Preface

  This volume is composed of gospel messages given by Brother Watchman Nee. Chapters One through Fifteen and Appendix One have been published previously as The Normal Christian Faith. Chapters One through Fifteen are a series of gospel messages given by Watchman Nee in Tientsin in 1936. Due to the related nature of its subject, Appendix One, entitled "Towards the Church," was included in The Normal Christian Faith as Chapter Sixteen. However, it was not part of the Tientsin Conference in 1936. It has been included in this volume as an appendix, along with Appendix Two, entitled "There Is a God," which was first published in January, 1936 in the magazine The Glad Tidings (published by the Shanghai Gospel Book Room). Both messages were given by Brother Nee and published by the Shanghai Gospel Book Room during this same period.

  The chapters in The Normal Christian Faith were compiled from notes taken during meetings; they were not edited by the speaker. The whole series is divided into four sections, containing subjects about faith that range from the knowledge of God, Christ, and the Bible to the doctrines of redemption, life, and the Spirit.