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Appendix B
From a meeting in Anaheim, California, August 28, 1988
Edited by John Ingalls and Albert Knoch
Brother John Ingalls: We brothers do not like to be a mystery to you, and keep you wondering all the time, “Where do the brothers stand, and what are their feelings?” We feel that we owe you all some fellowship. We would like to share with you what should be our standing as a church according to the truth. Truth and confusion cannot go together.
Our standing is very important, even more important than our condition. When we have a clear, proper standing according to the truth in so many matters, this will properly affect our condition. You who have a family know how important the proper standing is: the husband has a certain standing; the wife has a different standing; and the children have yet another standing. Of course, in your job you had better be clear what your standing is, or you might get fired! Most importantly, as brothers and sisters in the church we must be clear what our standing is.
I hope that tonight we will all be cleared up. I also hope that by our fellowship you will realize that we are not against anyone; neither are we trying to put anyone down. Rather, we have the best interest of all saints upon our heart, and the best interests of the church. I also believe that we have the best interests of the Lord upon our heart. Saints, we are for you. And we believe that we are for the Lord and His recovery, for His truth.
1. First and foremost is, what is our standing in relation to the Word of God? This point must be first because it is very important, and all that we are going to share after this is solidly based in the Word of God. It is the truth. Saints, I believe we all agree that the Word of God should be our sole authority. This is our constitution. We read in the newspaper often how so many lawyers and congressmen are continually referring to the Constitution: “What does the Constitution say?” Saints, we all should be constantly referring to our constitution, the Word of God! I feel we need a reinstatement of the written Word of God as our sole authority. We want to be governed by the Word of God. I hope it could be true of us all that our consciences are bound by the Word of God; not by traditions, superstition, or anything else, but simply by the pure Word of the Lord. This Word must be our solid basis.
Also, I hope that we all would learn to test everything by God’s Word, bringing everything to the light of the Word, even as the Bereans did in Acts 17:11. It says that they were more noble than those in Thessalonica because they received the Word with all eagerness, and then they searched the Scriptures to see if these things were so. The Lord commended them for doing this. The Bereans were searching out by the Scriptures the things which Paul was speaking. Now, Paul could have said to them: “Hey, wait a minute! Don’t you know I am an apostle? How come you are looking into the Word about what I am speaking?” No, they checked him out by the Scriptures; and they were commended by the Lord as being noble for searching the Scriptures in this way. Saints, we all must do this, giving ourselves diligently to prove all things. God says in His Word to do this (1 Thes. 5:21). The Word of God should be supreme among us; it must be our solid and sole basis.
2. Now, based upon the first point we go to the second, which is our standing concerning the church. From eternity, the church has been God’s heart desire. He has set His heart upon this; the church is very precious to Him. Especially in this age in which we live, the church is central and supreme. No other corporate body is recognized by the New Testament in this age except the church. Everything is for the church; both the apostles, the ministry, and we all are for the church! All creation is for the church. God is working all things in this age for His church.
Furthermore, to take the proper standing as the church in each locality makes the church practical. Practically speaking, for us the church is local. The only proper standing we can see from God’s Word is to stand upon the ground of the one Body in the locality where we live, to stand upon this precious ground of the oneness of the Body of Christ. I think this has been constituted into our being so that we could never, and we would never, give it up. I could never take any other standing.
We do not agree to be in any kind of sect, system, or division. We just like to be Christians – what we are by birth – standing upon the ground of the one Body of Christ, loving all Christians and being united with all Christians in Christ alone. We all have only one precious Head, and we are joined to Him as His one Body. This oneness is where all the blessings are, where so many precious things are! This which God has ordained in His Word should never be abandoned by us.
3. The third point is the genuine oneness: what should our standing and relationship be regarding this? First, we need a brief definition of what is the genuine oneness. Of course, this point goes right along with the church. This is also something most precious, because the Lord Jesus prayed for this:…that we all may be one, that we may be perfected into one (John 17:21-23). This very precious reality is our privilege to enjoy and partake of. Ephesians 4 calls this genuine oneness two things: the oneness of the Spirit, and the oneness of the faith. This oneness is something organic, not organized. It could never be organized, or taught; and, it cannot be forced. This oneness just needs to be kept, for it is the oneness of the Spirit. We have it in the Spirit with all saints; we just need to be diligent to keep it. How precious is this oneness! The Lord commands the blessing upon this (Psa. 133). It is a spiritual, organic oneness, which is totally in the realm of life and truth.
