Date: December 24, 1936Place: Foochow, Brother Nee's mother's home
In 1921 Brother Leland Wang and I were being raised up by the Lord together. In 1920 Miss Dora Yu had come, and Sister Ding, Sister Hwang, Brother Leland, and myself had all been saved. Pastor Hsu Je-chou was saved at that time also. My mother and brother began to have a Bible study meeting with a few other brothers. The first year after I was saved, there was a Bible study meeting every Thursday at my home. Most of the ones who came to the Bible study were older ones. Brother Leland and I were the youngest among them, and naturally we were together quite often. I was baptized in 1921. None of the others were baptized at that time; I was the only one who was baptized. After I was baptized, I still enjoyed my worldly amusements. In 1922 Leland and I began to see the truth concerning the breaking of bread, and we began to break bread together. In the beginning of 1923, four or five hundred people were saved, and there was a revival. Brother Leland and I shared the responsibility: I took care of the work in Foochow and the literature work, while Leland took care of the work beyond Foochow. Brother John Wang also left his denomination during the second half of 1923 and joined us in our work. Originally, John did not agree with the matter of baptism. Later he also saw the truth about baptism, and I baptized him.
In 1922 I began to see that denominationalism was wrong and that missions were also wrong. I saw that God wanted local assemblies. In 1923 Leland had a disagreement with me concerning some doctrines. His burden was for evangelism, while I saw that God was after the local assembly. In other words, Leland's work was hawking his goods, while my work was setting up stalls for my goods. John was not as experienced in the truth, and therefore was not involved in the dispute. In 1924 the dispute resulted in the assembly calling itself "The Church of Christ in Foochow," and the stamp of the assembly was changed to read "The Church of Christ in Foochow." I questioned Leland and told him that this was not scriptural. If we named ourselves in this way, many unsaved ones would also be included. Moreover, there were not many saved ones among us, and other groups had four or five hundred saved ones. Therefore, we could not call ourselves "The Church of Christ in Foochow."
During the first half of 1924, Wu Ai-lan's father (Mr. Woodbury) wanted to come to ordain Leland as the preacher, myself as a teacher, and John also as a teacher. I said that I needed a few weeks to study the Bible before I could say either yes or no. After I studied the Bible, I realized that pastors and teachers are gifts and cannot be ordained. One can appoint elders, but one cannot ordain pastors and teachers. The pastors or shepherds and teachers are like carpenters and concrete workers — one cannot ordain them. If a man is a carpenter or a concrete worker, he simply is one, and there is no way to ordain him as one. It is the same with a teacher — one cannot ordain a teacher. One can appoint a registrar or a principal, but he cannot ordain a person to be a teacher. One can appoint elders and deacons, because these are offices, but one cannot ordain pastors and teachers.
During the last term of the eighth year at Trinity College, Leland told everyone a few weeks before the final examination that Mr. Woodbury would come the following week. When I heard this, I knew that the situation had become critical. At that time I was conducting a Bible study on the Lord's coming, and I changed the subject to a study on the ark. I saw that God's testimony followed the ark, which was a type of Christ. When the ark was in the tabernacle, God's glory was there. But when the ark left the tabernacle, the tabernacle became an empty shell. God's countenance left the tabernacle and went with the ark. I presented this truth to everyone. I wrote to the co-workers, made a copy of it, and distributed it to every brother and sister. After the letter was distributed, Mr. Woodbury did not come, and I was very happy.
After this I was invited to preach in Hangchow, and the co-workers in Foochow excommunicated me because of that letter. All the brothers did not agree with the view of the co-workers. The brothers believed me, but the co-workers rejected me. When I returned in July of 1924, I persuaded the brothers to continue to work in oneness. I proposed that I go from Foochow and work elsewhere. I did not want to have a split because of this dispute, so I left Foochow. I thought that I could preach the truth about the local assembly in other provinces. Later, the truth that the Lord had entrusted to me did spread to other places. From 1924 to 1936, in a period of a little over ten years, over two hundred assembles were raised up throughout China. Foochow became an exception; it has never been clear about the truth. In spite of this, we have always believed that God could accomplish His own work. We were not hasty; we waited for over ten years. During this time, there were over ten proposals by various brothers to start another meeting in Foochow. Personally, I have been against starting another meeting. But if you want to do it, I will not oppose it.
At present there are three problems. First, we have to receive all those who are redeemed by the blood, even the weak ones. As long as a person has not committed any sin worthy of excommunication, we have to receive him. If a foreigner is caught in the Foreign Concession District as a thief, we can put him out of the Concession. But if we catch a Chinese, we cannot put him out; we have to receive him. Even if we have to punish him, we must punish him on Chinese soil. The same is true with the church; we cannot put out any genuinely saved and regenerated person. Second, there should be no problem in fellowship among all the assemblies in China. The fellowship between one assembly and another should pose no problem at all. The only place that poses a problem now is Foochow. All the workers understand the problem here, but they have not told the other brothers. For this reason, ordinary brothers are kept in the dark about this problem and are not clear about it at all. The problem of Foochow's fellowship is not just a problem with Shanghai; it is a problem that exists between Foochow and all the assemblies in China.
