The local ground is the unique ground, the ground of oneness. It is also the ground of the Body and of the universal church. Consequently, all of the benefits of the church come from this ground. Once this ground is lost, the church suffers severely. We greatly benefit by standing on the ground, because several problems can be avoided.
In lesson 14 we saw that the churches in each locality should be independent, each living directly before the Lord and not forming organizations such as federations or headquarters (Rev. 1:11-20). The local ground is the best safeguard against forming organizations and federations. The local ground always restricts the local churches in every locality from forming federations beyond the boundary of a locality, thus losing the nature of locality. The church in every locality should be administered locally; there should be one church in one locality. The church in Jerusalem did not interfere with the church in Antioch; neither did the church in Antioch interfere with the church in Jerusalem. These local churches did not form a federation. Hence, Revelation 1 shows that the seven churches, signified by the seven lampstands, are independent, each on its local ground. Once the local ground is abandoned, the churches in different localities can immediately be united to form a large, “unified” church. This is how the Roman Catholic Church was produced. The Roman Catholic Church became so influential because the restriction of the local ground was not kept. They do not have the local ground; they only have the ground of the Roman Catholic Church. Since they have abolished the local ground, all the localities are unified into a large religious sect. Furthermore, the Roman Catholic Church is like a religious kingdom, with the pope as the head. This kingdom has its own judicial body, its own police force, and also its own administrative authority. In 1929 Mussolini signed a treaty with the Holy See to formally acknowledge the Roman Catholic Church as an independent nation. Such a large kingdom developed when the local ground of the church was abandoned. The Catholic Church is not standing on the ground of locality but rather on the ground of the Roman Catholic Church. They establish the Roman Catholic Church in many places. They do not establish a local church in a locality. Rather, all the problems in every place are brought to Rome to be settled. The Holy See is their imperial court.
We should not damage the local ground, because it guards against this kind of unification. If the church in every locality stands firm on the local ground, it will be impossible to have large organizational unification. If the churches in each locality are administered locally and are not ruled by other localities or ruling over other localities, the local nature of the church will be preserved.
The church in a locality should not be divided into many groups. For example, here in Taipei, there is a Ho Ping East Road Church and a Chungshan North Road Church. There are many “churches” on different streets and alleys; these are small divisions. In lesson 15 we saw that according to the Bible, there should be only one church in a locality, not many “churches.” There should be only one local church in a locality; there should not be many “churches” on different streets and alleys in the same locality. If there are many “churches” on different streets and alleys in a locality, these are small divisions.
The open Brethren had many such divisions in a locality. If there were different opinions in a gathering, they would say, “We should not argue or quarrel. We should love one another in the Lord, but since we now have different opinions among us, let us meet separately. You meet on that road, and we will meet on another road. Then we can love one another and not strive with one another.” Because of this way, they had many meetings in one locality.
Because of this practice among the open Brethren we encountered the problem of determining what the boundary of the church in a locality should be. In 1933 after much studying of the Word, Watchman Nee found that the boundary of the local church should be neither larger nor smaller than the locality itself. Anything larger than a locality is an unscriptural federation, and anything smaller than a locality is an unscriptural division. By keeping the local ground, we guard against organizational unification or small divisions.
We need to see that this is not a simple matter. If the light concerning the local ground is not sufficiently strong among us, sooner or later we will be divided. The Taiwanese brothers may say, “Since we cannot communicate with those from other provinces, and our temperament is not compatible, why should we suffer? Others can form a Mandarin ‘church,’ and we will form a Taiwanese ‘church.’” If this happens, we will be divided immediately.