We must not build up any oneness that is outside the realm of life and truth, or we are liable to build up Babel. (Babel was a kind of oneness of the flesh, outside the realm of life and truth). The real oneness is of life. Actually, it is just Christ, Christ being enjoyed and experienced by us. When we are in the real enjoyment of Christ, we are enjoying the real oneness. Furthermore, this oneness is our testimony. The Lord Jesus prayed that we may be one, so that the world may know…Oh, this is powerful!
Of course our standing in relation to this oneness is that our spirit could never agree with division of any kind. We do not like to be involved in any kind of division. We just like to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace. And, we like to arrive at the oneness of the faith which is common to all saints. Our saving faith is common to all believers. We desire to stand upon this oneness alone. All divisions either come out of sin, selfishness, or ambition; or, perhaps just ignorance. We must be enlightened to see that we should not be divided by anything. Spiritual leaders should never divide us. Nothing should divide us; rather, we should keep the genuine oneness of the Spirit, with all saints. Our oneness should be just as large in scope as the whole Body of Christ. Any oneness less than that we would not keep.
4. Our fourth point is along this same line: what is our standing in relation to other Christians? There are many other Christians besides us. To say nothing about the rest of the world, just here in Anaheim there must be thousands of other Christians. What is our standing in relation to all of them – and I include all who were once meeting with us, but who are no longer with us. They are all Christians. (They did not get unsaved!) Plainly speaking, our relationship to them should be that we love them all. We should love them all and receive them all, and feel that we really need them all.
Lately, I have been considering this matter: what does it mean to love others? I surely believe it is that we feel we need them. Oh, we need all other Christians! And we not only need them, we want them; and, we are very open to them, and we care for them. We just love them. Saints, I have been convicted by the Lord about my attitude toward other Christians, and I have been repenting of this. I feel that our attitude has not been the best: in the past, we have mocked and belittled other Christians. It is high time we stop this! We must have the proper attitude of love for all our brothers, for they are all members of the same Body. We are members one of another, so we must surely love all other members, including all who formerly met with us. Many who once met with us are still living right around us. But we have mostly just written them off. We feel, Forget about them. This is a wrong attitude. Recently a brother who left us ten years ago called on the telephone. I was so happy to hear from him. He was just reaching out for fellowship. Brother Al and I went to visit him, and we enjoyed the fellowship, and had good prayer. He loves the Lord, and is quite much for the Lord. I became very burdened to apologize for my attitude in the past; and, he forgave me. I appreciated that.
We must have the right attitude with the proper love for all saints, no matter where they are. This does not mean that we compromise the truth in any way. No, but we surely love all Christians. We should never think that we are better; we are probably worse than some. I am afraid that in the past – and I include myself – we have had an elitist attitude, thinking that we are some kind of spiritual elite. This is wrong. If our attitude is such, we are surely Laodicea – we are in a fallen state. Furthermore, what kind of practice is this among us of calling other saints negative? No! I’ll tell you who is the only negative one: the devil. If you feel like calling someone negative, tell the devil, You are negative! We have called some saints negative, but actually, they only have some very genuine concerns. Why can’t we believe that, and just love them? Oh saints, let us love all the members of the Body.
5. The fifth point is our standing in relation to our vocation. What is our work, our profession, our calling? In other words, what should we be doing? This question has been asked: What are we doing here, anyway? Saints, our vocation is just to build up the Body of Christ. This is our work, our profession, our service. Tonight, we sang in a hymn that nothing else shall suffice the Lord, but this. This is what He is doing today, building up His Body. And this is what the apostles exhorted us all to do. We all have a part in the building.
First Corinthians 3 tells us that we all are building. Everyone is building upon the foundation which has been laid. This chapter also warns us to be careful how we build: we must use the proper materials. Ephesians 4 speaks about the work of the ministry unto the building up of the Body of Christ, and about the Body building itself up in love. So, saints, our work, our vocation, is to build up the Body, and be for the building up. We must not build up anything else.
