"Early Nee" vs. "Later Nee"

[kisstheson]

Originally Posted by Ohio

Btw, I really like G H Lang's fellowship "Unanimity." The Brethren faced these same issues, and this was his conclusion regarding leadership and direction in a local church.

Hello, dear brother Ohio. Do I assume correctly that you are referring to the chapter entitled "Unanimity: A Divine Rule of Church Order and Christian Co-operation" in brother G H Lang's book The Churches of God? You stirred me to read that chapter and it really is quite good. No matter what situation faces a local assembly, the Scriptural solution is to wait on the Lord until all the leading ones (or in same cases the entire congregation) have found the mind of the Spirit regarding that situation. When the Spirit has brought all those who have been waiting on the Lord into a blessed oneness of mind, then the assembly can feel safe about the decision. How precious! How "organic"!

This obviates the need for any man-made solutions. There is no need to vote on any matter and there is certainly no need to look to "the co-workers" out at "headquarters" to make all the decisions. As the seven letters to the seven assemblies in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 reveal, the Spirit is well able to speak to each specific assembly about their specific situation.

I noticed that brother Lang presents some concrete examples of those who put this principle of "waiting on the Lord to find the mind of the Spirit" into actual practice. He mentions that this principle was followed from 1832 until at least 1900 by brothers Muller, Craik, and the whole congregation at Bethesda Church in Bristol. This principle was followed by the China Inland Mission from 1865 until at least 1900, and was also practiced by brother R C Chapman and his co-worker W Hake for 59 years in Barnstaple.