The third specific means Watchman Nee employed for his ministry was that of issuing publications.
Early in 1922 Watchman began to print gospel tracts for his preaching work. In his open letter in the thirteenth issue of The Present Testimony, published in March 1930, he said, "In these two years hundreds of thousands of gospel tracts have already been distributed. We constantly hear of their effect in saving people."
In his open letter in the nineteenth issue of the same magazine, published in January—February 1931, he said, "The gospel tracts we have printed have been greatly blessed by the Lord. In the past two or three years we have sent out more than five million tracts, and this year we have printed one and a half million tracts."
At the end of 1922 Watchman was burdened to publish a magazine entitled The Present Testimony. In Chinese it is called Fu-shing, which means "revival." The first issue of fourteen hundred copies was published in January 1923 in Foochow. Its theme was specifically the deep things of God and was composed of messages on life with the Lord Jesus as the center, especially emphasizing His life, His crucifixion, His resurrection, His intercession, His Body, His coming back, and His kingdom. These messages were especially designed for the cultivation of the spiritual life and made no attempt to engage in intellectual debate.
This magazine continued until 1925, when Watchman had the burden to publish The Christian. The publication of The Present Testimony was resumed in January 1928 in Shanghai. The following excerpts taken from his second testimony, given at Kulangsu on October 20, 1936, and his open letters reveal the purpose of the magazine and the reason for resuming its publication:
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Before I became ill, I not only visited various places to conduct special meetings, but I also had a great ambition to compose a good comprehensive commentary. I intended to devote much energy, time, and money in writing a large commentary consisting of about a hundred volumes. After completing The Spiritual Man, which I began in Nanking when I became ill, I realized that the task of expounding the Scriptures was not for me. However, since that time I have frequently met with temptation in this respect. After my illness, God revealed to me that the central point of the messages He gave me was not for expounding the Scriptures, preaching the ordinary gospel, paying attention to prophecies, or anything outward, but for laying stress on the living Word of life. For this reason I felt I should resume publishing The Present Testimony to assist God's children in spiritual life and warfare.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________