Defense and Confirmation of the Gospel

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LOCAL CHURCHES IN ETHIOPIA

1

An Open Letter from the Local Churches A Brief History of the Local Churches in Africa Statement from Fuller Theological Seminary Testimonies from Respected Christians An Invitation

Living Stream Ministry holds the copyright for “An Open Letter from the Local Churches and Living Stream Ministry Concerning the Teachings of Witness Lee.” Text from this letter is reproduced here by permission. This book is: © 2014 DCP Press. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means—graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval systems—without permission from the copyright holders.

DCP Press is an imprint of:

Defense and Confirmation Project (DCP) P. O. Box 3217 Fullerton, CA 92834

DCP is a project to defend and confirm the New Testament ministry of and Witness Lee and the practice of the local churches.

Phil. 1:7 – Even as it is right for me to think this concerning you all because you have me in your heart, since both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel you are all fellow partakers with me of grace.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE ...... 5

AN OPEN LETTER FROM THE LOCAL CHURCHES ...... 7

INTRODUCTION ...... 7

OUR FAITH ...... 7

THE LORD’S RECOVERY—THE LIFE, FUNCTION, AND PRACTICAL ONENESS OF THE BELIEVERS ...... 9

HISTORY ...... 13

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE LOCAL CHURCHES IN AFRICA . 17

STATEMENT FROM FULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY .... 19

TESTIMONIES FROM RESPECTED CHRISTIANS ...... 23

AN INVITATION ...... 37

PREFACE

We are happy to offer this booklet to the Christian public as an introduction to the local churches and as an introduction to the ministry we follow. Because we have not made such an introduction earlier, some may hold misunderstandings concerning who we are and what we believe. Others may have questions concerning our teaching and practice. In the pages that follow are an open letter from the local churches and Living Stream Ministry, a statement of our faith, a number of short testimonies from respected Christian leaders, as well as a statement from Fuller Theological Seminary. We hope these resources will go far in providing any needed clarification and also help to demonstrate to readers that the brothers and sisters in the local churches are genuine believers and fellow members of the Body of Christ who hold to the “faith once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).

On behalf of the local churches in Ethiopia

Endale Feleke Andargachew Mekonnen (Hosanna) (Hawassa) Tamrat Teshome Wubishet Chala (Arsi Negele) (Gimma) Melakebirhan Fesiha Zeleke Dutti (Alamata) (Meki) Yohannes Alemayehu Seife Kifle (Dire Dawa) (Addis Ababa) Aman Semir Yoseph Teffera (Addis Ababa) (Addis Ababa)

July 2014

AN OPEN LETTER FROM THE LOCAL CHURCHES1

INTRODUCTION Over the past nine decades the ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee has edified believers in Christ and produced local churches on all six inhabited continents. The ministry of these two servants of God, which is published by Living Stream Ministry (LSM), stands upon the shoulders of the many great Christian teachers of the past, such as Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Wesley, , C.H. Mackintosh, Andrew Murray, T. Austin-Sparks, and A.B. Simpson, to present both the broad span and the spiritual depths of the New Testament truths, particularly from the perspective of the believers knowing and experiencing Christ as their life for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ. OUR FAITH The faith affirmed by the local churches is the faith common to all believers, namely that:  The Bible is the Word of God, written under His inspiration word by word (2 Tim. 3:16), and is the complete and only written divine revelation of God to man (Deut. 4:2; 12:32; Prov. 30:5-6; Rev. 22:18-19);  There is one God (Deut. 6:4; 1 Cor. 8:4b; Isa. 45:5a), who is triune—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit (Matt. 28:19), co- existing (Matt. 3:16-17; 2. Cor. 13:14) and coinhering (John 14:10-11) in three persons, or hypostases, distinct but never separate, from eternity to eternity;

1 Adapted from “An Open Letter from the Local Churches and Living Stream Ministry Concerning the Teachings of Witness Lee” (May 25, 2013) submitted by “various brothers representing the local churches and by the editorial section of Living Stream Ministry,” available at an-open-letter.org.

8 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LOCAL CHURCHES

 Christ, the only begotten Son of God (John 1:18; 3:16), even God Himself (John 1:1), became a genuine man through incarnation (John 1:14), having both the divine and human natures (Rom. 9:5; 1 Tim. 2:5), the two natures being combined in one person and being preserved distinctly without confusion or change and without forming a third nature;  Christ died for our sins and was raised bodily from the dead (1 Cor. 15:3-4; Acts 4:10; Rom. 8:34), has been exalted to the right hand of God as Lord of all (Acts 5:31; 10:36), and will return as the Bridegroom for His bride, the church (John 3:29; Rev. 19:7), and as the King of kings to rule over the nations (Rev. 11:15; 19:16);  Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone (Eph. 2:5, 8) and in His completed work, resulting in our justification before God (Rom. 3:24, 28; Gal. 2:16) and in our being born of God to be His children (John 1:12-13);  The church as the unique Body of Christ, the issue of the work of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23), is composed of all genuine believers in Christ (Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 12:12) and, according to the New Testament revelation, is manifested in time and space in local churches, each of which includes all the believers in a given city, regardless of where they meet or how they may otherwise identify themselves (1 Cor. 1:2; 1 Thes. 1:1; Rev. 1:11); and  All the believers in Christ will participate in the divine blessings in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth for eternity (Rev. 21:1—22:5). These seven items broadly represent what we hold as “the faith once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). Although our teachings on other, secondary items are also grounded in Scripture, we acknowledge that genuine believers have historically held to many differing interpretations on these matters and continue to do so