When we speak about what our standing should be, we also must make clear what our standing should not be: it should not be to build up any work or ministry. In fact, all ministry must be for the Body. We sang tonight that all the ministry is for the churches, not the churches for the ministry. So, our vocation is to build up the Body. And it is here that we all have a lot to do, to build up one another in life and oneness, to build up the Body of Christ!
6. Our sixth point goes right along with this: what is our purpose, or aim? It is to be the Lord’s testimony, His full expression. The Lord needs His expression on this earth today, so this should also be our aim. The end product must be that we have a testimony, and that we be His testimony. We are not here for a work or an activity. (I do not mean that we should not go and preach the gospel. Don’t misunderstand me.) We are here simply to be His testimony.
I have recently been reading Nehemiah. This book shows Jerusalem’s sad case: the walls were broken down and the gates burned with fire. Nehemiah saw this, and not only was his spirit stirred up, but his heart was very concerned and burdened. Jerusalem, the Lord’s people, were in reproach. Saints, I honestly feel that we have been in reproach, with no testimony. The walls are broken down and the gates are burned with fire! The walls not only speak of separation, but also of the testimony. I hope that the Lord will recover us to build up the walls of Jerusalem, to build up His testimony. The Body needs to be built up so that we will be a testimony. Dear Lord, recover us! Recover your testimony! Saints, this must be our standing, that we just want to be the Lord’s testimony.
7. The seventh point is, what is our standing in relation to the ministry? I believe that with this point there is much confusion. You hear many saints using this phrase, “the ministry”. But I would say they are misusing it, and abusing it. They are not using it at all properly. This kind of speaking, “We are for the ministry,”, or, “They are not for the ministry” has been heard by most all of us.
First, I want to define what the ministry is according to the truth. Very briefly, according to God’s Word, the unique ministry is the dispensing of God into His people to produce the Church. This is a simple statement of the truth. Now, let me ask you, Are you for the ministry? This is the ministry. However, in most cases, I think that when we use this term, we just mean a certain person’s ministry. No, saints, we all should be ministers in this one unique ministry. It is not the exclusive ministry of any one person. We must realize this. Acts 1:17 speaks of Judas having lost the ministry. It says that he “had his portion in this ministry.” All the twelve had their portion. And, we all have our portion in this ministry.
You may say, “Well aren’t there some especially gifted ones who are in this ministry?” Yes, there are the apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers. But, they are all plural. This is a corporate matter. There are many in this ministry. And we all have a share, a portion in this one unique ministry of God being dispensed into His people to build up the Body of Christ. Hallelujah! I hope that we could have a new kind of speaking, that when we talk about the ministry, we will all be clear that we are not talking about any one person’s ministry. If you are talking about one person’s ministry, then say so. If it’s Brother so-and-so’s ministry, say “Brother so-and-so’s ministry.” May we all have a renewed understanding regarding the meaning of the ministry and our part in it.
8. I now come to the eighth point: what is our standing in relation to the apostles? According to God’s Word, apostles are always plural. Recently I looked up this word in the concordance. It is used only in the singular when it refers to a specific person, like “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ;” or, “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.” All the other times, it is plural: e.g., “He gave some apostles…” (Eph. 4). There were the twelve apostles, and many other apostles. You have the apostles’ fellowship, which is s’, not ‘s. They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ (plural) fellowship, and in the apostles’ (plural) teaching. I think we all need some calibration in this point also. The apostles are plural. But, I’m afraid that if you asked most saints in the churches today, “How many apostles are there?” They would say, “One,…only one.” No, brothers and sisters, there are many apostles today. Some of you may wonder, “Who are they?” Well, I could tell you a number of them. Anyway, the apostles are plural, according to God’s Word.
Furthermore, the many apostles, with all the gifted members, are given for the building up of the Body of Christ, not for building up their own work, their ministry. They are for the Body. So what should our attitude be toward these apostles? We should receive from them anything of life and truth, anything they may have which will help us and benefit us for the building up of the Body. We all should be willing to receive from all the apostles.
