Brother Nee called a conference in Shanghai in January of 1934 to speak concerning the centrality and universality of Christ. I was responsible for publishing these messages in Chinese. These were marvelous messages showing us that Christ is the center and the circumference of the entire universe for God's eternal purpose.
Brother Nee saw the truth concerning the boundary of a local church in 1933 and 1934. In 1933 he was invited by the Brethren to visit them in England. They also took him to Canada and the United States. At that time he saw the confusion and the division among the Brethren assemblies. In one city there could be several Brethren assemblies. This troubled Brother Nee, so he spent one year to read and study the New Testament again to find out what the boundary of a local assembly, a local church, was. Eventually, he saw that the New Testament reveals clearly that the boundary of a local church is the boundary of the locality (city) in which the local church stands. In January of 1934, he gave four main messages on this truth, and these were published in the same year in a book entitled The Meeting Life. Brother Nee asked me to write the foreword for this book.
By 1934 many believers had given up the denominations to turn the way of the Lord's recovery in China, but most of them paid too much attention to external things, such as the leaving of the denominations, head covering, baptism, etc. Because of this, Brother Nee was very burdened. He had seen the truth concerning the overcoming life, but in 1935 he saw it in a more prevailing way. In August of 1935 he held a conference with us on the overcoming life of Christ. He stayed with me as my guest in my hometown for this conference. This conference brought in a prevailing revival among us, starting from my hometown in northern China. He also shared these messages when he returned to Shanghai in 1935.
At the beginning of 1937, Brother Nee began to see not only the boundary of a local church but also the ground of a local church. Because of the confusion in Christianity, Brother Nee went back to the New Testament to research the truth concerning the practical expression of the church. According to his study and research of the New Testament, he found out that one city should have only one church. A local church is a church in a city. The ground of a local church is the ground of unity, which also may be called the ground of locality. If we are in Los Angeles, we should meet as the church in Los Angeles. If we are in San Diego, we should meet as the church in San Diego. This is not only scriptural but also logical.
Brother Nee gave the messages concerning the ground of locality in 1937. I and other workers were working in Tientsin, the biggest port in northern China, when we received a cable from Brother Nee in Shanghai asking us to come on New Year's Day for an urgent conference with him. At that time he gave the messages that are now contained in the book The Normal Christian Church Life. The Chinese edition was entitled Rethinking Our Missions, and the English edition was entitled Concerning Our Missions. During this conference in January of 1937, Brother Nee became sick. Therefore, he repeated the messages in September and October of that year after the Japanese army had invaded China. Many of us retreated to the interior of China, and we assembled at Hankow where Brother Nee gave all the messages again to a greater number. At this point we became so clear about the church within and without. We became clear about the contents of the church and the practice of the church.