AN OPEN LETTER 9

today. Therefore we diligently practice to receive all those whom the Lord has received (Rom. 14:3; 15:7). THE LORD’S RECOVERY—THE LIFE, FUNCTION, AND PRACTICAL ONENESS OF THE BELIEVERS We believe that the Lord is moving today to recover the proper testimony of the church in this age based upon the truths revealed in the New Testament. To this end He is working to recover the genuine experience of Christ as life, the function of all the members of His Body, and the practical oneness among the believers. In The Conclusion of the New Testament Witness Lee provides a helpful explanation of the concept of “recovery”: When we speak of the recovery of the church, we mean that something was there originally, that it became lost or damaged, and that now there is the need to bring that thing back to its original state. Because the church has become degraded through the many centuries of its history, it needs to be restored according to God’s original intention. Concerning the church, our vision should be governed not by the present situation nor by traditional practice but by God’s original intention and standard as revealed in the Scriptures. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, Messages 221- 239, 2447) In 1948 Watchman Nee spoke of the need for the recovery of the proper testimony of the Body of Christ that would match Ephesians 4: Brothers and sisters, we believe that there will be a day when God’s recovery will reach the fulfillment of Ephesians 4. God is doing a recovery work everywhere. The ultimate work among all these works may very well be the recovery of the Body testimony. God’s leading today is to bring us back to the beginning and to recover us to the condition at the beginning. (The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Volume 57: The Resumption of Watchman Nee’s Ministry, 221)

10 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LOCAL CHURCHES

The Experience of Christ as Life One vital item of recovery to which we are committed is the experience of Christ as life. In the writings of John there are many striking statements that reveal the Lord Himself as life and His intention that His believers know Him as life: “I am the way and the reality and the life” (John 14:6), “I am the resurrection and the life” (11:25), “I have come that they may have life” (10:10), and “He who has the Son has the life” (1 John 5:12), to cite just a few. The “life” spoken of by both John and the Lord Jesus is the very uncreated, divine life of God (Eph. 4:18), the eternal life of the Triune God (John 3:15-16), that is embodied in Christ and was lived out through Him while He was on the earth. It is life of another kind, of a source other than our mere human life. It is the life that is imparted into all believers at their regeneration, that is, when they are born again (v. 6). It is the life meant to be experienced and enjoyed by God’s people for their full salvation (Rom. 5:10). It is only by this life and the experience of the unsearchable riches of Christ that the church can manifest and express Christ as a living reality (Eph. 3:8, 10). In the ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, this life is the basis for all genuine Christian experience. Throughout their writings the eternal, uncreated life of God is made known, made practical, and made experiential. There is no greater need among God’s people, and no matter more crucial, than the experience of Christ as life. The Functioning of All the Members of the Body of Christ Another item being recovered by the Lord today is the crucial matter of the functioning of all the believers to build up the Body of Christ. According to Ephesians 4:11-12, the specially gifted members given to the Body by the Head do not accomplish the building up of the Body directly. Rather, they perfect all the believers to carry out the work of the ministry. Through the functioning of the gifted members as the joints of the rich supply and the operation in the measure of each perfected member, the Body of Christ builds itself up in the divine love organically and in mutuality (Eph. 4:16).

AN OPEN LETTER 11

Watchman Nee taught the importance of perfecting, or equipping, all the believers to function as members of the Body rather than limiting the Lord’s service to the work of a few: In the church no member should be left out. This is not the way taken by the Lord. Today, if the Lord is going to recover His testimony, He must make all the one-talented ones rise up. All who belong to the Lord are the members of the Body. Everyone must rise up and be in his function. (The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Volume 51: Church Affairs, 57-58) Witness Lee labored to work out the way to practice this. In the principle of “each one has” (1 Cor. 14:26), everyone in the local churches is encouraged and equipped to be an active participant in the meetings of the churches. Witness Lee laid out the biblical premise: In the present advance of the Lord’s recovery, He is also moving to recover the church meeting in mutuality (1 Cor. 14:23a, 26). In a big meeting with one person speaking and the rest listening, there is no mutuality. We have to meet as the church in the way that is revealed in 1 Corinthians 14:26- “Whenever you come together, each one has….” For every meeting we should get ourselves exercised to have something ready to share in the meeting. Then day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year, we all will be exercised for the building up of the Body of Christ organically. (The Present Advance of the Lord’s Recovery, 15) If you visit a Lord’s Day meeting of a local church, you will likely find such a meeting in mutuality: not one speaker, but many-perhaps twenty or thirty-each sharing their portion of Christ from their study of the Word, their contact with the Lord through prayer, and their day-by-day enjoyment and experience of Christ. This, indeed, is a striking characteristic of the churches raised up by this ministry.

12 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LOCAL CHURCHES

A Practical Testimony of Oneness According to Matthew 16:18, the church is first revealed in the New Testament as universal. Then, in Matthew 18:17, the church in its practicality is revealed as local. Since the universal church includes all believers, so also should its practical expression in a particular locality. Therefore, we hold the conviction that the biblical model for the church as practiced in the first century is more than adequate for the believers today. Since the church is God’s goal in this age and is woven into the very fabric of the gospel (Eph. 1—4), we dare not tamper with, adjust, or add to the blueprint unveiled in Scripture any more than we would tamper with, adjust, or add to the truth of the gospel. That blueprint identifies the church in a given place as being bounded by its geographical location, the city (Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5; 1 Cor. 1:2), and is inclusive of all the believers in that city. Hence, we meet only as the church in , the church in , or the church in Hong Kong, according to the revelation of the New Testament (Acts 8:1; 13:1; Rev. 1:11; 2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14). All believers possess the “oneness of the Spirit” (Eph. 4:3), and by meeting on the ground of this oneness, they seek to testify to that oneness, the oneness of the entire Body of Christ. We respect that every believer should be persuaded before the Lord as to how to meet and identify himself. Thus we make no distinction between those who meet with us and those who do not (Rom. 15:7; 1 Cor. 1:9). We feel compelled by conscience to maintain the testimony of oneness for the sake of the entire Body of Christ. How precious it is simply to take the Word of God by faith. It is our testimony that it is possible to practice the biblical revelation concerning the experience of Christ as life, the building up the Body of Christ by the functioning of all the members in mutuality, and the testimony of the oneness of the Body of Christ in local churches. We believe that what the Lord desires to recover is for the benefit of the entire Body of Christ, and we treasure fellowship in mutuality with our fellow believers in Christ.

