Crucial Principles for the Proper Church Life

Chapters: 1 2 3 4

This book is composed of messages spoken by Brother Witness Lee in Washington, D.C., from August 29 through September 1, 1978. From July through September 1978 Brother Lee visited many localities in the United States and Canada, giving a series of conferences to meet a timely need in the Lord’s recovery. His two main burdens in these conferences were the believers’ personal contact with the Lord as branches abiding in the vine, and the vision and practice of the proper church life.

Contacting the Lord through the word _ch.1

Abiding in the vine
Our need for personal, private, direct contact with the Lord
Abiding in the vine being to be one Spirit with the Lord
The problem of being close to but not contacting the Lord
The way to abide in the Lord
Abiding in the Lord through the word
Learning how to handle the word in a proper way
The Bible being God’s breathing
The word without and the spirit within
Spending time in the Word being a necessity of life
Spending time in the Word being to honor the Lord and bringing us blessing
Spending time in the Word not being a legality
Spending time in the Word being likened to meeting our physical needs
Breathing
Washing
Eating
Redeeming the time to read the Bible
Taking care of the principles of life rather than being superstitious
Questions and answers

The proper church life _ch.2

The church being Christ
The head and the body being one person
The vine and the branches being one vine
Our being one spirit with the Lord
Our living Christ indicating that we are Christ
The body being Christ
The new “I” and every member in the new man being Christ
A Christian, a man of Christ, being Christ
Satan’s strategy to frustrate God’s purpose concerning the church
Injecting Judaism and Greek philosophy
Bringing in divisive opinions and concepts
Being governed by the vision that the church is Christ and seeing and experiencing Christ to have the proper church life
The revelation of Christ in Colossians
The God-allotted portion of the saints
The image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of all creation, and the one in whom, through whom, and unto whom all things were created
The one in whom all things cohere
The Head of the Body, the Firstborn from the dead, the one in whom all the fullness was pleased to dwell, and the mystery of God
The reality of every positive thing in the universe
Our life and our hope of glory
Walking in Christ, having been rooted and being built up in Him
To walk in Christ being to walk in the mingled spirit
Caring for Christ rather than for religion
Living Christ in order to bring Christ to the meetings
The proper church meetings being an exhibition of the Christ whom we experience
Questions and answers

The headship of Christ and the constitution of the church _ch.3

The headship of Christ being denied and insulted in the hierarchy in Christianity
Christ fulfilling God’s eternal purpose and being made head over all things
God needing a man to fulfill His eternal purpose in His economy
Christ becoming a man to fulfill God’s eternal purpose
Christ ascending and being made head over all things
Christ being the unique head
God’s ordained way of leadership among His people
Christ being our one Teacher and Leader
The case of Peter revealing that leadership in the church is not official, permanent, or organizational but depends on spiritual capacity
The eldership in the churches always being plural
The body having only one head
The elders being not Lords but patterns
The helps of the deacons being ranked before the administrations of elders
Honoring Christ as the unique Head in our daily life
Honoring Christ as the unique Head in and among the churches and the work
There being no rank among the churches
There being no organization among the churches
There being no rank or organization among the different regions of the work
Needing to know and practice the truth
Questions and answers

How to conduct oneself in the house of God _ch.4

Four crucial matters in the Epistles to Timothy
God’s economy versus different teachings
There being only one ministry in the New Testament
There being many ministers but one ministry
The different gifts having different functions but all constituting the unique New Testament ministry
All God’s speaking in the New Testament being in the Son
Different teachings being different categories of teaching, not different aspects of one thing
Teaching things other than God’s economy producing questionings
God’s economy being His dispensing of Himself into His chosen people to be their life, nature, and being to produce the church, the Body of Christ
The church being the pillar and base of the truth
The difference between doctrines and the truth
Conducting ourselves in the church in a time of degradation by knowing and bearing the truth
The mystery of godliness, God manifested in the flesh, referring to both Christ and the church
Healthy words and healthy teaching

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