Witness Lee on the Local Church: The Fellowship of the Body of Christ


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	Nature of a local church
	Ground of a local church
	Condition of a local church
	Fellowship of the local churches
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II. The Fellowship of the Churches

Witness Lee dedicated considerable time to studying the Bible to extract the scriptural way the local churches should relate to one another. He refers to this as the fellowship of the local churches:

Today we need to have a complete, thorough knowledge concerning the fellowship of the Body of Christ, and also concerning the fellowship of the local churches.

As we have seen in this book, the Lord’s recovery is the recovery of the divine revelation concerning eight basic and major items: God, Christ, the Spirit, the eternal life, the believers, the church, the proper ground of the church, and the practice of the local churches. Among these items, the recovery of the proper ground of the church touches a major practical problem that we are facing today. The recovery today is very practically the recovery of the proper ground of the church. All the divisions and confusions among Christians today have come from this one source: the fact that most Christians are destitute of the knowledge of the proper ground of the church. Today all of Christianity is full of divisions. Division eventually leads to confusion; these two are actually two sides of one thing. In addition to the knowledge concerning the ground of the church, for the proper practice of the local churches, the adequate knowledge of the fellowship of the Body of Christ is needed (113-114).

A. The Body of Christ Being Uniquely One Universally

To establish a foundation for his discussion on the fellowship of the local churches, Witness Lee speaks concerning the universal oneness of the Body of Christ:

The Body of Christ is uniquely one universally (Eph. 4:4-6). Individually, we are members of the Body of Christ, and all the local churches are parts of this one unique Body of Christ. As those who are in the Body, we need to realize that we are one with all the saints in the entire universe. Ephesians 4:4-6 depicts a oneness that is universal: “One Body and one Spirit, as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” In these verses we can see that the Triune God is mingled with the Body. The Body mentioned here is not local; rather, it is universal. This is the universal oneness of the Body of Christ (116).

Witness Lee explains, not only do Christians need to be clear about the ground of the church—one church, one city—but, for the proper practice of the local churches, the fellowship of the entire Body of Christ must be pursued. The universal oneness among all believers must be realized and embraced in order to avoid division and confusion in the church.