AN OPEN LETTER 13

HISTORY Both Watchman Nee and Witness Lee were raised in Christian homes in the early twentieth century. As young men they began to serve the Lord in the 1920s in their respective hometowns in the south and north of . Both diligently studied the classic Christian writers, and both had ministries that bore the unmistakable sign of God’s blessing. In 1934 Witness Lee joined Watchman Nee in to carry out one work emphasizing the experience of Christ as life and the building up of the church. The two brothers labored together in the closest coordination, overseeing the growing publication outreach and fostering the spread of the churches across China. What took place in those years was a remarkable move of the Holy Spirit. The depths of the truths in the Bible poured forth through their ministry as they labored diligently to bring the believers into a personal and corporate living that matches the New Testament. Their work attracted tens of thousands of followers among native Chinese, most of whom were newly saved. By the time the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was established in 1949, several hundred local churches, often called the “Little Flock” by outsiders, had been raised up throughout the country. The local churches were able not only to survive persecution but also to thrive and flourish under it, because they strongly emphasized the need of every member to have a daily time with the Lord in His Word, to learn to serve Him in the gospel, and to have regular fellowship with other believers, including meeting from house to house (Acts 2:46). This pattern affected much of the “underground church” in China. Today it is estimated that there are between eighty and one hundred million believers there. Many of them offer much credit and gratitude to Watchman Nee for the survival of the church in China. In 1949, prior to the establishment of the PRC, Watchman Nee, with the support of his co-workers, charged Witness Lee to go to with the hope of preserving all that the Lord had revealed and established through their labor. With the situation in China uncertain, Watchman Nee also arranged for the continuation of the

14 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LOCAL CHURCHES

publication work through the establishment of additional bookrooms in Taiwan and Hong Kong, both of which he placed under Witness Lee’s general oversight. These decisions were shown to be under the sovereign hand of God. Nee was arrested two years later, along with many leading ones among the local churches. He was never released, and his direct ministry ended at that time. The extent and reach of the work of these two men is remarkable. Five years after Watchman Nee’s arrest, and totally unbeknown to him, notes were published from a series of messages he had given in Europe in the 1930s. These notes were published in 1957 in a book entitled The Normal Christian Life. Over the next ten years it became tremendously popular in Europe, North America, and eventually on every continent. It is widely considered a twentieth century Christian classic and is receiving renewed interest today. In ensuing years several other titles by Watchman Nee, including Changed into His Likeness, Love Not the World, The Normal Christian Church Life, and Sit, Walk, Stand, were also published in English. Each achieved great popularity, and by the mid-1960s Watchman Nee had become one of the most widely read authors among Christians seeking a deeper experience of Christ and a more satisfying and biblical approach to the church. Christians from an entire generation, across a wide range of theological orientations, acknowledge Watchman Nee as one of the major influences on their Christian life. Now a new generation is discovering the wealth of spiritual riches in the writings of both Watchman Nee and Witness Lee. Upon his arrival in Taiwan in 1949, Witness Lee helped to bring about one of the most notable spiritual revivals of the twentieth century. From a modest beginning with five hundred believers, and in a country largely lacking the knowledge of Christ, tens of thousands soon embraced the Savior, and local churches were established in cities throughout the island. Within six years nearly fifty thousand believers were meeting in the local churches in Taiwan. Furthermore, the work spread throughout the Far East, with churches being

AN OPEN LETTER 15

established in the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, and Korea. In 1962, following the Lord’s leading and encouraged by a growing interest in Watchman Nee’s writings in the West, Witness Lee moved to Los Angeles and established the work of the ministry in North America. As in Taiwan, local churches spread quickly throughout North and Central America. Churches then sprang up in South America, Europe, Australasia, and Africa. Following the end of the Cold War, this spread continued into the Russian-speaking world. In recent years a number of local churches have been established in the Middle East. Today there are more than four thousand local churches outside of China. As there is no “headquarters” or formal affiliation, compiling the total number of members is difficult, but conservative estimates range from 1.5 to 2 million believers globally. In addition to the extensive spread of the work that Watchman Nee and he began in China, Witness Lee left behind a remarkable breadth of written ministry. In total he published more than six hundred titles, many now available in more than fifty languages. His signature work, Life-study of the Bible, is an exhaustive expository commentary on the entire Bible with almost two thousand chapters and twenty-five thousand pages, all of which reveal and make practical the genuine experience of Christ as life and the proper Christian service for the building up of the Body of Christ. While he was ministering the Life- study series, he also wrote extensive outlines, footnotes, and cross references for a new translation of the New Testament called the Recovery Version. Many thousands of believers today, both within and outside the local churches, appreciate in Witness Lee’s writings the same spiritual quality and faithful, insightful development of the divine revelation found in Watchman Nee’s works. Many years after Watchman Nee’s death, a prison cellmate testified of his being saved under Watchman Nee’s care. According to this cellmate’s testimony, Watchman Nee charged him that if he were ever released from prison, he must find Witness Lee, for, he said, “When you see Witness Lee, you see me.” Today the ministry of these two

