The church is constituted absolutely not according to the human mentality or worldly organizational methods but with Christ as life and with Christ as the unique Head. In the church, the Body of Christ, there is no other head. Regardless of his or her location or function, every member is related directly to the Head; every member has the same standing. There are no intermediary members, contrary to the teaching of the Catholic Church that the so-called holy mother mediates between the believers and Jesus. We all know that this teaching of the Catholic Church is wrong, but in our actual practice we may consider that certain persons are intermediaries between us and the Lord.
We need to be cautious of this hidden error. On the one hand, we must never be an intermediary between God’s people and the Lord Himself. We need to allow the Lord’s people to receive orders directly from the Lord. By the Lord’s mercy, in all the times saints have come to me for fellowship throughout the years, I have never given them a decision, an order, or a commandment. Instead, I always tell them, “You need to go to the Lord. Pray to seek the Lord’s leading directly.” On the other hand, we must never take someone else as an intermediary between us and the Lord. Because most believers are weak, they prefer to depend upon others rather than going directly to the Lord. Some say, “How good it is to have a spiritual brother among us. We can rely on him; he will tell us what to do and what not to do.” This is terrible; it is according to the Catholic concept that the believers are too low to contact the Lord directly and that they need to pray to Mary so that she will contact Jesus for them. We do not like this teaching, but we may practice it in principle. This teaching is heretical. The worship of Mary is the greatest blasphemy to Christ’s headship. Regrettably, something has secretly crept in among us to cause some members to become intermediaries between the saints and the Lord. We need to be cautious of this.
By the Lord’s mercy, since the beginning of the Lord’s recovery among us over fifty years ago, the Lord has shown us the truth that every member is related directly to the Head. Brother Watchman Nee was the first to practice being careful not to come between any member and the Head. He was very cautious in this matter. I was with him for many years and saw many cases. He never told anyone what to do or what not to do. Many of us begged him to tell us what to do, but he would never say a word. He made it clear that he was not the head or the leader but only a brother with a burden to minister God’s word to His people. When we were with him in mainland China, no one knew who would be the leader. How shameful it is that some among us today claim to be the leader or the future leader! The fact that many saints accepted such claims indicates that we do not know or practice the truth. My burden at this time is to share with all the young saints in the Lord’s recovery concerning the constitution of the church. In order for the Lord’s recovery to be strong and in a good order today, we must be clear about the constitution of the church.
The constitution of the church is according to the fact that Christ is the unique Head. There is no other leader. Regardless of how great our gift or our commission from the Lord is, we are all only members, not leaders. No one among us should accept anyone as an official, unique, or permanent leader. In carrying things out, there is the need for leadership. The Bible shows that on the day of Pentecost there was the need for someone to rise up to declare the gospel to the people. Peter took the lead to meet this need, but he was not an official, permanent, organizational, or positional leader. His leadership was instant and depended on his present spiritual capacity. At that time Peter had the greatest capacity; therefore, he spontaneously took the lead to carry out that ministry. However, when he later became weak, another one was raised up to accomplish God’s purpose. The leadership in the Lord’s recovery today must be the same. According to my portion from the Lord, I currently share in the leadership, but this does not mean that I am an official or permanent leader. Perhaps in a year someone may have more capacity in a certain matter. At that time and in that matter that person will take the lead to accomplish God’s purpose. By practicing in this way, we will have no official or permanent leader among us. We have only one Leader—Christ. The plurality of the eldership and the apostles prevents any human leadership that would insult the headship of Christ.