From the beginning of the church life in mainland China, there was a sister who was dissenting toward Brother Nee. She was about twenty-five or twenty-six when Brother Nee was twenty years old. She was a gifted sister who eventually became a traveling preacher and was considered very highly by Christianity. Following the six brothers who excommunicated Brother Nee, she was the major one who was always dissenting toward him. In January of 1934, while we were in the third Victory Conference in Shanghai, she was in the meetings in a dissenting way. While Brother Nee was speaking, she was shaking her head in disagreement. She was older than him and received respect from many directions, yet she was dissenting toward him. I saw many dissenting ones throughout the years. This sister was one of the strongest of these dissenting ones. She was in the church life in the beginning in China, but eventually she left. Such dissenting ones were a real suffering to Brother Nee.
Brother Nee also suffered because of the immaturity and incompetence of those around him. He was bearing the responsibility with the brothers, but there was no comparison between him and all the other brothers. He was very mature and competent, but the others were immature and incompetent. In the early days of the Lord's recovery in mainland China, Brother Watchman Nee was a unique, extraordinary person. Spiritually, he was far beyond the other brothers. He saw many things which the brothers did not see. Most of us do not realize much concerning this kind of suffering. Suppose that a brother who is thirty-four years old had to serve and bear responsibility with a brother who is only fifteen years old. This illustration may give us some idea of Brother Nee's suffering in this regard.
Because of the immaturity of the brothers, Brother Nee also had to endure their stubbornness. The practice of the church life in China began in 1922, and I came into the work in a practical way in 1933. Before I entered into the work with Brother Nee, I went to visit him in Shanghai for four months. At the end of that four-month period, Brother Nee said to me, "Witness, we brothers feel that you should move your family here and stay with us so that we can work together. Please open to the Lord concerning this matter." I went to the Lord, and I became clear that I had to move to Shanghai.
When I entered into the work with Brother Nee, he put me into a position of bearing the responsibility with him. At first I wondered why he did this since I could be considered as a "new hand" in the work. A few of the others had been in Shanghai with Brother Nee for six or seven years. I was a new person in the work, but I was immediately brought into such a heavy responsibility with Brother Nee. Then I found out that all the other brothers were busy taking care of their jobs and businesses. Only one brother there was a co-worker. Whereas I was two years younger than Brother Nee, this brother was about seven years older than him. Before this brother came into the Lord's work, he had been a postmaster.