Read and pray: “Go forth out of Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans, and declare this with the voice of joy; proclaim it and carry it to the end of the earth; say, The Lord has redeemed His servant Jacob.” (Isa. 48:20)
In 1934, countless people were leaving the denominations. This became a trend, and there was enthusiastic response almost everywhere. We received letters every day, and the majority of them were about leaving the denominations. All the letters were handed to me because I was the acting editor of Collection of Newsletters.
From these letters, we learned many stories of people leaving the denominations. We received letters from the north, south, and central parts of China. Leaving the denominations even caused problems among the Western missionaries. Some of the missionaries from the China Inland Mission called a special meeting to discuss how to handle the situation. In the eyes of institutional Christianity, it was a revolution. Everywhere, many people were leaving the denominations.
Those who left the denominations generally did so openly and not secretly. In most cases, they wrote and signed an official letter asking the denomination to remove their names from the membership roll. Everything was done officially. Although not a rule, the general practice was to write an official letter declaring the decision to leave the denomination. The believers left fervently and vigorously.
THE TESTIMONY TO BE MAINTAINED
At the beginning of 1935, some coworkers felt that the trend of leaving the denominations was not proper because it brought up many sensitive issues. Therefore, Brother Nee spoke to all the coworkers to clarify the matter of our testimony.
He stated that leaving the denominations was not our testimony; rather, our testimony is Christ: Christ as the Savior, Christ as life, Christ as the conquering King, Christ as the Lord of all things, Christ as the centrality of God, and Christ as the universality of God.
He also emphasized that the testimony of Christ is wholly in the church, and that the church is one, and its ground is local. All these matters were made very clear.
In 1937, Brother Nee also spoke on how to maintain the Lord’s testimony by establishing churches city by city. These messages were compiled and published in Rethinking the Work, currently published under the title The Normal Christian Church Life.
The Lord raised us up in the East for the purpose of maintaining the testimony of Christ expressed in the church. Such a testimony includes saving people and making them spiritual. It also includes building up the saints, city by city, to be a corporate dwelling place of God and the Body of Christ, so that Christ may be expressed through this corporate vessel.
Although the church is expressed in different cities, all the local churches should be one in testimony and maintain fellowship with one another. This is what the Lord has shown us, and this is the testimony He wants us to maintain.
Enjoy more: Hymn 79
“Praise the Lord — His Love”
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