The New Testament gives us many examples of a number of apostles being in very good fellowship and coordination. First Corinthians shows that Paul and Apollos were in good relationship of mutual respect and coordination. Paul commended Apollos, calling himself a planter, and Apollos a waterer (1 Cor. 3). In chapter 16, he recommends and urged Apollos to go to visit Corinth. Also, in Titus 3:13, Paul says, When Zenas and Apollos come to you, send them on their way; take care of them. The apostles had a mutual love and care for one another, and a good coordination together. Saints, we all surely need one another. And apostles need one another. No one man is complete or all-inclusive.
We must see another point about the apostles, which Paul emphasized in 1 Cor. 4:6, “Now these things brothers, I have applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that you may learn in us not to go beyond what has been written.” In other words, do not exalt us, or consider us, beyond what has been written. And, what has been written? Chapter 4 refers back to chapters 1-3. In chapter 3, Paul said, “I planted, and Apollos watered, but GOD made to grow. So that, neither is the one who planted anything, nor the one who watered, but the One who made to grow, GOD.” Do not go beyond that! Then in 4:1, he continues, “in this way, let a man so account of us as servants of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.”
Don’t you remember what was happening in Corinth? They were exalting this one and that one. Some were saying that they were of Paul, others of Cephas, and others of Apollos. They were exalting certain ones beyond what had been written. Saints, we should not exalt any apostle or any servant of the Lord beyond what is written. If we do, we fall into the very situation of Corinth, and the result will be the same, division! I hope we would not do this. Again, I must say that we are not against anyone. We should love, honor and respect everyone, especially the apostles and ministers whom the Lord has given to His Body. But we should never go beyond what is written.
May we all take the proper standing based upon these eight points. This will save us from many troubles, and we will be enabled to go on in a proper good way.
Brother Godfred Otuteye: The points which John has just shared are very important for us to understand the practical things I am going to share. For the church to go on we must understand the importance of the genuine oneness of the Body. You see, some of the items I will mention tonight have already been used by some as the ground of oneness: e.g., if a certain person does not practice certain things, he is condemned as not being “one with the ministry.” But these things I will mention are not items of the ground of the oneness of the church. This is why it is critical that we all be clear concerning them.
9. First is the church administration. We all sang that line in Hymn 824, Administration local, each answering to the Lord. We have sung this many times, and we know it, but we do not practice the reality! This has resulted in a lot of trouble among us. The spiritual oversight and practical administration of things in a local church are the responsibility of the elders there. They must bear the responsibility for the shepherding, teaching, and practical care of the church in their locality. The elders do not become a class of people who replace the brothers and sisters. No, they and the saints should do the Lord’s work there, with the elders having the oversight over this work under the direct Headship of Christ Himself.
The local church does not have any headquarters, but only the Headship of the Lord Himself. In the early days we often heard it said: We have no headquarters; neither do we have any head office. The local churches should not be subject to any central control. Saints, the church in Anaheim should not be subject to any headquarters, head office, or central control, except that which comes down from the third heavens! However, this does not mean that we do not fellowship with the apostles who have founded the churches. We do have mutual fellowship with others. But in the administration of any fellowship, in the carrying out of that fellowship, if the elders should decide to carry it out, it is their responsibility. Please note how in I Corinthians 5, even though Paul told the church in Corinth that they had to excommunicate that sinful brother, Paul did not excommunicate him. The church there did it. Paul gave them the teaching, what was right according to God’s principle; but its out-working was the responsibility of the elders there with the church.
Why am I saying so much about this point? Because in the last few years we have not practiced this in Anaheim. I would even say this – and because I am one of the brothers taking the lead here, the Lord cover me – I would say that to a certain extent we brothers abdicated our responsibility to the Lord and to the church here. We came under the influence and pressures of a lot of external things. Many activities of the Lord’s work became the source, directing our church. There was a period of time here when we were changing course every few weeks. First we closed the meeting hall down and sent everybody home; then we called everybody back! However, I am not criticizing anyone else for doing this. The criticism should mostly be upon us, because we had the responsibility to see what was right and best for the church here; and we were not faithful to the Lord in this matter.
