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Originally Posted by David Rogers
Contextual Factors
Whatever else one might think of Nees conclusions and ecclesiogical methodology, it is hard to deny he was a diligent student of Scripture who strove to the best of his ability to consistently follow through with the implications to which his studies led him. In several aspects, though, Nee in his approach to Christian unity was a product of his time. On the heels of the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, anti-imperialist sentiment in China was at its peak. Beaten down by persecution and accusations of selling out to Western political interests, many Christians desired to distance themselves from the denominational model, which they considered to be a Western import. At the Edinburgh World Missionary Conference of 1910, Chinese delegate Cheng Jingyi had made an impassioned plea to the missionaries gathered there to allow the Chinese church to pursue its own form of unified organization free from the entanglements of Western denominationalism. Many conservative Christians, however, were not sympathetic to the growing worldwide ecumenical movement due to its emphasis on the social gospel and lack of definition regarding key doctrines such as the authority of Scripture.
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I find contextual factors to be key to understanding what happened. "Many [Chinese] Christians desired to distance themselves from the denominational model, which they considered to be a Western import." Also we see Cheng Jingyi's "impassioned plea" to the 1910 Edinburgh Conference for the Chinese church to be free from foreign entanglement.
This reveals the backdrop for the great increase of Watchman Nee's Little Flock movement. It doesn't matter that Nee confused the idea of "meetings", in the NT called 'ekklesia' (e.g. Acts 19:41) and which existed simultaneously in close physical proximity, with the standing singular (supra)local body of believers, usually termed the "church".
And never mind that the idea of "one" may not mean numerical, but sympathetic cooperation. Jesus prayed that we would be one even as He and the Father are one. Yet we are many, even as we are one. So you can have one church, and many meetings. You can have one Holy Spirit and many spirits, who though many are one. Nee's church model requires a bit of word dancing (and word ignoring) to stand up, but it was enough for the Chinese Christians to see the clear, red "exit" sign from foreign control, and they poured into his church movement. Contrary to the LSM assertion, China wasn't "virgin soil" at all, but was boiling with resentment, frustration, and indignation, and this social substrate was sufficiently widespread and well-formed to transfer them by the tens of thousands into Nee's hands.