Quote:
Originally Posted by treeoflife
Hi Mary,
2. What do you mean by "relevant?" I just want to make sure I understand correctly how you are using this term.
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Relevant (re-le-vant) adjective, meaning “Having significance or bearing in the matter at hand; closely connected or appropriate to what's being done or considered”
At one point, women clearly were relevant in the Lord’s recovery movement in a way that they are no longer. If you read his biography of Watchman Nee, Witness Lee traveled to the cities of Canton, Swatow, Amoy, and Foochow in 1947 with two women, Sisters Peace Wang and Rachel Lee. (Chap 33) None others are named as Lee's companions. Then, when the church in Foochow requested a meeting in Watchman Nee’s home, asking for fellowship, “At first he wouldn't give his permission, but on further entreaty, he agreed for them to be present on the condition that they would sit a distance away from him in another section of his spacious living room. Only Peace Wang, Rachel Lee, and I [WL] sat together with him for fellowship.”
It seems that back then women were significant, or relevant, in a way that's no longer seen today. They had significance to the course of narrative, and their input affected the outcome. No one else was similarly named in these paragraphs covering a supposedly crucial conference and revival that followed. And in the biography of Nee, Witness Lee devotes the whole of Chapter 14 to four women who were important (relevant, significant) to Watchman Nee’s ministry.
Then there’s Jessie Penn-Lewis, who supplied much of the material for his first book,
Spiritual Man. But women aren’t supposed to teach, right? Speaking of women not teaching, there's Mary McDonough, who seems to have been vital to the “recovery of the three parts of Man” to listen to them in the LC. But women can’t teach, right? No doctrinal truths allowed. Then why promote her book in the LC?
http://marymcdonough.ccws.org/redemption/index.html
Here is a book on Amazon: Listed authors are James Reetzke, D. M. Panton, Mary E. McDonough, Watchman Nee, Witness Lee. In the LC I would hear this: McDonough, Govett, Darby, etc. A female cited as an authoritative source.
https://www.amazon.com/Firstfruit-Ap...dp/B07NPVYHML/
Here's a page on the LSM website. Three authors are listed. (See if you can guess who they are?)
https://www.ministrybooks.org/alphabetical.cfm?s=G
Also, in Watchman Nee’s book
The Overcoming Life he shows how he worked in close association with a Miss Fischbacher, who's presented as though a peer. “In Chefoo I learned a lesson. One day Miss Fischbacher and I were praying for definite gifts from God. I was praying for the gift of faith, while she was praying for the gift of healing. After we prayed for a quarter of an hour, both of us received the gifts.” If you read the story, you clearly see that Miss Fischbacher is relevant to Nee’s work in a way that no sister was to Witness Lee’s work. Nee writes about traveling with her, taking her to the boat, adjusting his travel plans, etc.
Her importance to the story (relevance) is confirmed by others who have her as his close traveling companion in the Keswick convention.
"In 1935 Nee became involved with Pentecostalism through Miss Elizabeth Fischbacher of the China Inland Mission. He had “overcome his reservations about women preachers sufficiently to attend her meetings,” and, in line with his Keswick continuationism, “acknowledged the Holy Spirit’s . . . gifts to the church of healing and of speaking with and interpretation of tongues.” Nee “found peace and spiritual blessing in her message and some experiences associated with her Pentecostal theology.” Miss Fischbacher, who translated various items for the Little Flock into English, accompanied Nee to the 1938 Keswick convention”
https://faithsaves.net/watchman-nee/
The question becomes, how did women have relevance in the Lord’s recovery and then lose it? I believe the answer's simple: they were useful, even essential, to the acquisition of power, but after power was gained they were expendable. Once holding power, Witness Lee was able to eliminate 50% of his potential rivals with one fell stroke -- "Hey, look here, Paul says that women can’t teach in church." (“But now let’s discuss the Three Parts of Man, a crucial 'truth' for today’s recovery….”)
I'm not the poster 'Mary', of course - perhaps she meant something different with the word ''relevant''. Nor do I care to stir up conflict over "women's place in the church today". I'm merely trying to point out what I see as blatant, two-faced hypocrisy. And I do apologize if that comes across as animosity to some of our readers. As Paul wrote in Galatians, "I wish I could change my tone".