. Christianity is fallen, Christendom is fallen, Catholicism is fallen, and all the denominations are fallen. Hallelujah!"
Teaching that Christianity had become hopelessly corrupt, he followed a unique theology based on Watchman Nee's. It emphasized a deep, personal, ongoing encounter with God, and a practical, daily commitment to one's local church. Lee taught, as Nee did, that all Christian work was ultimately for the sake of edifying the church and that all other benefits were secondary. He thought that since the rest of Christianity was organized in a way that invalidated its stand as the proper church, there could be nothing for him to learn from or to build upon.
Published works
In English there are approximately 200 books written by Lee that are available, all published by Living Stream MinistryLiving Stream Ministry
Living Stream Ministry , founded in 1968 by Witness Lee, is a non-profit corporation based in Anaheim, California, within the Local churches...
. Many of his speeches have been edited and published as over 400 titles in as many as 11 different languages, such as Chinese, Korean, Spanish, etc.
Witness Lee's major work, The Life-Study of The Bible, comprises over 24,000 pages of commentary
Exegesis
Exegesis is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially a religious text. Traditionally the term was used primarily for exegesis of the Bible; however, in contemporary usage it has broadened to mean a critical explanation of any text, and the term "Biblical exegesis" is used...
on every book of the Bible from the perspective of the believer's enjoyment and experience of God's divine life in Christ through the Holy Spirit. They were originally messages spoken over a number of years by Lee during trainings to believers who met in local churches.
Lee began another major work, Crystallization-Study of the Bible, using messages designed to take a look at the high points, or "crystals", of each book of the Bible. However, Lee died before completing this work.
Witness Lee was the chief editor of a new translation of the New Testament into Chinese, which he called the Recovery Version (Chinese). He also directed its translation into English.
Witness Lee wrote, collected, and translated Christian hymns. From 1963 to 1964, Witness Lee wrote the lyrics to about 200 new hymns which he collated with hymns from other authors. He categorized them by topic for the current edition of Hymns, totaling 1348.
Living Stream Ministry
In 1965 Witness Lee founded Living Stream MinistryLiving Stream Ministry
Living Stream Ministry , founded in 1968 by Witness Lee, is a non-profit corporation based in Anaheim, California, within the Local churches...
(LSM), located in Anaheim, California, which publishes Witness Lee's and Watchman Nee's books.
Radio broadcasts
A radio broadcast of his messages can be heard on Christian radio stations in the United States.See also
- Local churches (affiliation)
- Watchman NeeWatchman NeeWatchman Nee was a Chinese Christian author and church leader during the early 20th century. He spent the last 20 years of his life in prison and was severely persecuted by the Communists in China. Together with Wangzai, Zhou-An Lee, Shang-Jie Song, and others, Nee founded The Church Assembly...
- Living Stream MinistryLiving Stream MinistryLiving Stream Ministry , founded in 1968 by Witness Lee, is a non-profit corporation based in Anaheim, California, within the Local churches...
External links
- Detailed biography from Living Stream MinistryLiving Stream MinistryLiving Stream Ministry , founded in 1968 by Witness Lee, is a non-profit corporation based in Anaheim, California, within the Local churches...
- Current Use of Witness Lee's Teachings from LocalChurchReport
- A History of Witness Lee in America
- A Fading Vision - Witness Lee's Healthy Blueprint for The Vital Groups from VitalGroups.org
- An Oral History of Witness Lee in America - By James Barber (.mp3 Format, 89min, 10.2Meg)
- My last conversation with Brother Witness Lee from Kerry S. Robichaux
- Lebensstrom e.V. in Berlin, Germany - Distribution of the complete works of Witness Lee in the German speaking area
- Major Problem Teachings of Witness Lee It is this combination of beliefs and behaviors that mark The Local Church as different but wrong nonetheless.