The Practical Building Up of the Local Churches

Additional Quotes about the Local Church

The following quotes express Witness Lee’s understanding of the God-ordained way to build the church:

1. Preaching the Gospel

The ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee is replete with incitements to the believers to preach the gospel in order to gain material for the building of the Body of Christ. The following quotes convey their deep feeling:

In order to go on, we all need to drop our old concepts and pick up the new view of the Lord’s present recovery. For the building up of the Body of Christ, we need the material. In Haggai the Lord charged the Israelites, “Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified” (1:8). Today we need to go to knock on doors because we need the material for God’s house. I am sharing this with the hope that we could be rescued from the wrong understanding and wrong position. We all have to admit that there are many ways to preach the gospel, but to visit people in their homes is the best way.

The Lord told us in Luke 14:23, “Go out into the roads and hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.” The higher class people are not in the hedges. Only those who are lazy and idle will be there. In 1 Corinthians 1, Paul says that God has not called many wise, powerful, or wellborn people. Instead, most of the people God has chosen are the weak of the world, the lowborn of the world, and the despised (vv. 26-28). In Luke 14 the Lord told us to compel these people to come in.

We may be fully biased in our understanding and yet still believe that we are enjoying Christ. If we have not been bearing fruit for years, we may be cut off from the vine without realizing it (John 15:2a, 6). We may be in a self- deceiving position. If we are really enjoying Christ, we will surely bear fruit. Where has our fruit been in the past years? For our local church to remain at the same number year after year is a shame. I must be honest to the One whom I serve and to the ones whom I serve. We are too biased. We must come back to the straight way.

(Witness Lee, Eldership (1), 125)

The gospel is Christ, who is the very embodiment of the processed Triune God, reaching us as the consummated Spirit, who is the consummation of the Triune God for our enjoyment. According to the truth, the gospel is the entire New Testament. Christians are used to saying that there are four Gospels, but Paul told us that the entire book of Romans is the gospel of God (1:1, 15). It includes the preaching of God, the condemnation of God upon fallen man, and the Body life, including the local churches in chapter sixteen. Have you ever received such a broad view of the definition of the gospel? Personally, the gospel is a wonderful person, and according to the truth, the gospel is the entire divine revelation of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. God’s New Testament economy is the gospel. We have to believe in such a gospel, preach such a gospel, and live uniquely for such a gospel. The consummated Spirit, who is God Himself reaching us, eventually has become the seven Spirits in Revelation (1:4; 4:5; 5:6). The seven Spirits are also a part of the gospel.

Truthwise, the gospel is the entire revelation of God’s New Testament economy, including the first verse of Matthew, “Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham,” and including the last verse of Revelation, “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen.” Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham, in Matthew 1:1 is the very grace in Revelation 22:21. In the first chapter of Matthew, the first chapter of the entire New Testament, we are also told that God was born into Mary (v. 20). The gospel includes God being born in Mary. The conception of the Savior was God’s incarnation (John 1:14). The Gospel of Matthew also includes the church. In Matthew 16 Jesus Christ our Lord told His disciples He would build His church upon this rock, the revelation concerning Himself as the Christ, the Son of the living God (vv. 16-18). In Matthew 24:14 the Lord told us that the gospel of the kingdom of the heavens, which is the gospel of Matthew, will be preached to the whole inhabited earth.

Consider how much truth is in the Gospel of John, especially in chapters fourteen through sixteen, concerning the divine Trinity and concerning you and me as branches of the processed Triune God. Do you realize that we are the branches of the processed Triune God (15:5)? When I come to the details of John 14-16, I get excited. The Son is in the Father, the Father is in the Son (14:10-11), and eventually this Son is realized as the Spirit (14:17-20), so the entire Triune God comes to make an abode with us (14:23). Where are you now? You have to say that you are in the processed Triune God. And where is He now? In us. This mutual abode of us in the Triune God and He in us is the church, and this is the central point, the focus, of the Gospel of John.

(Witness Lee, Being Desperate, 31-32)

I am burdened that the saints in Anaheim open up their homes for the preaching of the gospel or for fellowship with the saints. There is no need for the elders to arrange this. Families in the same neighborhood may come together to pray and seek the Lord’s leading. The Lord may lead some families to hold an informal gospel meeting in one of the homes. Others may be led to invite their unsaved neighbors to a home for a time of refreshments. In doing this, we should not try to proselytize others. Rather, we should minister salvation to the unsaved ones and minister Christ to the believers. If we minister the riches of Christ to others, they will be stirred up to seek the Lord. It is the Lord who adds to the church. Our intention is not to proselytize; it is to minister Christ as life to others and to give them a testimony of our salvation, of our love for the Lord, and of our oneness. We are here to be a collective living testimony of those who live by Christ and for Christ.