16 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LOCAL CHURCHES

servants of the Lord has been faithfully published by Living Stream Ministry. Most of their writings are available online at the LSM website: ministrybooks.org.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE LOCAL CHURCHES IN AFRICA

In 1970, several seeking Christians in Ghana read The Normal Christian Life and The Normal Christian Church Life by Watchman Nee. When these brothers and sisters heard that Watchman Nee’s closest co- worker, Witness Lee, was ministering in Los Angeles, some of them began to attend conferences in the . From that small beginning, local churches soon sprang up in Nigeria, Libya, South Africa, and Zimbabwe through the spreading of the spiritual food in the publications. Since the early 1970s, the church life in Ghana has grown to over 1,500 brothers and sisters in more than 40 local churches. In the whole of Africa there are now over 5,100 brothers and sisters meeting in 127 local churches in 17 different countries. After many years of fellowship and prayer among the churches, the Full-Time Training in Pretoria (FTTP), South Africa, was established in 2013. The FTTP receives young people from throughout Africa who wish to offer themselves to the Lord to be trained for His service. In 1998 several members of a campus fellowship in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, began to read the writings of Watchman Nee. Three years later, some from that fellowship began to meet as the church in Addis Ababa according to the teaching of the Bible as seen in Watchman Nee’s book The Normal Christian Church Life. At that time they were unaware of anyone else meeting according to the teaching of one church in each city (Acts 13:1; Rev. 1:11). Four years later, they joyfully established contact with brothers and sisters in other local churches in Africa and the West. Throughout Africa, the believers in the local churches hold to the “common faith” (Titus 1:4), enjoy fellowship with brothers and sisters throughout the earth, and seek to maintain a testimony of the practical oneness of the Body of Christ.

STATEMENT FROM FULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

Fuller Theological Seminary (Fuller) and leaders from the local churches and its publishing service, Living Stream Ministry (LSM), have recently completed two years of extensive dialog. During this time Fuller conducted a thorough review and examination of the major teachings and practices of the local churches, with particular emphasis on the writings of Witness Lee and Watchman Nee, as published by Living Stream Ministry. This process was undertaken in an attempt to answer many of the questions and accusations that are often associated with this group of Fuller conducted a churches and to locate the teach- thorough review and ings and practices of these two examination of the major men and the local churches in teachings and practices of light of historical, orthodox Chris- the local churches… tianity. Participants in the dialog from Fuller included Dr. Richard Mouw, President and Professor of Christian Philosophy; Dr. Howard Loewen, Dean of the School of Theology and Professor of Theology and Ethics; and Dr. Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, Professor of Systematic Theology. Representing the local churches were Minoru Chen, Abraham Ho, and Dan Towle. Representing LSM were Ron Kangas, Benson Phillips, Chris Wilde, and Andrew Yu.

20 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LOCAL CHURCHES

It is the conclusion of Fuller Theological Seminary that the teachings and practices of the local churches and its members represent the genuine, historical, biblical Christian faith in every essential aspect. One of the initial tasks facing Fuller It is the conclusion of was to determine if the portrayal of Fuller Theological the ministry typically presented by its critics accurately reflects the Seminary that the teachings of the ministry. On this teachings and practices point we have found a great of the local churches and disparity between the perceptions its members represent the that have been generated in some genuine, historical, circles concerning the teachings of biblical Christian faith Watchman Nee and Witness Lee in every essential aspect. and the actual teachings found in their writings. Particularly, the teachings of Witness Lee have been grossly misrepresented and therefore most frequently misunderstood in the general Christian community, especially among those who classify themselves as evangelicals. We consistently discovered that when examined fairly in the light of scripture and church history, the actual teachings in question have significant biblical and historical credence. Therefore, we believe that they deserve the attention and consideration of the entire Body of Christ. It is important to note, in understanding the process that we have undergone, that considerable attention was devoted at the outset to the stand of these churches on the essential elements of the genuine Christian faith adhered to by all true Christian believers. We believe that if agreement on the basic tenets of the faith can be clearly established, then subsequent dialog and discussion concerning non- essential teachings properly fall within the realm of the fellowship of believers. This determination was made by reading their publications and through our fellowship in five face-to-face meetings between Fuller and representatives of these churches and this ministry. In regard to their teaching and testimony concerning God, the Trinity,

FULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 21

the person and work of Christ, the Bible, salvation, and the oneness and unity of the Church, the Body of Christ, we found them to be unequivocally orthodox. Further- more, we found their profession of faith to be consistent with the Consequently, we are major creeds, even though their easily and comfortably profession is not creedal in format. able to receive them as Moreover, we also can say with genuine believers and certainty that no evidence of cultic fellow members of the or cult-like attributes have been Body of Christ, and we found by us among the leaders of the ministry or the members of the unreservedly recommend local churches who adhere to the that all Christian teachings represented in the public- believers likewise extend cations of Living Stream Ministry. to them the right hand of Consequently, we are easily and fellowship. comfortably able to receive them as genuine believers and fellow members of the Body of Christ, and we unreservedly recommend that all Christian believers likewise extend to them the right hand of fellowship. Our times together were characterized by sincere, open, transparent, and unrestricted dialog. There were several topics that we at Fuller approached with particular interest, such as the Trinity, the mingling of divinity and humanity, deification, modalism, their interpretation and practice of the “local” church, the divine and human natures of Christ, and their attitude toward believers outside their congregations. We were given unlimited freedom to explore each of these areas. In every instance we found the public perception of some to be far removed from the actual published teachings as well as the beliefs and practices of the believers in the local churches. This statement is intended to provide those interested with a general overview of the process that we have been involved with and our overall conclusions. This brief statement will be followed in the