Only the local ground can guard against such a danger. There can be only one church in one locality. There is no basis for any division. There were Jewish and Gentile believers in the church in Antioch (Acts 13:1). Niger was a Gentile, and so was Manaen, the foster brother of Herod. Out of the five prophets and teachers there, at least two were Gentiles. However, neither a Hebrew-speaking church nor a Greek-speaking church were formed in Antioch. In the church in Corinth as well, there were Greeks and Jews. But they did not form a Greek-speaking church and a Hebrew-speaking church. There was only one church in Corinth. Therefore, 1 Corinthians 12:13 says, “Whether Jews or Greeks.” In one locality there can be only one church. Languages cannot be the ground, and neither can ethnicity be the ground; only the locality can be the ground. If we are not clear concerning this matter and do not hold fast to this matter, sooner or later we will be divided.
For thirty years the Lord has preserved us from division. This is not because we are in absolute agreement in all of our opinions; rather, it is because we have all seen that no opinion is good or sufficient enough to be our ground for establishing the church. The church has no other ground but the local ground. There can be only one church in a locality, and there should not be any division regardless of the reason.
Therefore, the local ground has a great advantage of guarding against small divisions. If we are not satisfied with the church in a locality, we cannot form another church in that locality. The only thing we can do is to move to another locality. If we are not satisfied in Taipei, we can go to Tainan. If we are not satisfied again with Tainan, we can go to Chiayi. Regardless of the situation, we can only leave, not divide.
This is a serious matter. If there is no local ground, the church will have no protection and can be divided at any time. The reason for the formation of different sects and denominations in Protestantism is the lack of emphasis on the boundary of the local ground. At the time of the church in Corinth, there were four parties: those belonging to Paul, those belonging to Apollos, those belonging to Cephas, and those belonging to Christ, but they were not yet divided into four churches. Nevertheless, the apostle Paul still reprimanded them severely. Today, however, people openly put up signs of the “Lutheran Church” and the “Methodist Church.” This is because of a lack of light. Therefore, we must see that the local ground is a serious matter; it guards against large federations and also avoids small divisions. The Roman Catholic Church has forsaken the local ground and has thus become a large federation; the Protestants have neglected the local ground and have thus become many small divisions.
The local ground can also guard against confusion. The situation of the church today is chaotic. Some people open their homes and gather a few people to pray together and thus form a house “church.” Some professors gather a few students to meet together and thus form another type of “church.” For this reason I sometimes say that today it is more convenient for people to establish a church than to open a tea house. In order to open a tea house, one needs to register with the government, but anyone can establish a “church.” In order to avoid this kind of confusion, there must be the local ground. Once the local ground is confirmed, there cannot be unification, division, or confusion. However large a locality may be is the size of the church in that locality, and however small a locality may be is the size of the church in that locality as well. Thus, there will not be a federation that is larger than a locality, nor will there be a division that is smaller than a locality. At the same time, there will not be confusion related to the ground. If there were only one ground and one church in each locality, there would not be such confusion today. These are the benefits of the local ground.
Since the local ground is the unique ground, all other grounds must be forsaken. Therefore, we need to forsake all other grounds and return to the local ground. This is what we mean by leaving the sects and denominations. Today it is not sufficient for us to merely love the Lord, be fervent, preach the gospel, perfect others, and be holy and spiritual while ignoring the matter of the ground. Speaking in lofty tones, many people today say that it is sufficient to love the Lord, be fervent, preach the gospel, perfect others, and be holy and spiritual. If there were no church, it might be acceptable merely to be such individual Christians. However, Christians are not alone; they must live a corporate life. The church is a reality. Hence, we must take care of the matter of the ground. In order to take care of the ground of the church, we must forsake all other grounds and return to the local ground.
As Christians, we need a ground for everything. We need a ground to fellowship with others, to meet, to serve God, to coordinate, to pursue holiness and spirituality, to work, and even more, to build up the church. The ground that is required for all of these is the local ground. The local ground is needed for fellowship, meeting, serving God, coordination, pursuing holiness and spirituality, working, and all the more, for building up the church. Only by being on the local ground can we be in the church. Therefore, we must forsake all other grounds and return to the local ground.