Thank you for sharing. I just want to say that I have never been formally associated with the LC. However, I've followed Nee and Lee's ministries for a long time and I still do.
I think you're spot on linking the origin of these issues to the environment created by the Boxer Rebellion. Nee's brother in law, Lin Pu-chi, an Anglican priest, had significant disagreements with his ministry (and even publically wrote against him). From what I've read, he seemed to resent Nee's success (especially after Nee''s sister left the Anglican church to join the Little Flock). I think this was driven in part by envy, not just because of Nee's success, but because Nee was able to create a genuine Chinese church free of Western involvement. I find Lin's story very interesting. What resentment he held for Nee paled in comparison to his feelings about western clergymen, because of their condescending attitudes towards the Chinese clergy and believers. Lin was somehow able to balance his own Christian faith and Ruist (Confucian) philosophical outlook while remaining a priest of the Church of England.
Quote:
Originally Posted by aron
In my view, one simply cannot understand the emergence of the Little Flock of Nee or its exported version without understanding the cultural conflict that fed it. The Boxer Rebellion was merely one of the most striking aspects of Asian resentment to Western cultural imperialism. When Nee developed his "local" or indigenous brand of Christianity, the populace was ripe to move, and move they did.
Eventually that culturally-steeped Christian church moved west, and what we see is it's issues, both good and bad. And there are good things in the experience, as the Unreg posted. If not, we'd not have participated. But the unwillingness to acknowledge cultural forces shows the weakness of the programme. It's always "They misunderstand us [Lee] because of culture" but never "we mis-judged them [Babylon] because of culture." And so the problems remain, and grow.
|