Tonight I am representing the other brothers here to apologize to the church. During these past months, when we began to see what has been happening to us, we have very much repented to the Lord. But we owe all of you an apology. We feel that what we did was wrong, and we should not practice this anymore. Whatever comes out of the Lord’s speaking anywhere, the brothers taking the responsibility in a particular church ought to pray and seek the Lord to see if that is the right thing for their locality at that time. There are many wonderful things in the Scriptures, and many wonderful things which the Lord’s servants are speaking; but we do not practice everything at the same time. Some things are good for this moment, while some will be good for tomorrow; and some things may not be right for us to do at all. It is the responsibility of the leading brothers along with the whole church to seek the Lord and His guidance as to what is right for us in our locality at any particular time.
In the past, certain ones have come to the elders, speaking very strongly, “How come we are not practicing such and such, because this was spoken last night at such and such a place? If our church is going to be one with the ministry, we have to do this right away!” Well, saints, we would like to make it very clear, that our not practicing what was spoken last night does not mean that we do not accept it or receive it. However, it may not be the right thing for us at this time. Too much in the past we have zig-zagged this way and that! We have wasted and lost a lot of time. Many saints became confused and lost heart, not coming to the meetings anymore. Some even feel that the elders do not know what they are doing. And it does look that way.
10. The second thing I need to share is concerning the Living Stream Ministry Office. In the last few years this office and its management has been promoted exceedingly among us, and even exalted among us. This statement was made: “To be one with the Living Stream Ministry Office and its management is to be one with the apostle.” (This is an exact quote). And, conversely, not to be one with the Living Stream Ministry Office is to not be one with the apostle. Furthermore, in the environment of this kind of pressure and promotion, we elders in Anaheim joined together with many other brothers to declare publicly our oneness with this. I believe that when we did this we were representing you, declaring that the church here was one with the Living Stream Ministry Office and its management. These very things were spoken in some of our meetings.
We feel that we must address these issues tonight because we did something publicly, and it was wrong; therefore, we should take care of it publicly. We declared our oneness with the Living Stream Ministry Office and its management. Then, due to such promotion, that office began to exercise a level of influence over some of the churches – I dare not say all of them, but certainly including Anaheim – and over the young people’s work, to a degree that we today consider objectionable. We do not agree with this, and we also will not stand for this. Since we declared publicly that we were one with this office, even so, we now must make it clear that it is inappropriate for the church as an organic, divine entity to be one with a business office. These two things are not compatible!
Furthermore, there have been certain practices and conduct in the Living Stream Ministry Office which we find intolerable. We want to say here openly that as the church in this locality, we disassociate ourselves from those practices and that conduct. Again, the reason we are doing this is because you saints were put under the impression that because we publicly declared our oneness with this office, therefore we are one with everything going on there. This is why we must publicly undo what we have done. Again, I must confess that the blame for our church’s improper relationship with the Living Stream Ministry Office must be borne by us elders; it should not be put on the doorstep of that office. For a period of time, we – and I took considerable lead in this matter, but all the brothers feel responsible for this, and acknowledge having done it – we publicly promoted these things and this office. We pressed the saints and even pushed them to serve there, and to be one with that office and its management. Even to some extent I encouraged the saints to shut their mouths, no matter what they saw, or what happened. Forgive us for this! We want to tell the church that we are sorry.
The Living Stream Ministry Office is a business office, engaged in the publishing, distribution and sales of Christian literature. Our relationship with that office should have been at this level, and nothing more. The Living Stream Ministry Office has no authority over this church. And the church here is under no obligation to serve there. (Your decision to work there as an employee, or to serve there, is your own personal decision, not a matter of the church). We hope that this matter is very clear to all of us now, so that we may go on properly in the church here.
11. Next, I want to share regarding matters related to Life-Studies and to Christian literature in general: our reading of Christian literature other than the Bible can be a great help to our spiritual life. In I Timothy, Paul asked Timothy to bring the scrolls which he had left at Troas. He also said, “And especially the parchments…” You may say that these were all Scriptures; but we could also say that there may have been other materials which were also helpful to Paul in his work. Anyway, this does indicate that Paul had some kind of library! Be that as it may, our point is that the reading of spiritual books is edifying to us. We encourage you to read any Christian literature which you find edifying, doing so at your discretion.
