[Ohio]

Originally Posted by Simon Chan

Watchman “Nee is often accused of sectarianism, but theologically, Nee’s ecclesiology is no more exclusive than the Roman Catholic Church’s claim that the true church ‘subsists’ in the Catholic Church. What Nee has done is transfer the Roman exclusiveness to the ‘local church.’ But unlike the Catholic understanding, the charge of sectarianism will not go away as long as Nee questions the legitimacy of nonlocal churches.”
[Simon Chan, Grassroots Asian Theology: Thinking the Faith from the Ground Up, IVP Academic, (2014) p. 186]

Watchman “Nee’s theological vision of the church is far more traditional and ‘catholic’ than perhaps he himself realized. His concepts of the corporate Christ and the distinction between the body and bride bear close resemblance to the Catholic idea of totus Christus seen in Pope Pius XII’s encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi and in other Catholic writers. His understanding of authority as a reciprocal relationship between the elders and people is not very different from that of Orthodoxy. Even the laying on of hands is surprisingly close to the traditional understanding of the sacrament of confirmation.”
[Simon Chan, Grassroots Asian Theology, IVP Academic, (2014) p. 187]

“[H]is ecclesiology... is surprisingly traditional, perhaps closer to Catholicism and Orthodoxy than to Protestantism...” [Simon Chan, Grassroots Asian Theology, IVP Academic, (2014) p. 202]

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I would add to this that Nee closely followed John Darby whose ecclesiology was also traditional, even Anglican, where he was initially ordained into the priesthood.

It is no surprise then that Nee and Darby were both considered "popes" to outsiders.