Although there was so much opposition to Brother Nee within Christianity, there was also some vindication from the Lord. In 1938 and 1939 he was in England, and he was invited to the Keswick convention, a gathering of Christians who were very much for the inner life. The chairman of the convention had heard something concerning Watchman Nee, so he asked Brother Nee to come up to the platform to give a prayer. In those days to be asked to be a speaker or to give a prayer at the Keswick convention was a great thing. Brother Nee was hesitant about giving such a public prayer, but Brother T. Austin-Sparks, who had brought him to the convention, encouraged him to do it. Thus, Brother Nee went to the platform and prayed. His prayer taught the entire congregation. After his prayer, there was a message. After the message, however, no one talked about the message but about Watchman Nee's prayer.
At that time Brother Nee was also able to have some real fellowship with the chairman of the convention, who was also the chairman of the best mission that went to China, the China Inland Mission. In their fellowship, this brother entirely agreed with Brother Nee. He told Brother Nee that what the Lord had commissioned him to do in China was according to Hudson Taylor's burden. He was sorry that their missionaries had wrongly opposed Brother Nee. This brother later went to China purposely. He called all of the China Inland Mission missionaries together to Shanghai and told them openly that they were wrong to oppose the ministry of Watchman Nee. He told them that what Brother Nee was doing was exactly what they should do. He also shared that because they had failed the Lord, the Lord raised up Brother Nee to replace them. He advised them and begged them not to oppose or attack Brother Nee anymore. Regretfully, after he left, the missionaries attacked Brother Nee even more.
From 1927 when Brother Nee established the church in Shanghai until the day he died, he was only invited to speak to a denomination once. This was in 1932 in my hometown. He went there, and he stayed in my home. That was the first time we met. In one sense, he was very unpopular. In another sense, he was popular in being attacked by Christianity.
Today some publish Brother Nee's books on the spiritual side of Christ being life to us, but they will not publish his material on the practical side concerning the church. Because the books concerning Christ as life have helped thousands, Brother Nee has a popular name today. But this was absolutely against his intention. He never would agree with this. For this reason we have done our best to publish Brother Nee's fellowship concerning the church.
Some even spread a rumor that after World War II, Watchman Nee changed his concept concerning the church and the denominations, but the book entitled Further Talks on the Church Life disproves this. The messages in this book were all given by Brother Nee after the war. The earliest one was in 1948, and the last one was in 1951. These messages prove that Brother Nee never changed his concept. After the war, I was working closely with him for at least two and a half years, and he told me what was on his heart. He said that we are not here just for Christ but for Christ and His Body, the church. He said that our vision is not just Christ as life but Christ as life for the church. He always ministered on Christ and the church. Many times in 1947 and 1948, he opened up his heart to me personally or to me and Sister Peace Wang, an elderly co-worker.
Some have also made the accusation that Witness Lee is different from Watchman Nee. One author accused me of going beyond Brother Nee by allegorizing the Bible. He accused me of going too far by saying in the book The Glorious Church that Eve is a type of the church. The author of this accusation, however, did not realize that The Glorious Church was written by Brother Nee. In his intention to show people that I was different from Brother Nee, in the Lord's sovereignty, he made me the same as Brother Nee. Brother Nee's ministry was always focused on Christ as life for the building up of the organic Body of Christ, and we have always continued in this focus.