(Witness Lee, All Ages, 29)

Without self-exaltation, there could be no division. Living the life of a God-man saves us from all these negative things. To live such a life is to live Christ (Phil. 1:21), the very model of the God-man life. Dear saints, this is my burden. We all need to live such a life —the older ones and the young ones, the brothers and the sisters, the elders and the common saints. If we do, we are faithful to what we have heard. Then the Lord will have not a model only by individuals but a model by a group of us. This is the model that the Lord needs to show to today’s Christianity, a model of what His church should be.

If we live such a life, surely we will go out to contact people for the preaching of the gospel. A vital group is a group of this kind of people. The vital groups should not be practiced as a formality; they should be groups of people who live such a life. Our living the life of a God-man will save people, edify others, and build up the local churches even to the building up of the Body of Christ.

(Witness Lee, Living a Life, 41)

In the last part of Ezekiel 36 the Lord promised that He would flock people in, but that we need to inquire of Him. In other words we need to pray for the increase. “O Lord, flock people in. You promised this to us.” In the past, whenever we prayed for an increase in number, the Lord answered. I feel we need to pray more. The Lord promised, yet He needs our inquiring. He promised that He will increase our number by flocks of men, but we must pray for this and ask Him to do it. In all the local churches, I hope that you will pray definitely and specifically for the increase of numbers. Never be content with the number that you have at the present time. We all should aspire to be doubled within a period of time. We all must pray, “Lord, flock people in!”

(Witness Lee, Visions of Ezekiel, 135)

Several crucial factors brought in the flow of the river. First was the building up and completion of the house. Then the people began to have their living according to the house, according to its pattern, its laws, and its statutes. They began to live according to the house of God. Their daily walk, their daily life, and all their conduct was according to the form, fashion, pattern, statutes, and laws of the house (43:10-11). Next, there were the serving ones, the priests, serving the Lord in a proper way. Finally, there were all the adequate offerings: out of two hundred lambs, one was offered; out of the wheat and the barley, one-sixtieth was offered; and out of the oil, one-hundredth was offered. There were the yearly offerings, the monthly offerings, the weekly offerings, the daily offerings, and all the solemn feasts. How rich are all these items! We have to realize that the experience of all these items brought in the flow of the river. When the Lord saw all these things, He was so happy. He saw the house with all its forms and statutes, He saw the priests and the offerings, and He was very happy. Therefore, He sent the flowing of the river. The river began to flow out of the house. Wherever and whenever a group of believers are built up in oneness as Ezekiel described, the river will flow out of their building up. The river flows out of the building. The flow depends upon the building. If there is a building of the church in your place, the river will flow out. If there is a house where the Lord can say, “This is the place of my throne, and this is the place where I can put the soles of my feet, and this is the place where I can dwell, rest, and be satisfied” (43:7), be assured that the flow will come out. The flow comes out of the proper building.

Today in Christianity many zealous ones pay attention to outreach and to the gospel, yet their condition and their situation are very poor. They go out to work for the Lord, but no flow follows them. They have no flow because they neglect the source of the flow —the building up of the church. There can be no flow apart from the building up. If there is a strong building up in the local churches, there will be a flowing river going out to other places. There will be the impact and the flooding. How much we need the building! We need the temple, the house of God, to be properly built up. Out of such a building, the flow of God will issue. Everything depends upon the building. The preaching of the gospel depends upon the building. The impact of the gospel upon the world depends upon the building. When the Christians are built up as one, the world will be convinced (John 17:23). The divided situation of Christianity greatly damages the impact of the gospel.

(Witness Lee, Visions of Ezekiel, 223-224)

I hope the elders would have an impression that one of the jobs of the elders is to stir up the fire of the gospel in their local church. They have to increase the wood regularly, stir up the fire regularly, and cause the brothers and sisters to become zealous for the gospel regularly. It is not right to go to a local church and find the brothers and sisters interested in spiritual things, yet cold towards the gospel. There is something wrong in this kind of situation. No matter how big a church is and how mature and deep in experience it is, it must have the fire of the gospel. This is one thing that the elders have to be responsible for. The church must have zeal for the gospel.

The elders must lead the brothers and sisters to be zealous in the gospel. If a local church is lacking in zeal for the gospel, that church must be sick. Regardless whether a local church is large or small, it must have zeal for the gospel. Of course, the elders have to personally cultivate this zeal for the gospel.

(Witness Lee, Elders’ Management, 205-206)

We must be vital persons. We must practice visiting people for the gospel once a week for two hours. Suppose that you pick up a resolution by praying, “Lord, I am on this earth for Your recovery, for Your Body. Your Body needs the human members for Your divine constitution. If I don’t go out to get sinners saved to become Your members, then how could Your Body be built up? My going out is not for soul-winning. I am not for that. I am for Your Body. I have to go out to get members for Your Body.” After making such a resolution before the Lord, you can begin to contact people for two hours every week. There are many ways to contact people and many places you can go. You may go out week after week and gain no one until the end of the year. At that time, you may meet a man while you are standing in line at the bank, and as a result you may gain him and his entire family. If you go out faithfully and consistently every week for two hours, you surely can gain one person as remaining fruit in a year.

