Witness Lee on the Local Church: Its Ground


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	Nature of a local church
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B. The Ground

1. The Genuine Oneness of the Body of Christ—the Oneness of the Spirit

Every local church also has a ground on which it is established, the ground of oneness. Concerning this, Witness Lee says,

The ground of a local church is the genuine oneness of the Body of Christ, that is, the oneness of the Spirit. Ephesians 4:3 charges us to be diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit. The oneness of the Spirit is the oneness of the Body of Christ, which is the basic element of the unique ground of a local church (128).

2. In the Limit of the Boundary and Jurisdiction of a Locality—the Ground of Locality

Witness Lee points out that the boundary and jurisdiction of a local church is simply the boundary and jurisdiction of the locality, or city, in which it exists:

The genuine oneness of the Body of Christ must be practiced with the unique ground of locality within the limit of the boundary and jurisdiction of the locality in which a church exists, that is, on the ground of locality, as with the church in Jerusalem (Acts 8:1), the church in Antioch (Acts 13:1), the church in Cenchrea (Rom. 16:1), the church in Corinth (1 Cor. 1:2), and the seven churches in the seven cities in Asia (Rev. 1:11). All these churches were on the local ground, the ground of locality (128-129).

Witness Lee faithfully upholds the ground, boundary and jurisdiction prescribed by Scripture for the local churches. The local church, he expounds, is built uniquely upon the oneness of the Spirit and limited solely by the boundary of the city in which it exists, thus safeguarding the genuine oneness of the Body of Christ.