We have repeatedly said that the church is one. She is not only one in number but also one in nature. Therefore, everything concerning the church is one, not two, whether it is her source, fellowship, or ground. When she is two, she is divided, but once there is division, a sect is formed. Once there is division, regardless of the reason—even the best, most spiritual, most honorable reason—it is still a sect. No matter how good the reason, motive, or purpose, it is a sect as long as it is a division. This is because the church is absolutely one and cannot be two; her nature, ground, and testimony are all one. We have seen this very clearly.
However, a question remains. In many portions in the Bible, when the church is spoken of, it is singular in number, referring to the single, unique church, the one church. But in the Bible there are also other portions which use the word churches. Since the church is one, why does the Bible also use churches? In other words, why does the Bible speak of one church and many churches? Why does it speak of the church, the one church, and also speak of churches? If we read the Bible carefully, we would see that in the universe there is only one church, which is the Body of Christ. Ephesians 1:22-23 speaks of Christ being the Head and the church being the Body. This church is altogether universal; it is uniquely one because there cannot be two Bodies, much less many Bodies. Therefore, in the universe the church is one, not many. But we know that the universe contains the elements of time and space. The word universe denotes past and present, local and abroad. Past and present are a matter of time; local and abroad are a matter of space. Time plus space equals the universe. In the universe there is only one church. However, in its manifestation in the time and space of the universe, there is one church in each locality, and therefore there are many churches. Hence, when the Bible speaks of the church in a certain place, it uses the singular noun church. Some examples include the church in Jerusalem (Acts 8:1), the church in Antioch (13:1), the church in Corinth (1 Cor. 1:2), and the church in Ephesus (Rev. 2:1). As long as a locality, a city, is a unit of people’s gathering and living together, then the church manifested there is also a single unit—one church. But when the Bible speaks of the church in a province such as Asia, it says “the churches of Asia” (1 Cor. 16:19). There were many churches in the province of Asia because there were many cities, such as Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea (Rev. 1:4, 11). Other examples are Macedonia and Galatia. Because these were also provinces, the churches therein were referred to as the churches of Macedonia (2 Cor. 8:1) and the churches of Galatia (Gal. 1:2) respectively.
Therefore, in the universe, from the universal aspect, the church is uniquely one, but from the local aspect, there are many churches since there are many localities. However, this is not to say that there are many kinds of churches. There is only one kind of church. In nature, principle, and element, the church is altogether of one kind, not of many kinds; only according to geography, according to locality, are there many churches. There is a church in this locality, and there is a church in that locality. There is a church in this city, and there is a church in that city. Each locality has a local church. Because there are different localities, there are many churches. But in nature, principle, and constituent, the churches are one and the same. We need to see that in the universe the church is uniquely one; there are not two churches, much less many churches. However, in the manifestation of the church locally, there are many churches because there are different localities. The churches are still one, however, in nature, principle, and constituent. Moreover, in each locality there can be only one church, not many churches.
Since Jerusalem was a large city and had such a large number of saved ones meeting separately in so many homes, some think that there must have been many churches in Jerusalem, that is, that the church there must have been plural in number. No! The Bible clearly records that there was only one church in Jerusalem; the church was singular in number. A city is a unit of people’s gathering and living together, and the church manifested in such a city should also be a single unit. Consider some of the large cities in the world today, such as New York City, which has a population of almost ten million, and Tokyo, which has a population of approximately eight million. These cities may be huge in size and large in population, but they still cannot be divided. Each city has one government, not two, because it is a unit of people’s gathering and living together. A certain locality may be a town with only thirty thousand people or even three thousand people. Although the population of such a place is small and its size is also small, it still has its own administration because it is a unit of people’s gathering and living together. In principle, the church is like this. The church is composed of people who live in communities, who gather and live together in locality after locality in separate units. Thus, the church naturally is divided into separate units. But in a city, in a locality, there can be only one church. The church has to take a city, a locality, as its boundary regardless of its size. Large cities, large localities, have large churches, and small cities, small localities, have small churches. In a city, in a locality, there can be only one church. Let me say again, although Jerusalem was large in size and large in population, there was only one church in it, not many churches. If there could be many churches in a city, in a locality, it would be a terrible situation because the church would be in confusion and division. If there were many churches in a city, in a locality, instead of speaking of “the church in Jerusalem,” “the church in Antioch,” and “the church in Corinth,” the Bible would have referred to “the churches in Jerusalem,” “the churches in Antioch,” and “the churches in Corinth.” If there were many churches in a city and the word church in the singular still was used, it might refer to the church on such-and-such street, the church on such-and-such road, and the church in such-and-such alley. Then it would be like today’s abnormal situation. In Taipei sometimes people point and say, “That is the church on North Chungshan Road,” or “That is the church on East Hoping Road.” We must remember that there can be only one church in a city, in a locality. There is no such a thing as the church on a street. A street is not qualified to be a unit for establishing a church, just as it is not qualified to be a unit for setting up an administration. Only a locality, whether it is a town or a city, can serve as a unit of administration, as a unit for the church. If we read the Bible carefully, we can find churches only in a province; we cannot find churches in a city. In a city, in a locality, there was only one church. It is not right for the unit of the church to be larger than a city, a locality; it is also wrong for the unit of the church to be smaller than a city, a locality.
We have seen in the previous chapters that the eternal heart’s desire of God is to gain a group of people in the universe, comprising all the saved ones in the past and present, local and abroad, to constitute the Body of His Son, which is the church symbolized by the New Jerusalem. This Body is a vessel to express His Son. As His Son is being expressed through the Body, God Himself is also being expressed in His Son. This is the heart’s desire of God in eternity, the goal God intends to reach in the universe. How does God accomplish this matter? How does He carry this out on earth? The New Testament shows that He is doing it by raising up a church in each locality. He first raised up the church in Jerusalem, and then He raised up a church in many other cities, including Antioch, Ephesus, Corinth, and Rome. God wants the church in each locality to be a miniature, a small-scale representation, of His universal church so that all the local churches are the same as the universal church in nature and principle, just as small chicks are similar to the large hen. These local churches represent the universal church in their respective places, and they express Christ and serve as the testimony of Christ according to the principle of the universal church. Therefore, every local church is a lampstand in its locality, shining forth Christ. In Ephesus, we cannot see two or more lampstands; we can see only one lampstand because there was only one church in Ephesus. In one city, in one locality, there is only one church. Among the seven cities of the province of Asia, for example, each city had a church, so there were seven churches, seven lampstands. These seven lampstands were independent of the others; they were not unified to become one lampstand. In every city, in every locality, there was only one church; in every city, in every locality, there was only one lampstand. This is very clear. God has established this because He wants to set up a testimony, a lampstand, a church, in every locality
In this way we clearly see that the church has a universal aspect and a local aspect. The universal aspect is with respect to the church in its entirety, and the local aspect is with respect to the church in its manifestation. There can be many churches manifested locally, but in each locality there can be only one church as the testimony and representation of the unique universal church. Since there is only one church in the universe, there should also be only one manifestation and representation of the church in each locality. Now we will look briefly at the mutual relations between these two aspects of the church—the universal church and the local church.