Not all the saints are able to practice this consistent labor in the gospel because of various circumstances and weaknesses, but perhaps forty out of one hundred can. If thirty of these gain one a year, this will yield a thirty percent increase. In this way it would be easy for a local church to gain a thirty percent increase every year. The Lord said that the seed sown on the good earth bears fruit and produces either a hundredfold, sixtyfold, or thirtyfold (Matt. 13:23).

A thirty percent yearly increase would be the highest in the history of Christianity. Do you believe that you can go out two hours each week, fifty-two times a year, and not gain one person? I believe that anyone who would do this would gain one person a year. To knock on doors means to contact people by any possible way.

(Witness Lee, Problems Causing Turmoil, 37)

Regardless of whether they are peddlers, rickshaw coolies or domestic servants, they all must be sent out to preach the gospel. For this reason, we need to give all the brothers and sisters a proper training so that they will be brought to the point where they are ready to be sent out. Fifty will be sent to one place and thirty to another place where they will be able to help the local churches without becoming a burden to them.

(Watchman Nee, Further Talks, 153)

Paul called his entire sixteen-chapter Epistle to the Romans “the gospel of God” (1:1). The gospel of God in Romans does not include merely the truth concerning justification by faith in the first four chapters. It also includes the Body of Christ in chapter twelve and the local churches in chapter sixteen. Even the local churches are included in the gospel. Without the church, where is the gospel? According to my experience, the gospel would be very deficient and poor without the church. Actually, the entire New Testament is the gospel, from the first page of Matthew through the last page of Revelation. The New Testament as the gospel is typified by the Old Testament. Thus, we may say that the gospel actually includes the entire Bible.

(Witness Lee, Direction of the Lord’s Move, 21-22)

Therefore, if we come to a place where Christ is not named, we must preach the gospel, win men to the Lord, and found a local church. If we come to a place where there are already Christians, but on various grounds these believers separate themselves into denominational “churches,” our task is just the same as in the other place —we must preach the gospel, lead men to the Lord, and form them into a church on the scriptural ground of locality. All the while we must maintain an attitude of inclusiveness, not exclusiveness, towards those believers who are in different sects, for they, as we, are children of God, and they live in the same locality; therefore, they belong to the same church as we do. For ourselves, we cannot join any sect or remain in one, for our church connection can only be on local ground, but in regard to others we must not make leaving a sect the condition of fellowship with those believers who are in a sect. That will make undenominationalism our church ground, instead of locality. Let us be clear on this point, that an undenominational church is not a local church. There is a vast difference between the two. A local church is undenominational, and it is positive and inclusive; but an undenominational church is not a local church, and it is negative and exclusive.

(Watchman Nee, Collected Works, Set 2, Vol. 30, 87)

Today our urgent need is to practice the new way diligently. The elders, the full-timers, and the co-workers should be the first ones to take the new way. All the elders should take the lead to get new ones saved and to always have two or three new ones under their caring hand. Simply to manage the affairs of the church is not adequate. In a sense, the Lord is not for that. The Lord is for bringing sinners to be saved, regenerated, sanctified, and transformed to be His living members. It is not sufficient merely to have a large number meeting in a local church, because they may be meeting in the way of Christianity, coming together on the Lord’s Day merely to constitute a good attendance. We should not shout “Hallelujah!” for merely a good attendance. We must ask whether the attendants are being nourished, sanctified, renewed daily, and transformed. Some may say that they are not able to follow so quickly what I am speaking; they need more time before they can begin to practice this kind of care for new believers. However, we will not be able to say this to the Lord when He comes to settle accounts with us. The Lord has already waited for nearly two thousand years.

The most pleasant thing to the Lord is that those who love Him and seek Him would have two or three new ones under their care. After their children get married, parents always like to see a new child come forth. If a son has been married for three years but does not have a child, his parents may not be happy to visit him. Parents do not want to see their children’s rose garden; they want to see grandchildren. If there are two or three grandchildren in a home, the grandparents will want to stay all day to play with them. The Lord desires that two or three new ones be raised up under our caring hand. We may make excuses, saying that it is too hard to get people saved, but the Lord may simply admit that He is a hard man, reaping where He did not sow (Matt. 25:24-26).