However, we would like to say that none of us should ever allow these spiritual materials to become a crutch or a replacement for the reading of our Bible. It does not matter what material or whose material it is. It is too easy for these things which are a help to us to become a replacement, just as spiritual leaders can so easily become a replacement for the Lord Himself. We must never allow this to happen. Furthermore, for anyone to insist that the saints have to read only the materials published by the Living Stream Ministry is altogether too much. Anyone among us who holds this concept, or insists upon this is going too far, for it turns our church into a sect. On the other hand, to oppose the reading of footnotes, Life-Studies, or books published by the Living Stream Ministry is also sectarian. We don’t agree with that either. All of you should have the full liberty to read any Christian literature which you find edifying. Then, if in a meeting a saint wants to read a certain point, a footnote, or something which has helped him, we all should be open to receive it. But we should not insist that everyone do it. We hope that you all are clear about this matter now.
12. Our next point is concerning the Book sales which we have here in the hall. We are operating this service strictly as a non-profit service to you all. Some of you who are against this may ask me to show you a Bible verse which says we can sell something in the hall. Well, there is no Bible verse to tell us to use air-conditioning or electricity! Saints, if you press any point too far, the whole thing becomes ridiculous. In all of these practical matters, we should exercise the spirit of generality: i.e., if a thing is not sinful and it is useful to the saints, then it is okay.
We have this service as a convenience for you. After the meetings it is much easier to just go back there and buy any books which you need, rather than having to go to a bookstore. But during the past few years, especially since I have been here, we have done far too much advertising and merchandising of certain books. And in our spirit, when we considered this whole matter before the Lord, we realized it has been altogether too much. The church meeting should not be turned into the merchandising of any materials. Things have their place, and it is not appropriate to do this here. So we will continue this service, but we will no longer advertise or promote any books. All of you are free to go afterward to see what is new, what is old, or what is what. Also, you who do not agree with us having a book sales service, you are free not to use it; you may go to any bookstore outside to buy. But as a convenience for you who want to get materials here, whether they are published by the Living Stream Ministry or by anyone else, we make this service available to you.
13. Another point we must make clear to you concerns the semi-annual Trainings. Many saints have attended these trainings at one time or another and have received help from them. However, we now feel that from this time onward we will no longer interrupt our church life during the trainings. If any of you wish to attend a training, feel free to do so. That is your own personal decision. And if there is a video training, we will make a room available in the hall for you who wish to attend. But for you saints who do not attend a training, our church life will continue on a regular schedule during the time the training is taking place, so you may attend the meetings here. We brothers think this is fine and good. We will not close our doors, or stop any meetings, or do anything which will disturb our schedule. If we are in Ephesians during the training, we will continue in it. But I say again, if you want to go, just go; if you don’t want to go, don’t go; and you may attend the regular meetings of the church here if you wish.
14. Another point we must cover is, what is our standing in relation to the other churches? We should respect and highly esteem all other churches, whether they are small or large. And we should have full fellowship with all of them with a good traffic between us and them. After all, we are members one of another, we are all of the one Body of Christ. However, we here do not want the elders of any other church to be telling us what to do. I feel very sorry that we have let this kind of thing happen here in Anaheim.
When I was in Irvine, I remember telling some brothers: “Never come back from visiting another church and put our church down because of what you have seen there.” This kind of thing used to happen a lot. If we see something good in another church, we might minister that to the saints, but we should not compel the church in our place to begin right away to practice like some other church. No, we should seek the Lord about this matter: what does He want for us in our locality?
15. Another point we must clarify is regarding practices: e.g., to practice things like door-knocking. I am mentioning this matter because this happened recently: last year our church almost had a division over this! So we must state that in all these matters we must practice generality with all the saints. Any practice which is not sinful, we should not oppose; but, neither should we impose it. There should be no persuasion and no opposition, no insisting and no resisting, in any practice. I can testify that shortly after I was saved, I did a lot of door-to-door preaching of the gospel, and a lot of people got saved. There is nothing wrong with preaching the gospel in this way. However, when we brothers said that everybody had to practice this way, this was altogether too much and was against the principle of generality. Tonight, we would like the church here to be clear that we stand against this kind of thing. We should not force anyone to do anything in practice.
