In 1926 Brother Nee received a burden to move to Shanghai, and the church life there began by 1927. About five years later, in 1932, the Lord touched me, and a church was raised up in my hometown of Chefoo. That was the first church in north China. From 1932 to 1934 small groups were raised up in many places through Brother Nee’s publications.
A large number of believers left the denominations, but few were clear about the proper practice of the church life. Many of the groups that were raised up met in a way that was still influenced by the denominational background. Religious concepts were brought into the new start. In 1933 I dropped my job and went to Shanghai to meet with Brother Nee, and he asked me to stay there. At that time the sisters were not allowed to pray or testify in the meetings. That was something of religion that had crept in from the Brethren background. Brother Nee and some of the other leading ones felt that this restriction was not good or profitable and caused the church to be like a half-paralyzed body. Therefore, Brother Nee fellowshipped with the brothers concerning the need to release the sisters to function. However, he could not get through, because most of the other leading ones would not agree. When I came to Shanghai, Brother Nee said to me, “Brother Lee, we have to pray for a problem that we have here. In our meetings the sisters are silent. This is a loss.” We prayed steadfastly, and eventually the dissenting ones reluctantly agreed to release the sisters. In 1934 the sisters began to pray in the meetings, but they were not allowed to give testimonies. There was still some religion there. Gradually, many began to feel that there was a loss, because many sisters have good testimonies. After much consideration, we made a decision that based upon 1 Timothy 2:12, the sisters should not teach, but they could give personal testimonies. We took this stand to give the sisters the liberty to testify. This history shows that religion is in our blood. It is not easy to be completely rid of religion. Apparently, we had cut off the old current, but religion still crept in.
It is not easy to be free from all religious concepts. Many traditions and concepts have been brought into the church over the past nineteen hundred years. Today even unbelievers have concepts concerning Christianity. When a man is saved and comes into the church, he already has certain concepts about how things should be done. However, the young people do not have many opinions. It is for this reason that the Lord began His ministry with a group of young Galileans. Nearly two thousand years later in China, the Lord again came to a fresh group of young people. Because the young people are fresh, they are good for the Lord’s new move.
Year after year Brother Nee saw more light and helped us to see the light as well. In the early years under the leadership of Brother Nee, we studied the Bible, church history, all the major spiritual writings, and many biographies of spiritual giants from the early church fathers down to the present century. By around 1928 Brother Nee had collected over three thousand classical Christian writings. In 1924 and 1925 his bedroom was full of books. His bed had two rows of books on it, leaving only a narrow strip for him to lie down—he was buried in books. By his help, we built up a habit to collect and read valuable spiritual books. Therefore, although we did not come to the Western world, we contacted Western Christianity by reading the histories, biographies, and all the main writings. We decided that if any practice or teaching was not according to the Bible, we would not take it. At that time we were not clear that the main thing is not to be scriptural but to be in the spirit. Gradually, the Lord adjusted us from stressing doctrines to stressing the spirit. Before Brother Nee’s arrest and imprisonment he had begun to emphasize that we must be in the spirit.
Throughout the years of Brother Nee’s ministry, there were at least three or four times when he saw a further revelation concerning the church. Looking back, we can see that the revelation was completed just before he was imprisoned. Because I was with him for many years, I not only read his writings, but I also had many talks with him. I knew what was within him. The central, crucial point of Brother Nee’s ministry was twofold—Christ as life and everything to us to produce the church, and the church as the Body, the fullness, of Christ to be expressed in many localities. Once Brother Nee said that he had a dream in which he saw a local church in every city in China. This vision was his burden and his ministry. In my life I have met all kinds of Christians, but I never met a person who knew life, the Lord, and the Bible as deeply as Brother Nee.