What we have seen above is in regard to the Lord’s recovery in the Western world. Now we need to speak a little concerning the Lord’s recovery in the East. I believe that some of the brothers and sisters who are meeting with us might have a feeling that our gatherings are somewhat different from other Christian organizations. Sometimes outsiders also have some questions regarding us, asking, “What kind of Christians are they? How is their situation different from other Christian organizations?” Even some brothers and sisters have asked, “Where did we come from? How did we become what we are today?” Now I will speak a little concerning our story, which is also the story of the Lord’s recovery in the East.
Most Chinese who are over fifty years old are aware of the fact that approximately thirty or forty years ago Chinese society experienced a great reform. In particular, the young people were infused with many new thoughts. They received a new kind of education, and they were stirred up to exert their effort to bring blessings to the country and to improve society. The Lord also worked on many of these young people, causing them to be saved and seriously gained by the Lord. This was really something of the Lord. Throughout the country, from the south to the north, many like this were saved in many places.
After their salvation these young brothers began to analyze the situation of Christianity. They classified the things in Christianity into three categories: the Lord Himself, the Lord’s Word—the Bible and the gospel, and the system, organization, regulations, and practices in Christianity. Concerning the first two categories, which are the Lord and the Lord’s Word, they had no problems at all. They thanked the Lord that He brought these two things to the East through the brothers from the West. However, concerning practical Christianity, that is, the Christianity before their eyes, they had a big question. They questioned everything in Christianity, including the system, the organization, the various names, the articles of faith, and the practices. They questioned every item by asking, “Is this right? What is the basis for this? What is the principle, the standard?” They said, “We must study the Bible, we must acknowledge that the Bible has the highest authority, and we must decide everything according to the Bible.” At that time, their slogan was that “the Bible is the highest court.” They decided every matter by bringing it to the Bible. Therefore, they spent a great deal of effort to study the Bible in a serious way. Not only did they study the Bible in a general way, they also studied specific topics.
For instance, because they saw that Christianity was divided into many denominations and sects, they put a question mark on this and asked, “Are denominations and sects according to the Bible? Do they have a place in the Bible?” Then they read through the twenty-seven books of the New Testament, specifically to study the matter of denominations and sects. As a result, they saw that denominations were not found in the Bible and that sects were condemned by the Bible. Later they noticed that every denomination had a special name, such as Presbyterian, Methodist, and Baptist. Hence, they also asked, “Are these names according to the Bible? Do they have a foundation in the Bible?” Then they carefully studied all the portions in the New Testament which spoke of names. Eventually, they concluded that we should belong to and exalt only one name—the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Being designated by any name or exalting any name other than the name of the Lord is not according to the Bible.
When they looked at the pastoral system, they again went to the Bible to study this matter. As a result, they obtained an answer which negated it. When they saw the layers of organization in Christianity with general headquarters, regional centers, and local congregations, they again asked, “Are these organizations in Christianity according to the Bible?” They went to the Bible to specifically study this matter and again obtained an answer that negated this point.
I do not need to go into all of these matters in detail. They put a question mark on every matter, great or small, including baptism by immersion or by sprinkling and the distribution of the bread by a pastor at holy communions; they ascertained an answer from the Bible one by one. Most of their conclusions were negative.
Thus, they could no longer accept or remain in the status quo of Christianity. They cared for the Lord and the Bible but not for deformed, organized Christianity. Therefore, they began to leave the denominations. From approximately 1922 to 1934, for over ten years, from the south to the north, Christians throughout China enthusiastically responded to the matter of leaving the denominations. These Christians were mainly the young people spoken of earlier, who were both capable and quite clear concerning the Lord’s salvation and who intensely loved the Lord, feared the Lord, and diligently read the Bible. Gradually, they communicated with one another and had fellowship through correspondence. Spontaneously, they converged and became one flow. By 1935 small meetings had been raised up in many important cities from Kwangtung Province, the most southern region of China, to Heilungkiang Province, the most northern part. They were started by people who loved the Lord with a pure heart in various localities and who left the sectarian groups and erroneous denominations of organized Christianity. They gathered together for the worship of the Lord in a pure and simple way.
Let me give an example to show how absolute and simple they were at that time. In the city of Tsinan, capital of Shangtung Province, there is the famous Chilu University, established jointly by the Presbyterians and some other denominations. Thus, it was a Christian university with regular Christian worship services, a university chaplain, and a number of professors who were also Presbyterian missionaries. Around 1931, a group of students were saved. They truly loved the Lord and loved to study the Bible. In their reading of the Word, like all other seeking Christians, they realized that Christianity at that time was deformed and that the denomination before their eyes was not scriptural. So they left the denomination and would no longer go to the university chapel. But where could these believers go to meet? Surprisingly, they held their first Lord’s table at a cemetery in a desolate place outside of the city of Tsinan. In that cemetery there were graves with a stone table in front for placing offerings. The young brothers used the stone table as the table for the breaking of bread. They placed the bread and the cup on the stone table; then they all sat on the ground around the table and sang hymns and gave praises to the Lord. In this way they broke the bread. Someone told me that in their meeting they truly touched the presence of the Lord; they truly touched heaven. This was the beginning of the church in Tsinan.