22 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LOCAL CHURCHES

coming months by a paper addressing the aforementioned and other important theological topics in greater detail. Representatives of the local churches and Living Stream Ministry have agreed to write a statement outlining in summary form their teachings on the major topics of interest concerning them. Comments by Fuller will be offered on their teachings, as we have come to understand them after significant research and dialog. Dated: January 5, 2006 Fuller Theological Seminary School of Theology 135 North Oakland Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91182 tele 626.584.5300 fax 626.584.5251 www.fuller.edu

TESTIMONIES FROM RESPECTED CHRISTIANS

David Aikman, Ph.D. is an award-winning print and broadcast journalist, a best-selling author, and a foreign affairs commentator on various media outlets. He was the bureau chief for Time magazine and is a Professor of History at Patrick Henry College, a Senior Fellow at the Trinity Foundation, and a member of the editorial board of Salem Communications. His many books include Jesus in Beijing and Billy Graham: His Life and Influence. Living Stream Ministry, which represents the Local Church in the US, has performed an excellent job bringing together theologians and historians to analyze closely the specific teachings sometimes attributed to the late Witness Lee of the Local Church. It is now apparent that a significant number of distinguished scholars take the view that the doctrines of the Local Church do in fact coincide with historic Trinitarian Christianity. I am very glad that the label of “heretic” is no longer being pinned on this fine group of believers.

Tom Ascol, Ph.D. is the pastor of Grace Baptist Church of Cape Coral, Florida, Executive Director of Founders Ministries, and editor of Founders Journal. He has edited books including Reclaiming the Gospel and Reforming Churches and Dear Timothy and has contributed articles and chapters to numerous publications. The “Open Letter from the Local Churches and Living Stream Ministry” includes a statement of their orthodox, evangelical beliefs that should be welcomed by all who love the Lord Jesus and who affirm the full authority of the written Word of God. As I have grown to know some of the brethren in this movement and have worshiped with them in several of their

24 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LOCAL CHURCHES

Chinese churches I have been blessed and challenged by their humble devotion to our Lord and commitment to the work of making disciples. May the Lord continue to bless and use them in the extension of His kingdom throughout the world.

Randall Balmer, Ph.D. is the Chair of the Department of Religion and the Mandel Family Professor of Arts and Sciences at Dartmouth College. His books include the Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism and The Making of Evangelicalism. He is a frequent media resource and his articles and book reviews have appeared in a number of evangelical publications. When I visited the Local Church in Newington, Connecticut, I found there a worship service that I would characterize as informal, good-humored, joyful, and friendly—with slight Pentecostal overtones. In the low-keyed style of worship, I found elements of the house churches that were popular among many evangelicals in the 1970s. Members of the congregation addressed one another as ‘Brother’ or ‘Sister,’ a fairly common practice in evangelical circles. I was impressed by the interracial character of the congregation and the ease with which Anglos, Asians, and African Americans related with one another (this is still fairly rare among evangelicals—as it is rare among other religious groups in America).

Paul Copan, Ph.D. is Pledger Family Chair of Philosophy and Ethics at Palm Beach Atlantic University. Dr. Copan is the past President of the Evangelical Philosophical Society and a well-known apologist. His books include True for You, But Not for Me and The Apologetics Study Bible, for which he was both an associate editor and a contributor. The doctrinal statement of the Local Church and LSM reflects a clear commitment to the fundamental tenets of Christian orthodoxy. In a remarkable spirit of humility, the Local Church

TESTIMONIES FROM RESPECTED CHRISTIANS 25

has taken great pains to clarify and refine this statement through prayer and conversation with fellow evangelicals. I commend this gracious spirit and urge all true Christians to embrace our brothers and sisters in the Local Church, who share the same faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed, it is incumbent upon all believers to work through misunderstandings and misrepresentations of one another so that that we may serve together as partners in the gospel.

Edwin S. Gaustad, Ph.D. was Professor of History and Religious Studies at the University of California, Riverside, and former President of the American Society of Church History. He authored over a dozen books including New Historical Atlas of Religion in America and Church and State in America.

From my observation, I conclude that the Local Church stands in the tradition of evangelical Christianity, of the Protestant emphasis on biblical authority, of the great Christian mystics’ and pietists’ concern for the inner life, of the millennia-old expectation of a new age, and of born-again, experiential religion. They meet together, pray together, sing and study together, and grow together. They labor to be loyal to their particular vision of the Christian life. It seems enough. (The Experts Speak Concerning Witness Lee and the Local Churches, p. 200)

Hank Hanegraaff is the President of Christian Research Institute (CRI), the largest apologetics ministry in the world. He is also the host of the Bible Answer Man radio broadcast and a well-known author of many books, including Christianity in Crisis and Has God Spoken?. He headed a long-term dialogue and investigation of the teaching and practices of the local churches and the ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee. In the process, he has visited churches and church members in many countries covering three continents.

