Additional Quotes about the Local Church by Witness Lee and Watchman Nee

The church is the organism of the Triune God. The church is the organic Body of Christ, which is God's family, God's household, God's folks becoming His home, His dwelling place. There is no need to argue about any doctrinal matters or practices. We just need to see and know that the church is God's total reproduction, God's continuation, God's full growth, God's increase, God's rich surplus, and this surplus today is the organism of the Triune God, the organic Body of Christ, which is the family, the folks of God becoming His dwelling place on this earth. Today God not only is with us, with the church, but also has made us His dwelling place.

Some like to talk about the distinction between the universal church and the local churches. Even such a thing is not worthwhile of arguing about. God's house, the Body of Christ, is just one.

(Witness Lee, Organic Union, 74)

How we praise the Lord that in His recovery we have oneness! Although we came from many different kinds of backgrounds, today we are one. We are one not by gifts or by teachings, but by life. In the Lord's recovery, we have many ex-pastors, ex-missionaries, ex-ministers, and ex-Bible teachers, but all of these are now one in life. We do not care for opinions, we only care for life. We are not one in gifts; we are one in life. Because we are alive, we are one.

(Witness Lee, Visions of Ezekiel, 142-143)

There are two meanings to the word "church." The first is the universal church, and the second is the local church. The universal church is the general church, which includes the church of yesterday, today, here, and elsewhere. It even includes the church in the future. The local church is the church that appears in each locality.

The church is local, whereas the work is regional. A local church cannot encompass the work of a region, because a region involves more than one local church. However, all the local churches plus all the regional works equal the general church. In order for us to practice the oneness of the church, we must practice the oneness of the general church. This requires that we learn to follow others and learn to be one.

(Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, Resumption, 593-594)

The divine oneness of the Body of Christ should be kept both in the local churches as the local expressions of the Body and in the universal source and substance. In every way we should keep the divine oneness of the Body of Christ.

(Witness Lee, Organic Union, 94)

In Revelation 1:11-12 and 20, the seven golden lampstands, symbols of the seven local churches in Asia, are all identical in essence, nature, shape, color, appearance, function, and expression. In all these aspects the seven lampstands are identical. This signifies that all the local churches should be the same in essence, nature, shape, color, appearance, function, and expression. The seven lampstands were identical to the point that if they were placed side-by-side before our eyes, we could not discern which is which.

The seven churches differed abnormally only in the negative things, which were rebuked, judged, condemned, and corrected by the Lord for elimination. These negative things include: in Ephesus, some calling themselves apostles and not being such, and the church leaving its first love (Rev. 2:1a, 2, 4); in Pergamos, the church settling in the world, some holding the teaching of Balaam, and some holding the teaching of the Nicolaitans (2:12a, 13-15); in Thyatira, the church tolerating the woman Jezebel to teach and lead the Lord's slaves to commit fornication and to eat idol sacrifices (2:18a, 20); in Sardis, the church having a name that it was living but it was dead, and its works not being found by Christ completed before God (3:1-2); and in Laodicea, the church being neither cold nor hot, but boasting, "I am rich and have become rich and have need of nothing" (3:14-15, 17). The Lord's rebuking indicates that the Lord does not want such differences.

By reading the epistles to the seven churches in Revelation, we can see that all the local churches should be the same in positive things, but not in negative things. The churches should be different only in business affairs. For example, whether a church buys a piece of land and builds a meeting hall should depend on the church's need and on the Lord's sovereignty. The churches should not be required to follow one another in affairs such as these, but all the churches should be one in all the spiritual aspects concerning the Lord's testimony. This is the first item as the base for us to practice the proper one accord.

(Witness Lee, Eldership (2), 55-57)

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