(Witness Lee, Group Meetings, 64-65)

You must seek the sinners and get them saved and baptized regardless of what way you take. Whether you go out and knock on doors or stay at home and call people on the telephone, you must bring the unbelievers to the Lord. If you stay home and do not contact people, you will not see people saved. According to the Bible, God’s ordained way is not to call meetings for preaching the gospel. Although this is not wrong, it is not the best way to preach the gospel. The way ordained by the Lord is for us to go to reach people. You should not call people to come, but you should go. Luke 10:2 and 6 tell us to go, even to the people’s homes. In John 15:16 the Lord Jesus told the disciples that He appointed them to go forth and bear fruit. You must go and get the people.

According to the divine revelation, the course of the world today consists of four things: the white horse —gospel preaching; the red horse —war; the black horse —famine, the shortage of food; and the pale horse —death (Rev. 6:2-8). In God’s eyes there is nothing else but these four horses carrying the gospel, war, famine, and death on the earth.

If we do not preach the gospel, we are not on the white horse. We may be on the red horse. Although we may say we are not in a war, there are different kinds of wars. Today, there is an educational war going on. All of the colleges, the professors, and the students are competing. All this competition is a kind of war. Countries and societies are also competing. There is even a commercial war raging. Firms and corporations are all competing and fighting for money and fighting to make more money. The University of California at Berkeley has all the top professors because it pays more. Everybody today is for money. Countries are competing for money. Japan first used guns and warships to invade others. Then they learned that this did not work so well. It was not so profitable. So Japan developed automobiles like Toyota and Honda. Today, Toyota is a very effective weapon for the Japanese. As a result they have made a lot of money. Today other people are rising up to resist the Japanese financial expansion. This is a warfare. Even in the United Nations there is fighting daily among all the delegates. They are not using guns, but pens.

The entire world today is a fighting world. War is going on everywhere. However, the more people fight, the more famine they have, and the more they are without God’s blessing. This is followed by death. However, we are not like this. We are on the white horse. I am so happy that I am not on the black horse or pale horse, but on the white horse. The white horse includes preaching the gospel, having home meetings to feed the young ones, holding group meetings for perfecting, and prophesying to build up the church. If we do not preach the gospel to save the sinners, if we do not have any young ones to feed, nourish, and cherish, if we do not collect the new ones together for a group meeting, or if we do not have the capacity and ability to prophesy for the building up of the church, we are not on the white horse. We should be on the white horse, not the education horse, the corporation horse, or the computer horse. We should be on the white horse.

(Witness Lee, Instruction, 36-38)

After the brothers and sisters in a local church have received a certain amount of edification, the church should encourage them to receive the Lord’s leading to migrate to other localities and far away places for the sake of the gospel.

When the gospel went out from Jerusalem in the beginning, there were two lines. The first line consisted of the believers scattering abroad and preaching the gospel. The second line consisted of apostles doing the same thing. The gospel preaching in the first half of Acts (before chapter thirteen) was done almost entirely along the first line, while the gospel preaching in the second half of Acts (beginning in chapter thirteen) was done almost entirely along the second line. In God’s eyes the believers’ preaching is as significant as that of the apostles’ preaching. God’s desire is to have His gospel preached to the entire creation through these two lines. Unfortunately, today nearly all of the preaching of the gospel is along the line of the apostles; almost no one preaches along the line of the believers. Consequently, the gospel cannot go out as fast as in the beginning. For the sake of the spread of the gospel in these last days, we should allow God to recover the line of the believers’ preaching.

(Watchman Nee, Collected Works, Set 3, Vol. 55, 50-51)

Look at the branch of a tree filled with the life juice. The branch has the overflow of life and this overflow produces fruit. Fruit is the issue of the inner riches of life. We must realize that gospel preaching should be fruit bearing and that fruit bearing comes from God’s blessing. Although we need to pray for the gospel preaching, it is not simply a matter of our endeavoring. We must have God’s blessing. If a church wants to increase, the gospel certainly must be preached. However, if the preaching of the gospel is not under God’s blessing, nothing will be gained regardless of how much we endeavor. The fruit gained will not have human faces, but scorpion faces. You may bring in many people, but when God looks at them He will say, “This is a scorpion, that is a serpent, and that is a frog. Yes, you brought in many people, but not many with a proper face expressing God.” What kind of person are you going to bring in? People with the faces of scorpions or people with beautiful faces expressing God Himself? The fruit you bear is an expression of what you are. If you are an apple tree, you can never bear oranges. If you are a peach tree, you can never bear bananas. If you are going to produce bananas, you must be a banana tree. If you are a tree of knowledge, don’t expect to bear the fruit of life. Only the tree of life can produce the fruit of life. We all must endeavor to preach the gospel, but consider what we are. If we are in the image of God and if we have the dominion of God, we will surely bring others into the image of God and dominion of God. All the local churches need the increase, but never use gimmicks, which may produce “Moabites” instead of the proper fruit.

(Witness Lee, LS of Galatians, 107-108)

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