I also remember clearly how last year, for many meetings, those who were going out door-knocking literally took over the church meetings. They gave testimonies about this and about that; but the rest of the church became totally disgusted with this. Saints, these kinds of things should not have happened to us. We are surely open to receive from those who practice a certain thing, but it should not be forced upon anyone. We must be very general regarding any practice.
16. My final point is concerning this matter of the Gospel. We brothers really hope and pray that out of your enjoyment of the Lord, you all will preach the gospel to your neighbors, to your friends and to people around you, preaching it widely, and preaching it daily! However, we must make it clear that there is no one particular way in which we must preach the gospel. Any proper way is good. (We should not appreciate using rock-n-roll or movies, or any worldly means to attract people to the Lord; but, any proper way of preaching is okay.) If you invite people to your home, that is good, and to go to their home is good. But none of us should insist upon any particular way of gospel work, or it will again cause division in the church. No, the church is one Body it is organic and living!
These are the practical points we brothers wish to share with you. Again, we are sorry for the things which we have done wrong, and we ask the Lord and you all to forgive us. Furthermore, our reason for having this fellowship is not to vindicate anyone or to condemn anyone, or to do anything for ourselves. We are having this fellowship for the purpose of bringing us all back to the Lord Himself. He is our Head, He is our center; and He should be the entire, unique content of the church life! We hope that the things we have briefly mentioned will clear up the past so that we all can go forward together positively as the church in our city.
Brother Albert Knoch: It is so good to hear tonight’s fellowship, and I just want to confirm by a testimony the clear standing which the brothers have presented. I recently visited some churches in Europe. They didn’t know about all the turmoil we have been in, but I believe that all of them would agree with our standing here tonight. There is nothing wrong with what has been shared; the Word of God teaches these truths. Of course, we are not here to oppose anything which the Lord has given us through the years. But I must say that as I listened to the fellowship in the localities in Europe, I heard just about the same things. They are asking: “Are we really the local church with a general standing, open to every Christian in our city? Or, are we a sect?” They, like us, are concerned, because through their practices over the past few years – and they were trying to follow what they considered the up-to-date, present move of the Lord – they found out that gradually they were becoming a very special kind of “church”, not a local church (i.e., in their meetings they read only certain materials, etc.)
I don’t know exactly how the Lord will bring us out of this condition we have gotten into, but I do feel that what the brothers have shared about the proper standing and practices will help a lot. When I was in Europe, in a church meeting there, even though I could not understand their language, I realized in my spirit that anything which is not Christ is just not the church! The church is just Christ. Oh, saints, any fearfulness on our part has to be taken away; we must not be afraid of just following Christ, and of having Him alone as our unique Head! I saw some saints who were not “following the ministry” the way we thought we had to. I saw these saints enjoying the Lord so much, loving Him and serving Him, and being more fruitful than myself, even leading many to the Lord and bringing them into the church life. They are open to Brother Lee’s ministry, as well as to ministry from many others. They just enjoy them all and use whatever they can. When a certain practice comes, they just look to the anointing within them; and, if they feel led to do it, they just do it. If they don’t feel led to, they just don’t do it. They are under no obligation to please anyone but the Lord Himself. They all come together to enjoy Christ and share Him for the building up.
I feel I also have to apologize to you for my part in all the promotions and the things which I have done and said. Our heart has always been to do what is good for the building up of the church. But we have realized that we must not bring in anything except Christ. I do appreciate this word about the New Testament ministry being all our responsibility: even if you are with just one other brother, and you are in your spirit ministering Christ, you are ministering the New Testament ministry to him! You are building up the church at that time, and you are being perfected in the ministry.
Oh, saints, the Lord has put us all on the ground of the oneness of His Body in this locality, and we just have no way to leave. We have to stay here until we are keeping the oneness of the Spirit and arriving at the oneness of the faith, until we grow up into the full reality of the One who said that He would build His church. I am very aware that the one whom the Lord Jesus called a stone, was just a few minutes later called by Him, Satan! Thus whenever we get into our natural man, we are capable of all kinds of mistakes and of doing much damage. Nevertheless, we must still stay together on the ground of oneness in our locality until all these things are dealt with, and we have the pure church (the Bride), which is just the Lord Himself built up in us, through us, and with us!