26 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LOCAL CHURCHES

The local churches are an authentic expression of New Testament Christianity. Moreover, as a group forged in the cauldron of persecution, it has much to offer Western Christianity. In this respect three things immediately come to mind. First is their practice of prophesying—not in the sense of foretelling the future but in the 1 Corinthians 14 sense of exhorting, edifying, encouraging, educating, equipping, and explicating Scripture. In such a practice, constituents are corporately involved in worship through the Word. Second is their practice of pray-reading (in addition to Bible study) as a meaningful link between the intake of Scripture and efficacious communion with God in prayer. And third is their fervent commitment to the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19). If the early Christian church had one distinguishing characteristic, it was their passion to communicate the love, joy, and peace that only Jesus Christ can bring to the human heart. As we become entrenched in an age of esotericism, it is essential that genuine believers in all walks of life emulate this passion—a passion I have personally witnessed as I shared in fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ from local churches in places as far away as London, England; Seoul, Korea; and Nanjing, China. In sum, along with Christians from a broad range of persuasions, the local churches are dedicated to both proper doctrine (orthodoxy) and proper practice (orthopraxy). As such, they march by the maxim, “In essentials unity, in non- essentials liberty, and in all things charity.” While we will no doubt continue to debate secondary issues this side of the veil, I have no doubt that we will spend an eternity together growing in the knowledge of the One who saved us by faith alone, through grace alone, on account of Christ alone. ◊ ◊ ◊

TESTIMONIES FROM RESPECTED CHRISTIANS 27

Furthermore, when leaders in the LC [local church] testified to their belief in one God, revealed in three Persons who are eternally distinct; to the reality that human beings can never ontologically attain Godhood; and to the fact that they are “only the church” as opposed to being “the only church,” Christian charity alone compelled me to give them the benefit of the doubt. After a six-year primary research process, I am fully persuaded that the LC is innocent—rather than guilty—of compromising essential Christian doctrine. Moreover, it has become apparent that the Holy Spirit has moved in their midst to recover New Testament principles and practices widely neglected in the modern church. Finally, what is true from a theological perspective is true sociologically as well. After meeting thousands of LC adherents and personally interacting with hundreds, I am not only convinced that they are innocent of the charge of cultism from a sociological perspective, but I can testify that they are among the finest Christians I have encountered in life and ministry.1

Peter Kerridge studied theology at Oxford University and was Associate Minister at Avenue Baptist in Southend- on-Sea. He began his career as a broadcaster on Metro Radio in 1979 and has worked in both the commercial sector and the BBC. He was named Managing Director of Premier Radio in 1996 and today is the CEO of Premier Media Group, the largest Christian broadcaster in the United Kingdom.

Watchman Nee was the John Wesley of China. His legacy continues to thrive today as millions of people on the mainland of China find faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Witness Lee, his coworker, continued that legacy and broadened it to encompass the West and all six continents. Living Stream Ministry is the

1 Hanegraaff, Hank. “D-I-S-C-E-R-N,” Christian Research Journal (vol. 33, no. 3), p. 12.

28 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LOCAL CHURCHES

faithful custodian of their vision and strives to make Jesus known in a way that upholds their worldview and passion for the Gospel. This ministry is entirely orthodox and to suggest otherwise is to willfully misrepresent them and impede the church’s mission. While clearly influenced by early Christian Brethren teaching as well as the profound “inner-life” tradition of early 20th century Great Britain, today their ministry transcends any singular context, whether Eastern or Western, and is finding a fresh renewal of popularity and interest around the globe.

Peter Kuzmic, Th.D. is the Eva B. and Paul E. Toms Distinguished Professor of World Missions and European Studies at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He is also Co-founder and Director of the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Osijek, Croatia, and is widely recognized as the foremost evangelical scholar in Eastern Europe. I read very carefully the document [“An Open Letter from Living Stream Ministry and the Local Churches”] and continue to pray that the larger evangelical community in this country and elsewhere will come to realize that your cause is right, and that the deep biblical commitments and Christian orthodoxy of our influential Chinese brothers/teachers [Watchman Nee and Witness Lee] should be appreciated rather than maligned.

J. Gordon Melton, Ph.D. is the Distinguished Professor of American Religious History with the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University and the Director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion, based in Waco, Texas. He is an ordained United Methodist minister. Dr. Melton has authored more than 35 reference books and scholarly texts on religious topics, including several encyclopedic works such as Melton’s Encyclopedia of American Religions (now in its

TESTIMONIES FROM RESPECTED CHRISTIANS 29

8th edition). I personally have been unable to find a single point upon which it [the local churches] deviates on any essential doctrine of the Christian faith, though it has a number of differences on matters all of us would consider nonessential, i.e., doctrinal concerns upon which Christians can disagree without reading each other out of the Christian community, in particular, ecclesiology and piety. Elliot Miller, M.A. is the Editor-in-Chief of Christian Research Journal. He has been with the Christian Research Institute (CRI) for more than thirty years. He was also involved in the earliest research projects involving the local churches and the teachings of Witness Lee in the 1970s and 1980s as well as the recent and more thorough reevaluation of earlier findings. I have read the brief statement of faith that the “local churches” and Living Stream Ministry (LSM) have prepared for this response to the “Open Letter to the Leadership of Living Stream Ministry and the ‘Local Churches’” published in 2007. I find it to be thoroughly consistent with historic, orthodox Christian theology in all of its affirmations. Indeed, it is far more explicit and astute in its orthodoxy than what one normally encounters in statements of faith. Apart from its precision, the only affirmation that sets the statement of faith apart from others is its assertion that the universal church or body of Christ “is manifested in time and space in local churches, each of which includes all the believers in a given city, regardless of where they meet or how they may otherwise identify themselves (1 Cor. 1:2; 1 Thes. 1:1; Rev. 1:11)”; but there is nothing unorthodox about this assertion, and, in fact, it could be argued that it is a profoundly biblical truth in much need of consideration by Christians today.

30 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LOCAL CHURCHES

Timothy O’Fallon, M.A. is a former Professor of Poetical Books and Philosophy of Religion at Florida Beacon Bible College. Currently he is a Teaching Pastor at Countryside Christian Center in Clearwater, Florida.

