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Additional Quotes about the Local Church by Witness Lee and Watchman NeeIllustrations of the Ground of the Local ChurchThe local churches are different from the denominations. In Genesis 2 Adam gave names to all the animals, but none of them matched him. He needed someone who matched him, who was bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh (Gen. 2:19-23). Just as Eve was different from all the animals, the Lord has made the church different from everything else. Some who do not care for the local churches may still appreciate that the churches are different from the denominations, and they may try to imitate the churches. They may imitate the churches, yet they may still not be the proper church. The Lord’s recovery is not a matter of certain practices. It is the recovery of the local church as the expression of the Body of Christ. Today we have God, Christ, the Body, and the local churches. Because we are standing as the local churches, we are in the Lord’s recovery. (Witness Lee, Young People, 26-27) This is God’s sovereignty and wisdom. Suppose that today, for example, we are all living in Los Angeles. We could not have the home churches or the street churches; we could only have the city church. As long as we have the city church, all the saints in Los Angeles will be one. If we could have the street churches, we would be immediately divided. There could be a church on First Street, another on Second Street, and another on Third. If we could have home churches, it would be worse yet. The city keeps the unity that the saints may be one. If you move from Los Angeles to San Francisco, you need not be concerned as to which “church” you will go. It is so clear. You will go to the city church, the local church. You will not go to a church called by the name of some street, but to the local church in the city; not the church of some home or of some campus, but of the city. If you get into anything other than the local church of the city, you get into a division; if you get into the church of that city, you get into unity. (Witness Lee, Vision of the Church, 10-11) In Foochow, God ordained that there should only be one church, which is the church in Foochow. We cannot have a number of churches in one city. Fukien, however, is a province with many cities. In this province God has not sanctioned a church of Fukien. Anything that is bigger or smaller than the locality cannot form the basis for the church. (Watchman Nee, Collected Works, Set 2, Vol. 27, 193) In Revelation 1:11 the apostle John heard a voice saying to him, “What you see write in a scroll and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamos and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.” Here are seven churches in seven cities—one church for one city and one city with only one church. These are the local churches. Today the Lord is recovering the local churches. Wherever we go, we are the one local church there. If we go to Houston, we are the one local church in Houston. If we go to Anaheim, we are the one local church in Anaheim. The same is true if we go to San Francisco, Seattle, or anywhere else. (Witness Lee, High Gospel, 49-50) Ephesians 2:21-22 says, “In whom [Christ Jesus] all the building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit.” In whom you also means we local saints are also being built together. Wherever we go, wherever we are, we have to be the one local church in that locality. Then by being so preserved, we surely will learn the lesson and will spontaneously be built up together. Since I am now living in Los Angeles, I have to be a brother in the church in Los Angeles. Whether I like you or not, I cannot escape. I have to stay with you. This is my destiny. Therefore, I have to learn the lesson. I have to be dealt with. Even I have to be broken. I have to be transformed that I may be built up with you. If we all are like this, we all will be built up in the local churches. (Witness Lee, High Gospel, 50) |
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