Witness Lee on the local church: The Recovery of the Ground and Practice of the Local Churches
Witness Lee on the local church: Oneness

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The Ground 

The Practice 

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II. The Recovery of the Practice of the Local Churches


A. The Need of the Local Churches


The recovered truth concerning the proper church ground is wonderful, yet if there were no practical application it would remain in the realm of mere theoretical knowledge. Therefore, at the same time that he saw the spiritual principle of the ground of the church, Watchman Nee simultaneously realized and taught that the New Testament also presents a way for this ground to be practiced—the local church (Acts 13:1). In fact, as Witness Lee explains in the following excerpt, the Body of Christ must have the local churches in order to exist and to function:

The church of God, as the living Body of Christ, needs the local churches for its existence and function. Without the local churches, the Body of Christ has no way to exist and to carry out its function in practicality. Actually, the local churches are the Body of Christ, and the Body of Christ is all the local churches. (30)

In the following links Witness Lee explains that: the Body of Christ needs the local churches to carry out its function in practicality, that it is through the local churches that the Body of Christ is expressed, that the local churches are located in different cities, and that this is necessary, practical and convenient for its administration and its function. As to its administration, the local church should be administrated by the eldership as an organic body, the local church should not be under the control of a high church, the local church needs the ministry of the apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers, and the business affairs of a local church are absolutely local, without any autonomy or federation. Finally, the local church is built up by the functioning of all the members who have been perfected by the gifted persons.