Like many believers, I have had the privilege of reading Watchman Nee’s The Normal Christian Life more than once. Eventually I ‘got’ it, and my understanding of how a Christian ought to live was forever and radically transformed. But I often wondered what it would be like to see Nee’s exposition put into actual practice in the Body of Christ. What would it be like? What would it be like to see “normal Christians” who really experienced Christ daily and through whom Christ could be daily seen? What would it be like to see men and women who no longer try to “produce fruit or concentrate on the fruit produced” in their own soulish power, but who instead live a life of turning their attention to Christ, and who by active surrender enjoy Christ living through them? I thought many times that this would be a glorious thing to behold. And then one day I met the believers of the local churches. I no longer ask the question ‘what would it be like…?’ I know what it is like. I have met such people. And it is glorious indeed.

Gretchen Passantino-Coburn, M.Div. is Co-founder and Director of Answers in Action (AIA) and former senior research consultant and editor for Christian Research Institute (CRI, under the founding leadership of the late Walter Martin). Gretchen’s published works include Witch Hunt and Satanism in the Zondervan Guide to Cults and Religious Movements Series.

I am among a very small group of experts on the controversy regarding the teachings and practices of LSM and associated

TESTIMONIES FROM RESPECTED CHRISTIANS 31

churches and individuals who have carefully studied its theology over a broad chronological span of publication and practice. To the best of my knowledge, the Christian Research Institute, Fuller Theological Seminary, and Answers In Action are the only American organizations with this track record. CRI, Fuller, and AIA have all concluded that previous determinations of heresy (including ours) lodged against LSM and associates on essential Christian doctrine were in error and that LSM and associates are fully within orthodox Christian biblical theology in all areas of essential belief and practice. A number of mostly American cult theology experts immediately and completely rejected our re-assessment of the orthodoxy of LSM and associates, using as their basis the work done in the 1970s and 1980s which we believed our more recent re-evaluation had exposed as inadequate and in error (even our own previous work). Most of these experts had done no original research at any time on the teachings and practices of LSM and associates. None had conducted contemporary comprehensive re-evaluation and research… I am confident that my re-evaluation of the teachings of Witness Lee, LSM, and the churches and individuals associated with them, and of the practices of the churches associated with LSM, demonstrates clearly that they are orthodox in all areas of essential Christian doctrine and practice, validly expressing the Body of Christ as do all orthodox Christians.

Aiming Wang, Th.D., D.h.c. is a professor at Jinling Union Theological Seminary in Nanjing, China. He has a Doctor of Theology degree from the University of Basel in Basel, Switzerland, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Neuchâtel in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Presently, he is one of the directors of the China Religious Society, chief editor of Jinling Theological Journal, deputy director of the Christian Council of Jiangsu Province, and deputy director of the Theological Education Committee of the China Christian Council.

32 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LOCAL CHURCHES

During the ten-year period from 2002 to 2012, I continually studied and read through all of the writings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee. I have gone over some of their more important writings several times… Beginning from about 2008, I came to the definite conclusion that Watchman Nee and Witness Lee—the founder and the inheritor, respectively, of the indigenous Chinese church, Christian Assembly (a.k.a. the local churches, Assembly Hall, Little Flock)—are spiritual giants in the history of Chinese Christianity. From the standpoint of theology, the “local churches” founded by Watchman Nee are a unique development in Christianity in China. If we look at the local churches based on the three solas used by Calvin to summarize Luther’s principle of reformation, the local churches correspond exactly to the highest standard set forth by the Protestant church tradition. Hence, this perspective of historical theology accounts for the healthy growth in scope and impact that the local churches have enjoyed since they appeared on the scene. Witness Lee was the leading figure in the development of the local churches outside of China. At present the local churches can be described as the only indigenous Chinese church that has had an international impact as far as world mission is concerned. Surrounding Watchman Nee, Witness Lee, and the local churches founded and developed by them, there have been many misunderstandings and slanders. If we trace these back to their origin and root cause, we, the mainstream Christian denominations, bear an inescapable responsibility to clarify facts and to correct bias… It is my view that the Chinese Christian church tradition founded and developed by Watchman Nee and Witness Lee (a.k.a. the local churches, Christian Assembly, Assembly Hall, and Little Flock), as a wondrous flowering of the Christian

TESTIMONIES FROM RESPECTED CHRISTIANS 33

faith in the landscape of the gospel in China, will become the driving force of a spiritual movement.

Dongsheng Wu, Ph.D. holds a Ph.D. in Christian Spirituality from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA, and a master’s degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago, IL. He taught theology and the practice of spiritual formation at Regent College in Vancouver, Canada. His publications include Understanding Watchman Nee: Spirituality, Knowledge, and Formation, a book that examines the spiritual theology of Watchman Nee in dialogue with traditions in Christian spirituality. Watchman Nee’s spiritual theology is a masterpiece of indigenous Chinese theology as well as a great contribution to evangelical theology universally. Watchman Nee had a very deep understanding concerning the riches of the life of Christ, the revelation in and enlightenment from God’s Word, the distinction between God’s revelation and man’s reasoning, the ruling of the Holy Spirit in a believer’s living, the necessity of the breaking of the life of the self, and the believers’ life of fellowship in the church; he also had a practical way to apply them. Even though Watchman Nee’s view of trichotomy may not seem to have sufficient basis in ontology, contemporary biblical research is able to support the view that in man’s inclination and function there are three parts: spirit, soul, and body, and the experiences of the saints throughout the generations also match this view. Furthermore, Watchman Nee’s view with regard to the distinction between the functions of the spirit and the mind not only corresponds to the Bible but is also in accordance with the understanding of many important figures in the history of Christian spirituality. Watchman Nee’s spiritual theology is a great treasure to Chinese theology. It awaits our further mining and practical

34 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LOCAL CHURCHES

application to the life and living of today’s believers and the churches.

