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In May 1925, Brother Watchman Nee moved to Lo-hsing Pagoda, Foochow, in the province of Fukien in China. In addition to starting on the work of his book The Spiritual Man, he established the Gospel Bookroom and began publishing The Christian magazine.
The following is an excerpt from the Narration of the Past by Brother Nee delivered on the Lord's Day, December 4, 1932:
While I was staying in Lo-hsing Pagoda, I felt the need to issue a regular publication which would give more emphasis to the truths of salvation and the church and deal as well with prophecies and types. I intended this magazine (called The Christian) to be temporary in nature. In 1925 two issues were published; in 1926 ten issues were published; and in 1927 another twelve issues were published.
There are three formats in the twenty-four issues of The Christian. The first is a regular magazine format; the second is strictly on Bible exposition; and the third is a special edition format where one particular topic takes up the entire issue.
Among the first kind are Issue Nos. 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13-14, 16, 19, 22, 24. Their general format is: (1) one long gospel message, (2) a series of short articles on spiritual teachings, fragmentary inspirational writings ("Twelve Baskets Full"), fragmentary scriptural interpretations ("Notes from My Bible"), (3) stories, (4) a discussion of different news events of biblical interests (mostly having to do with prophecies concerning restoration of Israel), (5) a question and answer box, and (6) a study on Genesis.
Among the second kind are Issue Nos. 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 15, 18, 21, 23. All these are expositional studies on the book of Revelation. Only the first three chapters of Revelation are covered. Each issue is devoted entirely to the study of the book; nothing else was covered. (Note: this study of Revelation should be differentiated from a later study of Revelation in the Collected Works, which covers the entire book of Revelation.)
Among the third kind are Issue Nos. 17 and 20. Issue No. 17 is a translation of the book The Straight Path by Andrew Murray. It includes a foreword by Watchman Nee and Ruth Lee respectively. Issue No. 20 is a special issue on the topic of worship written by Ruth Lee. It covers different aspects of the Christian meeting.
We have grouped all articles with the same type of format together and have published the magazine in sections according to the following division of books within the Collected Works:
Volume3:"Meditations on Genesis" and "Meditations on Revelation"Volume4:"Meditations on Revelation" (cont.)Volume5:"Meditations on Revelation" (cont.)Volume6:"Gospel Messages" and "Spiritual Teachings"Volume7:All other articles: "Stories," "Questions andAnswers," "Twelve Baskets Full,""Announcements," "Book Reviews," etc.
All articles written by Brother Nee are included. Translated articles and articles written by other writers are not included. At the end of Volume 7, we have included an original table of contents of all twenty-four issues of the magazines for the reader's reference.
The readers are reminded that this magazine is one of the earliest writings of Brother Nee. As such, the style is at times archaic, and the translation at times unavoidably awkward. However, we trust that the Holy Spirit will shine through the truth unveiled and the life released.
