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Originally Posted by Indiana
Ah, but the American brothers were in the process of a recovery that began with Watchman Nee in China when he was a student seeking the truth of the proper ground to come together as Christians. He and other young brothers could not find scriptural ground for the denominations and began to meet on the ground that they were one with every true believer in the city...When Lee came to the U. S., he brought three decades of experience with him, two decades under Nee. He saw much in God’s word; had valuable church life experience; and developed his own ministry. These brothers, Nee and Lee, were outside of organized religion and God blessed them to meet as one on a ground of oneness in a city...There were no pews with a pastor but every saint could function and was encouraged to speak. Like Moses, Lee desired that “you all would prophesy (speak forth Christ).” What a recovery!
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Wow! This is kinda a weird take on LC system history and IMHO is sorta insulting for those of us who know what really happened.
1. Witness Lee was persona non grata in the Far East due to his financial shenanegins with the saints' money and came to America as an escape from an unwelcoming environment. Using the name of Watchman Nee for credibility he was able to rebuild his ministry in a land of innocents where most people didn't bother to do a background check on his previous detrimental activities. It was only after Daystar that people started to figure out that maybe not everything was bliss and "blessing" with Witness Lee or as he so succinctly put it: I guess they're not virgins anymore!
2. The doctrine of "the ground of oneness" is not about being one with every true believer in a city. It's about being one with anyone who accepts the elders that Witness Lee appointed and who are loyal to him, his ministry and agenda. And to also accept that Witness Lee's materials will be the curriculum of the church. In other words, the ground of their oneness is Witness Lee and it always was Witness Lee and anyone who really knows the backstage history of the LC system in the USA knows this.
3. There were no pews and pastors but there were chairs and elders who supposedly functioned as pastors/shepherds (same word in NT) but were so ill-equipped their counsel was at best sketch.
4. Sure people could speak in the meetings IF their speaking was in "the flow" as dictated by the curriculum as dictated by Witness Lee. Eventually this grew into a simplistic repetition of Witness Lee's content from messages, footnotes, etc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Indiana
(It has been 12 years since I met in the Local Churches and I have been to many other gatherings of believers. None had access to the weightiness of ministry and decades of experience in their lineage to help usher them into a church life as the local churches did in the U. S. when Witness Lee arrived.)
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1. Perhaps it did not occur to you that the general cultural climate in the past 12 years was not the same as the 1960s. In the 1960s many Jesus People like churches sprang up and the LC system was more or less in this category: attracting young people looking for something (a church life experience) new and different. But living in a brother's house and having an agenda packed with Witness Lee materials saturated events locally and across the country (e.g. conferences), etc. get's kinda old after a while. Most people once they grow up spiritually and psychologically want to settle down and raise a family and not be chasing after every new "flow" that popped in Witness Lee's head. So the Witness Lee brand of "church life" experience eventually frittered out because it was never sustainable over the long term and to try to make it so is a tortured exercise in futility.
2. Regarding so called "weightiness of ministry" that you think is lacking outside the LC system what I guess you mean is most ministers don't spend time on theological abstractions (which they know how to do but choose not to.) Most teaching is about having healthy relationships in marriage and families, outreaching to the community, living a Christ-like life, etc. Practical issues that people face day-to-day in real life. Because after all who really needs to hear messages with 10 syllable word outline titles devised by Witness Lee tape recorders who apparently think talking "spiritually" = actually being spiritual where the rubber meets the road?