The church in Foochow also started when a group of young students saw that denominations were wrong and would not go back to them. They wanted to have a new beginning, to have a pure meeting not according to Western traditions but simply according to the Bible. So they came together to meet. At first they met in a brother’s home. Later when the number of people increased, they needed to rent another place for their meeting. Because they were poor students, where could they get money to rent a house? They also read from the Bible that it was not acceptable to ask for donations and that the proper way was to rely on God, to believe in God. Therefore, they prayed before the Lord in simplicity. They kept praying until a young brother took off his jacket and secretly offered it to a responsible brother to be sold to pay for the rent. The responsible brother then asked in the meeting if someone would buy the jacket for eight dollars. Please listen to this lovely story. There were only a few saints, but upon hearing the announcement, some were touched. One sister said to another sister beside her, “Look at that brother over there. His clothing is so lightweight. I am thinking of buying the jacket to give it to him, but I have only four dollars.” The other sister said, “I also have four dollars. Let us buy the jacket together.” Thus, they combined their money and bought the jacket for eight dollars. Then they gave it to that brother, not knowing that he had offered the jacket originally. In this way they had a few dollars and were able to rent a place to meet.
From these examples we can see that the recovery at that time was pure, without any background, any motive, or any connection or involvement with organized Christianity. Furthermore, and most importantly, they accepted the Word of God absolutely, taking the Bible as their highest authority. They took the Bible as the yardstick to carefully measure every matter, including matters such as how to serve God and how to live their life. It did not matter to them what anyone said concerning a particular matter; they wanted to know what the Bible said. Consequently, at that time, there were many arguments in regard to the Bible.
For example, once a church in northern China needed lights in the meeting hall. In order to be scriptural, the brothers began to ask concerning the kind of lights that should be installed in the meeting hall. Some were against using electric lights because electric lights could not be found in the Bible. Others suggested, “We should use oil lamps because they are scriptural. In the Bible the lamp contains oil, and it has symbolic meaning. The church is a lampstand, and the oil within it is the Holy Spirit.” This kind of talk sounds somewhat childish today, but it shows how earnest they were in their hearts to let the Lord speak.
They also had a thorough discussion concerning baptism by immersion and baptism by sprinkling. Eventually, they concluded that baptism by immersion was the biblical way. Then they discussed whether a believer should be baptized in natural water or in man-made water and whether one should be baptized in the river, the sea, or a pool. They also discussed whether baptism should be in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit or in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Another example concerned head covering for sisters. This matter was vigorously debated among them. Should the sisters wear head coverings? What should be the color and style of the covering? Should it be white or black or another color? Should it be a large piece of cloth or a hat? These questions were thoroughly debated. Even matters such as whether the sisters could open their mouths and pray in the meetings and whether they could stand up and give testimonies were vigorously argued and thoroughly debated. I cannot speak too much on these.
Brothers and sisters, we must know that many of our practices today were found approximately twenty or thirty years ago through a thorough study of the Bible and a great deal of discussion. Therefore, when we began to meet, it was something completely new, something that came out of the Bible. We did not care for the Christianity that was behind us. From that day onward we cast away all of organized Christianity. We cared for the Lord and for the Bible; we did not care for deformed Christianity. Our desire was to find the pattern in the Bible and to see what the church was and what it meant to be Christians.
From that time, there was a new beginning for the church in the East. Among other things, the primary item of the recovery was the return to the Lord’s Word—the Bible. Oh, at that time the Lord’s Word was truly precious! We were young people who loved the Lord’s Word; we felt that the Lord’s Word was truly as sweet as honey and as precious as gold (Psa. 19:9-10). We also studied the Bible well. When everyone sat down to debate a question, one person would quote the Bible, and I would quote the Bible as well; everyone was according to the Bible, but we were all very humble also. When we discovered that what I saw was not right and was a little off, I would accept the proper view immediately without any further word. When we realized that what another saw was not right and that I had seen something more accurate, he would accept my view without a further word. Most of the issues were not decided according to our views. Instead, we would simply say, “This is according to the Lord’s will. Because this is what the Word says, this is what we have decided.” At the beginning of the recovery among us, our respect and obedience to the Lord’s Word was our strongest point.