Paul Young is the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Christian Research Institute and the Secretary of the Boards of Directors for both Christian Research Institute and Christian Research Institute Canada. He founded The Master’s Collection, a record production and marketing organization for primarily Christian musicians and music publishing companies in Canada. My first encounter with the “Lord’s recovery” occurred in May 1967 as a member of The People’s Church in Toronto, Canada. Oswald J. Smith, the Senior Pastor, had invited his friend Witness Lee to address the annual World Missions Conference. I remember wondering what this short, quiet man who spoke English with a Chinese accent was going to say! His message inspired me to read The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee, and I soon realized that for those in North America it was perhaps describing “the abnormal Christian life.” Witness Lee’s wisdom had already begun to impact me. As a teenager in the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church (C&MA), Avenue Road, Toronto, where A. W. Tozer ministered for a few years, I developed the deep conviction that Christ must be Lord of all, or He is not really Lord at all. I also developed at this time a deep love and gratitude for the great hymns of the Church, many of which providentially found their way into the hymnbook used in the local churches—indeed, thirty-nine of C&MA cofounder A. B. Simpson’s hymns (more than in the C&MA’s own book, Hymns of the Christian Life). Combined with Oswald J. Smith (who has two hymns that he penned in Hymns [LSM]) and his teaching that “no one should hear the Gospel twice until everyone has heard it once,” and that “One in twenty of our members should be engaged in full-

TESTIMONIES FROM RESPECTED CHRISTIANS 35 time service,” I was a prime candidate for the teachings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee! Like many believers who have encountered the local churches, however, I also encountered severe critics of the move of the Spirit through these devout gentlemen and was influenced to avoid further affiliations with them or their fellow followers of Christ. Fast forward to 2003 and the Christian Research Institute (CRI). After many years of distributing literature denouncing the central teachings of the local churches as aberrant, if not heretical—literature that even facilitated China’s imprisonment of disciples within the local churches—CRI, under the leadership of Hank Hanegraaff, initiated an in-depth re- evaluation of the teachings of Witness Lee and the local churches. After several years of intensive grappling with primary sources and personal dialog with countless followers in multiple countries, CRI published an historic 64 page special edition of the Christian Research Journal titled “We Were Wrong.” This publication has been translated into more than a dozen languages, and more than 150,000 copies are in circulation world-wide—the complete magazine is posted on CRI’s website at equip.org/localchurch. In 2008 I had the privilege to participate in a conference in Jacksonville, Florida, with more than 1,000 believers from various parts of the USA and the world. Leading ones had invited several of my CRI colleagues and me to observe the conference. That experience profoundly moved me, and in those few short days I gained a deep appreciation for the oneness that characterizes the local churches. Upon my return to Charlotte, North Carolina, I immediately sought out the meeting hall of the church in Charlotte and began to enjoy the believers’ fellowship locally. Now four years after the Jacksonville experience I personally am connected with this move of the Spirit of the Lord and share in the worship,

36 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LOCAL CHURCHES

witness, and oneness that exemplify the joy of brethren dwelling together in unity. …I can attest to the genuineness of this move of the Spirit on account of the love, joy, and peace of Christ I have personally witnessed and experienced in countless gatherings of the body of Christ throughout this continent and around the world. I have “tasted and seen that the Lord is good.” I have been in homes, in meeting halls, on university campuses, at conferences and conventions, and at full-time training centers. I have traveled from Boston to Beijing; from Taiwan to Texas; from Canada to Chile and it is always the same—“see how they love one another!” “Jesus is Lord!” “He must increase and we must decrease.” To be demonstrating and declaring the unsearchable riches found only in a deep, personal relationship with Christ is the heart-beat of the followers I have met within the local churches. All for the Glory of God—being engaged in the process of lifting up Christ so that all men might be moved from “lost” to being “found” in Him.

AN INVITATION

We hope that you have found this booklet to be helpful in getting to know us, our beliefs, and our standing. We trust that the testimonies from respected Christians who have written concerning the local churches and the ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee have also served as a valuable introduction. We extend to you our warmest welcome to visit any of the local churches in Ethiopia for Christian fellowship, Bible study, and worship. We also invite you to obtain our Christian publications that we have found to be helpful to know the Christian life, to study Bible, and to pursue Christ. To find our meetings near you, to get information about our publications, or to ask any questions, please contact us at:

Telephone* Email Endale Feleke 913362125 [email protected] (Hosanna) Andargachew Mekonnen 911378793 [email protected] (Hawassa) Tamrat Teshome 911527044 [email protected] (Arsi Negele) Wubishet Chala 911315105 [email protected] (Gimma) Melakebirhan Fesiha 911718845 [email protected] (Alamata) Zeleke Dutti 913243414 [email protected] (Meki) Yohannes Alemayehu 911110320 [email protected] (Dire Dawa) Seife Kifle 911560646 [email protected] (Addis Ababa)

38 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LOCAL CHURCHES

Telephone* Email Aman Semir 911639607 [email protected] (Addis Ababa) Yoseph Teffera 911764277 [email protected] (Addis Ababa)

If you would like to get our books, you may call us or write to us at the following address:

Telephone: 911661266* Email: [email protected]

* Prefix with 0 if calling from inside of Ethiopia or +251 from outside.