The local churches comprise the universal church, and the one universal church is the local churches. We may illustrate this with our human body, which is one whole with many members. The body is the members, and the many members are the body. They are not two things but exactly one thing in two different aspects. If we look at it as a whole, it is a body, but if we look at it as the parts, there are many, yet the parts are still one body. Can we separate our body from its members? This is ridiculous. However, I am sorry to say that even today some people preach and teach that the universal church is something other than the local churches.

It is impossible to separate the universal church from the local churches. Without the local churches where is the universal church? This is like asking where a body is apart from its members. If we do not have the church in Jerusalem, the church in Antioch, the church in London, New York, San Francisco, or Los Angeles, or the local churches in Taiwan and Japan, where is the universal church? The universal church is a composition of all the local churches, and all the local churches are just part after part of the one universal church. All the local churches throughout the generations and in all the places are the members composed together as one universal church. We should not have the thought that the universal church is something other than the local churches. This is an error, a wrong teaching, and a kind of heresy.

Today especially, we hear many people talking about the universal church, but where is the universal church? I have been studying this matter for more than thirty years, and up to today I cannot say where the universal church is if it is apart from the local churches. I would challenge someone to point to where the universal church is. On the other hand, I can point to where the local churches are. Nineteen hundred years ago there was one in Jerusalem, one in Samaria, one in Antioch, one in Corinth, one in Ephesus, and another one in Rome. Today there is one in Los Angeles and another one in New York. I can point to many local churches, but can someone point to where the universal church is? The universal church is so great, but we cannot point to it. We must not blindly follow those wrong and foolish teachings.

Where the local churches are, there the universal church is. We cannot say that besides the members there is a body. Rather, we must say that a body is with the members, not in addition to the members. By this we can see what the universal church is. The universal church is the totality, the ultimate consummation, of the composition of all the local churches.

We may use the term the universal church, but its proper use depends on what kind of interpretation we have. The universal church is an issue of all the local churches throughout all the generations and throughout all the places. All these local churches throughout all the generations and places, added and composed together as one, are called the universal church. Without the local churches and besides the local churches, there is no universal church.

Let us be clear about this. Eventually, we will see who is right and who is wrong in this matter. The Bible shows us and reveals to us that in this universe there is only one church, which is the Body of Christ expressed in many parts in many places throughout all the generations. A part of this Body was expressed nineteen hundred years ago in Jerusalem. Another part was expressed at the same time in Antioch, and today a part is expressed in our own locality. In one aspect, the church is universal, and in the other aspect, it is local. It is universal as a whole and local in its parts, and all these parts added together and composed as one, are the Body of Christ.

Therefore, the church is practiced universally by being practiced locally. Without the local practice there is no possibility of the universal practice. Where is the practice of the universal church? Is it on the moon, in the third heavens, or in Paradise? We cannot find such a thing in the entire universe. Strictly speaking, there is no universal practice of the church; there is only the local practice. Since the day of Pentecost all the local practices of the church added together and composed together as one are corporately called the universal practice. What is the universal practice of the church? It is the composition of all the local practices.

I simply cannot tolerate to hear so many of the Lord’s servants preach foolishly, telling people that besides the local churches there is a universal church. I would ask where, besides the local churches, is the universal church? We can never touch it. The practice of the church, strictly speaking, is local. Without the local church we can never have the universal church, and without the local practices we can never have a universal practice of the church. In the New Testament there are twenty-seven books, including the twenty-one Epistles plus the seven epistles in Revelation 2 and 3. Which Epistle was addressed to the universal church? At most, an Epistle may say that it should be read by other churches. First Corinthians, for example, was meant for the Corinthians as well as for all the believers in every place. However, it was not addressed to the universal church. We must be clear about this and concentrate all our attention on the local expressions of the church.
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