Third, there is the problem of the traffic of the co-workers. There is a problem among the co-workers. Three years ago I returned to Foochow, and there was a problem in Foochow concerning head covering. The local assembly did not see the truth concerning head covering. Some wanted the saints to wait for the responsible brothers to become clear before the sisters covered their heads. They had the authority to request this. Consequently, my mother and sisters removed their head covering. But it was a difficult situation. I told John that we did not demand that the sisters cover their heads when they came from Foochow to Shanghai. But some workers in Foochow rebuked some of the sisters who came to Foochow from Shanghai for covering their head in Foochow, and they demanded that these sisters adopt their stand. But our condition for receiving one another is based on life; it is not based on light. Take the matter of baptism as an example. Whether or not a believer is baptized cannot be the basis of receiving or rejecting him. In the same way, whether or not a sister covers her head cannot become a criterion for receiving. Because of this one thing, our fellowship with Foochow was interrupted. This interruption lasted for three years. They have promised that they would give us a reply in the near future. According to the Bible, an assembly cannot receive only local saints; it has to receive everyone that the Lord has received. Brother Weigh is a very careful person as far as his way before the Lord is concerned. He considers everything carefully. If he comes to the assembly in Foochow, and the assembly in Foochow does not receive him, then it will be a problem whenever he comes to Foochow, and it will be a problem whenever any worker from China comes to Foochow.
I am not speaking for myself this time. I have been delivered from myself. If there is one strand of hope to recover the assembly in Foochow, we would do it even if it meant the three of us going to them and kneeling down before them to beg. But it seems that the separating wall has become thicker and thicker. If it can become thinner and thinner, we will wait, even if it means waiting ten or twenty years. If the wall can be dissolved one day, like snow melting away, we are willing to wait as long as necessary. We want to remove the wall of separation. However, this problem has been existing for thirteen years, and is difficult to be solved.
At present, there are three problems with Foochow, but more than three harms have come in. All those who have had some experience of working in Fukien province know how easy it is to get fruits in the work here. We have assemblies all along the coast of south Fukien already, and they are all practicing the principle of Acts 13 and 14. We should have moved west from here, and Foochow is the locality that should naturally bear the responsibility of spreading the gospel throughout the whole province of Fukien. There should be a strong meeting in Foochow to bear the responsibility of the work. But at present, circumstance does not allow this to happen, and this is a great loss to us.
The most important thing for Brother John Wang is the Lord's Day morning pulpit, but we are after a testimony. Our goal is to teach the brothers and sisters to understand the truth about the church and to know life. On the one hand, we preach the Word, conduct meetings, and lead many people to the Lord. On the other hand, we are here to bear the testimony of the church. The assembly in Foochow should take up the responsibility for the spreading of the gospel to neighboring villages and towns. An assembly should take up the responsibility of its neighboring areas in addition to bearing its local responsibility. The money in Shanghai should not simply remain in Shanghai. It has to be sent to out-of-town places. The workers in Shanghai do not receive one cent of supply from the local assembly. The spiritual principle is not keeping but spending. There are "saving" millionaires and there are "spending" millionaires. If the meeting in Foochow was normal, it would have taken up the responsibility for the spreading of the gospel to neighboring towns and villages.
The assembly is a big family, and our meeting should reflect such a family atmosphere. If everyone fellowships warmly with one another and loves one another, the meeting will surely be a success. I can predict that as soon as a meeting loses a family atmosphere, the meeting will fail. The churches in the first century did not have any chapel. They met in the wilderness. There were no church bells, and even when they sang, they had to sing softly. The Bible says that in a meeting Eutychus fell asleep and fell down from a window. Paul was halfway through his message, but he went down and embraced him (Acts 20:9-11). If this happened today, it would have been forbidden for anyone to interrupt a meeting. This is far from the condition at the beginning. This is where the meeting in Shanghai has failed — it has lost the family flavor, and it is difficult for brothers and sisters to have intimate fellowship one with another.
This morning I had a detailed discussion with Brother Wang Wei-san. He thinks that there is no longer a problem among the co-workers and their fellowship, but Brother John does not want to divulge the content of that talk.
As far as denominations are concerned, there are at least four or five Methodist churches in Foochow alone. We had thought of having another bread-breaking meeting between the assembly in the city and the assembly in Chang-Chien-Shan. If we cannot break bread together, we can have at least two bread-breaking meetings. This will give others a chance to choose. Prior to the Overcomer Conference in Chuenchow, we had suggested this already. After the conference in Chuenchow, the matter was dropped. Now Brother Weigh has also taken the same view concerning this matter. At present, he has some burden for the work in Foochow.
As far as the problem with Foochow is concerned, there are a few ways to solve it. First, the fellowship should absolutely be one. Second, the work can be separate. Since the work in the city and the work in Chang-Chien-Shan cannot combine together, we should at least maintain a oneness in fellowship. As to when we can be combined as one, and what the criteria is for waiting, it is hard to say.
Ephesians 4 says that we should be "diligent" to keep the oneness of the Spirit (v. 3). This is the oneness of fellowship. First Corinthians 15 says that we should be "diligent" in the work of the Lord (v. 58, according to the Chinese Union Version). Hence, we must be diligent to work on the one hand, and diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit on the other hand.
