Brother Nee's ministry was clearly of two aspects—Christ and the church. His ministry was a fully, properly, and adequately balanced ministry. Through my reading and knowledge of church history, I have come to know something concerning the lives of many famous spiritual persons from the first century to the present. I never saw a person like Brother Nee who was so adequately and thoroughly balanced with these two aspects—Christ and the church. He really saw the vision of Christ, and he also received the revelation of the church. His publications were always on Christ and the church. They were properly balanced (see pages 5 and 6 of the foreword to The Orthodoxy of the Church published by Living Stream Ministry). He published many books concerning Christ as life and everything to us. The reality, or the content, of the church is Christ Himself. He also published many books on the practice, the practicality, of the church. Brother Nee's ministry on Christ was not for the believers individually. The vision of Christ which Brother Nee received for his ministry was of Christ for the church.
Many so-called spiritual people teach about Christ for the Christians individually. In their teaching they do not care for the church. They are even afraid to speak about the church because they realize that this will cause problems. To stay away from these problems, they just take care of Christ for the believers' individual life. Brother Nee was different. The vision he received was concerning Christ as the believers' life and everything for the building up of the church.
The Christ whom the believers experience is the reality, the content, of the church. In order to match this reality, the practicality of the church is needed. The reality of the church is the content. The practicality of the church is the expression. Christ is not merely for the individual Christians but for the corporate Body of Christ. His being for the individual Christians is for the building up of His corporate Body.
The church's reality is Christ being realized by us individual Christians in a corporate way. To match this reality, we need the practice of the church. We cannot hold Christ as the reality in an individual way. We must come out of our private interests and come together with Christ as the reality to practice the church life. Then we can testify, even to God's enemy, that we are one and that we have not only the reality but also the practicality of the church.
Christ and the church were the main points of Brother Nee's ministry. I have realized what Brother Nee's ministry is to such an extent by reading his books and by being with him. I thank God and praise the Lord that I had the privilege of listening to his messages, of having personal, direct talks with him, and of seeing how he conducted himself. When I initially read some of his articles in 1925, I thought he must be an old, experienced man. Eventually, I found out that he was a very young man. At that time he was twenty-two years old and I was twenty. I first came into contact with him by reading his publications.
Eventually, I read all of Brother Nee's writings. I also edited many of his messages. I was assigned to edit one of his three series of editions of The Christian. Beginning in 1934 the main messages in that magazine were from Brother Nee, but I did the editing. Thus, I had the privilege of reading all these writings. His writings show that his ministry was of two aspects—Christ and the church. Christ is the reality, the content, of the church, and the church needs the practicality to match the reality.
In 1923 Brother Nee published his first magazine called The Present Testimony. His second magazine, The Christian, began to be published in 1925 and continued for two years through 1926. After 1926 Brother Nee began to publish The Present Testimony again for about seven years. The Present Testimony was mainly on the side of Christ being life to us. It presented the revelation of the person and work of Christ, the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, and the ascension of Christ. That was the deepest spiritual publication in all of Christianity at that time. The Christian mainly covered things for young Christians, for new beginners. In 1934 Brother Nee had the burden to publish The Christian again. By that time I was in the work, so he gave the editing responsibility to me. From that year he took care of The Present Testimony, and I was charged to take care of The Christian. Besides this he published many books on both Christ and the church. His ministry was composed of Christ and the church.