The History of the Local Churches

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

In God’s plan, He desires to have a Body for His Son in the universe. Yet in a practical way, God desires those who are part of this Body to become churches in the different localities. God desires that each one of these churches be a miniature and a representation, in the different localities, of the mystical Body of the Son of God….An elder must have this twofold knowledge concerning God’s plan for the church. He must know the universal Church, and he must also know the local church. In other words, he must know the Church in its universal aspect, and he must know the church in its local aspect. Never consider the universal Church to be one kind of church, and the local church to be another kind of church. There is only one Church. Collectively speaking, it is the universal church, and locally speaking, it is the local churches. Strictly speaking, the local churches are the universal Church. The universal Church is simply the sum total of the local churches, and the local churches are simply the local manifestations of the universal Church….God’s plan is to have a Church in the universe as the Body of His Son for His expression. However, to carry out this plan, He has to set up local churches in the different localities….The New Testament shows us that the Church appears in the localities. It is in the different localities that God’s plan is realized.

(Witness Lee, Elders’ Management, 11-12)

The universal aspect of the church is mentioned in Matthew 16:18. When Peter recognized that the Lord Jesus was the Christ and the Son of God, the Lord told him that He would build His church on this rock. The church here is universal, comprising all the believers of all times and in all places, including Paul, Peter, and all the saints throughout these twenty centuries (1 Cor. 12:13)….The local aspect of the church is referred to by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 18:17. The Lord Jesus in the four Gospels mentions the church only twice: once in Matthew 16:18, referring to its universal aspect, and the second time in Matthew 18:17, referring to its local aspect. In Matthew 18 the Lord Jesus said that if we have any problem that we cannot solve, we should tell it to the church. This refers to the church in a certain locality. It would be hard to tell a problem to the universal church….If we have any problem which needs the church’s help to be solved, where shall we go? We must have a local church that we are part of, from which we can get help and to which we may go with our problems….Universally, the church is one. But locally. the churches are many. In Acts 8:1 there is the church at Jerusalem. In Acts 13:1 there is the church at Antioch. Then there are churches mentioned in Acts 14:23 and 15:41; here the word churches is used because there were a number of cities in these regions. In Romans 16:1 there is the church at Cenchrea. There is the church at Corinth (1 Cor. 1:2). In Galatians 1:2 we have the churches in Galatia; there were several, because Galatia was a province of the ancient Roman Empire with many cities. In Revelation 1:4 and 11 there are the seven churches in Asia. Asia was also a province…a local church equals a local city. To write to the church in Ephesus means to write to the city of Ephesus. These are local churches. A local church is not a term used as a name, but it describes the fact of one church in a locality. The church does not have a name, just as the moon does not have a name. There is no such thing as an American moon or a Chinese moon. The moon in China is the same moon as in other countries. When it is over China, it is the moon in China. When it is over Britain, it is the moon in Britain. It is the one moon. In like manner, the church is one; it is unique. The church is both local and universal.

(Witness Lee, Basic Revelation, 66-68)

The church has both a universal aspect and a local aspect. In the local aspect the church is expressed in many localities as many local churches. The one universal church expressed in many places on earth becomes the many local churches….The universal church is realized in the local churches.

(Witness Lee, Incarnation, 32)

In Matthew 16 the Lord says, “I will build My church.” This church is the unique, universal church typified by Zion. But just as Zion has many peaks, so the universal church has many local expressions. In Matthew 18, where the Lord speaks of taking a matter to the church, we see one of these local expressions. We may also liken the universal church to a tree and the local churches to the branches of the tree. In Matthew 18 we see one of the branches of this universal tree. Here is a local church in which we can go with our problems….We have seen that the church is firstly revealed as universal in Matthew 16:18 and then as local in Matthew 18:17. In Acts the church was practiced in the way of local churches, such as the church at Jerusalem (8:1) and the church at Antioch (13:1) and the churches in the provinces of Syria and Cilicia (15:41). Without the local churches, there is no practicality and actuality of the universal church. The universal church is realized in the local churches.

(Witness Lee, Genuine Ground, 126-127)

Main

Two Aspects of the Church

Who is the Church?

Local Churches in the N.T.

Degradation

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