Watchman Nee & Witness Lee — Ecclesiology
b4 — Basic Elements of Christian Life, Volume 2
Early Church as a Calling Community (Acts 9:14; 1Cor. 1:2)
Witness Lee defines the early church not primarily in organizational or doctrinal terms, but as a community characterized by calling upon the name of the Lord:
“What was the testimony of the early Christians? It was this: they were a people who called on the name of the Lord. We are shown this in Acts 9:14, which states that Paul before his conversion was persecuting all those who called on the Lord’s name. He was given authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on His name. First Corinthians 1:2 reaffirms this by showing us that the early Christians were those who in every place called upon the name of the Lord.”
— Witness Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 2, Ch. 2
Bible references: Acts 9:14; 1Cor. 1:2; 2Tim. 2:22
Interpretation: Lee treats the corporate calling upon the name of the Lord as the essential mark of church practice — not merely one prayer form among others, but the constitutive act of the church as such.
True Worship: Fellowship in Spirit, Not Religious Forms (John 4:23-24)
Lee contrasts the true worship of John 4 with ceremonial-institutional religion:
“The true worship in these verses is not participating in and keeping certain rules, forms, rituals, and regulations, but rather calling upon the Lord from deep within, contacting and fellowshipping with Jesus Christ, the truth and the reality. The desire of the Father for us is that we may enjoy and participate in this true worship of touching and fellowshipping with His Son all day, every day.”
— Witness Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 2, Ch. 2
Bible reference: John 4:23-24
Interpretation: In b2 (Economy of God) Lee described the church as “the pillar and base of the truth” (1Tim. 3:15). BXL2 connects this with John 4:24: true worship is not institutional participation but living fellowship with Christ as the Truth (alētheia).
Body of Christ: Fellowship as a Law of the Members (Ch. 3)
Watchman Nee expounds in Ch. 3 (“Deep Calls Unto Deep”) the ecclesiological tension between individual life and the corporate life of the Body:
“In our Christian life it is necessary that we learn the meaning of the Body of Christ; we must learn to have a life of the Body. On the other hand, we must learn that the life given to each member of His Body by the Lord is distinctly individual. The measure that has been given to you personally by Him needs to be guarded; otherwise, it will lose its specific character and will be of no particular use to God.”
— Watchman Nee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 2, Ch. 3
“That would be violating a law of the members of the Body of Christ. One law of the members of the Body of Christ is fellowship. Once we suppress this law, the flow stops.”
— Watchman Nee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 2, Ch. 3
Bible references: 2Cor. 12:1-4; Acts 5:1-5; Ps. 42:7
Interpretation: Nee links the ecclesiological law of fellowship to the warning that exposing one’s roots — displaying all one has received from God — leads to spiritual loss. The hiddenness of the individual member serves the collective Body.
Building the Body Through Depth of Life: “Deep Calls Unto Deep” (Ps. 42:7)
Nee formulates the foundational principle of spiritual edification in the church:
“I trust we shall learn what the Body of Christ is and what the flow of life among the members is; but I trust we shall also learn the need for safeguarding the hidden part we have before the Lord, the experiences which are not known to others. No root should be exposed.”
— Watchman Nee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 2, Ch. 3
“As we extend ourselves deeper and take root downward, we will discover that ‘deep calls unto deep.’ When we can bring forth riches from the depths of our inner life, we will find that other lives will be deeply affected. When deep touches deep, deep will respond to deep. If our life has no depth, our superficial work will only affect other lives superficially.”
— Watchman Nee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 2, Ch. 3
Bible reference: Ps. 42:7; cf. Mark 4:5-6
Interpretation: Nee’s “deep calls unto deep” is an ecclesiological principle: the building up of the Body depends on the hidden depth of each individual member. This connects with Lee’s principle (b2) that the church is built not by organization but by inner life.
Creed: The Spirit Baptizes into One Body (Points 7–9)
The closing section “About Two Servants of the Lord” contains an explicit statement of faith on behalf of Living Stream Ministry:
“After His ascension Christ poured out the Spirit of God to baptize His chosen members into one Body. Today this Spirit moves on the earth to convict sinners, to regenerate God’s chosen people by imparting into them the divine life, to dwell in the believers of Christ for their growth in life, and to build up the Body of Christ for His full expression.”
— Living Stream Ministry, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 2, “About Two Servants of the Lord”, point 7
“The overcoming saints will reign with Christ in the millennium, and all the believers in Christ will participate in the divine blessings in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and the new earth for eternity.”
— Living Stream Ministry, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 2, “About Two Servants of the Lord”, point 9
“By opening the divine revelation in the entire Scriptures, Brother Lee’s ministry reveals to us how to know Christ for the building up of the church, which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all. All the believers should participate in this ministry of building up the Body of Christ so that the Body can build itself up in love.”
— Living Stream Ministry, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 2, “About Two Servants of the Lord”
Bible references: 1Cor. 15:45b; 2Cor. 3:17; Eph. 1:23; 1Cor. 12:13
Interpretation: This concise creed makes the ecclesiological core of Nee/Lee explicit: the Spirit as the baptizing power into one Body, the church as the fullness of Christ (Eph. 1:23), and the building up of the Body as the eschatological goal of God’s economy.