Finally, we must pay attention to another problem. We have seen that the unity of the Body is expressed in the locality. If we do not pay attention to the unity in the locality, then other kinds of unity are vain words because they are not found in the Bible. Unity must be expressed in locality; otherwise, it is vain to talk about it. Unity must not wait until we go to heaven to be realized because we will all be one in heaven. Unity is being one with the brothers around us today. Otherwise, the error of congregationalism will follow. Those in the Roman Catholic Church have learned something about the church, but they have applied it incorrectly. Everyone in the Roman Catholic Church has seen that the church is one, but they are mistaken about the boundary. They think that there is only one church on the earth. What about us? In one point we are the same as they because we have seen that the church is one. However, they have one church for the whole earth; we have one church for each locality. Since Roman Catholicism believes that there is only one church in the whole earth, they have learned the lesson of not setting up another kind of church. This is a good point. No matter how great their difficulties are, they still stay together and dare not divide. Since they have seen that the church is one, they feel that they would be sinning against the Lord if they brought forth divisions. Today as we learn the same lesson, I expect to see the same kind of result, namely, that we will also not dare to set up other churches, but instead remain with the brothers to learn the same lesson.
I do not know how to speak to the brothers today. I feel we should learn our lesson so well before the Lord that we can do anything except set up another church. When we move to a locality, we may have the liberty to found a school, a hospital, a seminary, a corporation, or a factory. We may have the freedom to do anything. Even if it is not of the Lord, this is not the greatest sin. I am not saying that we should be disobedient to the Lord’s will, but I am saying that such a mistake is not the greatest one. Certainly, however, we should never go out to set up another church. Setting up churches according to our own wishes is the greatest sin. We must fear founding a church more than anything else.
Brothers, do we see the seriousness of this matter? Nothing is worse than setting up a church at will. We can found anything, but we must never establish a church in this manner because this involves the problem of the Body of Christ. We must be clear about this matter before God.
Wherever we go, we first must find whether or not a church exists in that locality. It is not a matter of whether or not the church there is strong. That is another matter. It does not matter whether or not the church there is spiritual. That is a secondary matter. If there is a denomination at this end or a Roman Catholic Church at the other end, if there are many churches in one locality or one church in many localities, then there is not a church in that locality, and we can set up a church there. Because the church is local, it is neither congregationalism nor unionism. If there is a local church in a locality, we must not set up another. We must fear setting up another table for the breaking of bread. This is a terrible thing.
My heart is aching today because of those who have read some of our books and have seen a little about the truth of the church and then say, “Let us meet together.” Brothers, it is not so simple! We cannot set up a church loosely at our pleasure. First, we need to see whether or not a church exists in our locality. If a local church already exists, then we must communicate with them even if we are unwilling. If there is a denomination or a sect, we cannot join it because we cannot stand in the denominations. But if there is a local church, we cannot set up another one under the pretense of helping it, even though we see some faults in it. We can only help it through teaching, not through setting up another church. My heart grieves because many people are not afraid of setting up another church. They presume that this is a very simple matter and that they can immediately set up a church after discussing it with three or four others. Brothers who are somewhat gifted, who have some scriptural knowledge, and who are capable in preaching, think that they can set up a church. I may have some trouble with my brothers, and it would not be difficult for me to go out to preach, to set up the Lord’s table, and to build a meeting hall. But I could never do this, because the church is one in each locality.
Therefore, brothers, we must be brought to the place today that we would never commit the sin of dividing the Body of Christ. There is only one Body of Christ. I do not want to be such a carnal person, a person of the flesh, causing divisions. When the brothers all stand in this position, our learning will increase and our spirituality will increase. We will be led to the pathway of the church, and all the brothers and sisters will have the real unity-not a big, outward unity that is obscure within, neither a “spiritual” unity that allows us to remain in divisions.
The booklet The Urgent Cry speaks of the unity in Christ that exists for one week every year at the Keswick Convention in England. I wish to ask, however, about the other fifty-one weeks of the year. If we are one in Christ, we should be one throughout all fifty-two weeks of the year. If we should be divided, then we should be divided all fifty-two weeks. But the strange thing is that the unity at Keswick lasts one week out of the year. Then everyone returns to the divisions. Some brothers still regard this as an example of unity. However, if we should be divided, we should be divided all the time. If we should keep the unity, we should keep it all the time. Either we unite or we divide. If we can only be united for a week, while being divided for the rest of the year, we would rather stay at Keswick every day and never leave. We must see a thorough and absolute unity, not a so-called “spiritual” unity. The term is good, but it is applied in a wrong sense. The unity we see is the unity of the Body of Christ expressed in the locality. This expression in the locality, however, stumbles many people. This is a great test. Of course, if God were to remove the word locality, then everything would be easy. We could hold a few meetings for everyone to come together and converse and then return to the divisions.
I wish the brothers in China today would see that the church is local. Later, by God’s mercy, we may have several hundred or several thousand local churches raised up. The churches may also spread to foreign countries, to turn back to the Western world from where the gospel came. I hope our brothers in China will not be influenced by congregationalism. There is nothing in congregationalism but one word-division. It divides a locality into many divisions. I hope the brothers and sisters will have a fearful heart in setting up new churches, daring to do anything but set up a church. We must seriously see that the Body of Christ is expressed in the locality. Of course, we cannot force others to take this way. If there is a denomination in a locality, that is another matter. If there is a division in a locality, that is also another matter. But if there is already a church in that locality, we must not establish another church. If we do this, I think the church in China will have a better way to go on.
Home | First | Prev | Next