I hope that all the brothers and sisters serving in the ministry station realize what it is you are serving and what is the purpose of your service.
First, we need to know that our commission is the Lord’s recovery on the earth. We also need to know that the Lord’s recovery is absolutely different from Christianity. We are not setting up another operation or starting another work among so many works of Christianity. From the beginning we answered the Lord’s call to come out from the degraded Christianity that the Bible calls the great Babylon, the great harlot. Until today, we are still outside of Christianity. The testimony that we are bearing is the testimony revealed by the Lord in the Bible.
Second, from the beginning the Lord’s recovery was brought in by His ministry. This ministry is not the work of any particular brother, but is the New Testament ministry.
The New Testament ministry is not merely the work of Paul nor merely the work of Peter. The New Testament ministry was borne by the twelve apostles initially, then carried on by other apostles, among whom the most prominent one was Paul. After Paul there were still others. As apostles and co-workers, each of these brothers had his portion of work; yet they did not have many ministries.
As far as we are concerned, the first time the New Testament mentions this ministry is in Acts 1:17. There it says that what the twelve apostles had was this unique ministry. Paul said in 2 Corinthians that they had received this ministry (2 Cor. 4:1). Paul and his co-workers, although there were many of them, had all received the one ministry.
The beginning of the Lord’s recovery was also this one ministry. In this ministry the most prominent one used by the Lord was Brother Watchman Nee. Besides him, there were other co-workers who were bearing the burden of the work of this ministry with him. Ephesians 4 says that Christ gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some shepherds and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of ministry (4:11-12). This shows us that this ministry includes even every perfected saint. As long as a person has a part in God’s New Testament economy and also bears the burden of this economy with all the saints, he is in this ministry.
The four kinds of gifted persons mentioned in Ephesians chapter four are for the building up of the church to be the Body of Christ. When we speak of the church, our understanding is for the most part concerning the local aspect; however, when we speak of the Body of Christ, the emphasis is on the universal aspect. There is only one Body of Christ in the universe. The Lord’s recovery is for recovering the testimony of the Body of Christ. Whoever has a part in the testimony of the Body of Christ is one who functions in the Body of Christ. It may be that many of these are not apostles, but they nevertheless have a part in the ministry borne by the apostles. They are being perfected in the Body of Christ, with each one functioning. According to Ephesians chapter four, those who build up the Body of Christ directly are not the apostles, but all the saints, that is, those members who are perfected and who are carrying out their functions. Therefore, the ministry of building up the Body of Christ can be divided into three levels: the first level is the building by Christ, the second, the building by the apostles, and the third, the direct building by the perfected saints.