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In spite of the fact that he was despised, criticized, misunderstood, opposed, and rejected by the denominations, Watchman Nee's ministry still accomplished a number of things. His ministry made clear the matter of salvation by grace. It aroused believers both in and out of the recovery to love the Lord. It stirred up Christians to seek the truth. It ushered the seeking ones into spirituality. It brought the Lord's people into identification with Christ in His death, resurrection, and ascension. It established the local churches. And it ushered in and built up a ministry of supply. Let us consider each of these matters in turn.
Since the time the gospel began to be preached in China, although it was enthusiastically and widely declared, salvation by grace never became adequately clear to the Chinese Christians until Watchman Nee's ministry was raised up. The first step in his ministry was to preach the gospel. As he began to preach the gospel, he discovered the need of some clear teaching concerning assurance of salvation. Along with his preaching of the gospel, he incorporated the clear word of the Bible concerning the assurance of salvation. In the twelve years between 1922 and 1934, through his labor this matter was made clear to the Chinese Christians. In the fall of 1933 I was invited to preach in a chapel of a Presbyterian hospital in the city of Soochow, Kiangsu. While telling the audience that they could know assuredly that they were saved according to the Bible, I noticed the pastor shaking his head, indicating that he did not agree. This incident depicted the ignorant situation of so many Christians concerning the matter of salvation in China at that time. Since 1934, however, up to this present moment, the two matters of salvation by grace and the assurance of salvation have become crystal clear to the Christians in the Far East, and it has become popular to preach these truths in all the denominations.
Through Watchman Nee's spoken and written ministry, many Christians were set on fire to love the Lord. This became a tide flooding over not only the unbelievers but also hundreds of Christians of different ages throughout China. Wherever his ministry went, it brought in a revival of seeking the Lord. This matter was neither superficial in its depth, nor did it mushroom overnight. It happened as slowly and solidly as a seed sown into the depths of many seekers and lovers of the Lord, causing them to be attached to Him and making them grow in Him. One brother in Shanghai testified that when he first heard Watchman speak, even when the Lord's name was mentioned, it was so sweet to him. Just a short prayer by Watchman in the Lord's name caught him for the Lord. Watchman Nee as a person and his ministry as the Lord's supply became a great magnet attracting people to follow him in loving the Lord with their whole heart. Through his ministry, people were not moved toward the Lord in a way of enthusiasm; rather, deep in their being, his ministry caused others to deeply touch the Lord in love. Many who came in contact with his ministry were fully captivated and captured by the Lord and led to consecrate themselves fully to Him for His move on this earth.
Watchman's ministry also had the characteristic that it stirred up his listeners to seek the truth according to the Scriptures. Before his ministry was raised up, not many Christians in China were interested in checking all truth with the Scriptures. Most Christians simply followed tradition both in teaching and in practice. Whatever the missionaries and pastors taught and practiced, the Christians swallowed without exercising much discernment of the Spirit and without checking it according to the holy Word.
Watchman Nee was a pioneer in questioning every doctrine, form, ritual, and sacrament of today's Christianity. He checked every item with the pure word of God in the Scriptures. In this way he discovered many truths in the Scriptures himself and created an atmosphere of seeking after the truth among seeking Christians. This questioning attitude became a constituent and characteristic of his ministry which spontaneously helped all who came in touch with him to drop the inaccurate and unscriptural teachings and practices. A love of studying the Bible was stirred up in the hearts of God's people. This became a great tide among the Christians in the Far East. Because of this ministry, many lives were changed, many marriages and families were adjusted, many were helped to grow in life, many were enlightened to know the will of God, and many were captured and turned to the Lord's recovery. Also many outward practices in many denominations which were not scriptural became adjusted. Terms such as "fellowship," "meeting time," "brother" or "sister," "the Lord's table," and many other terms not commonly used before became common practice through Watchman Nee's ministry. When I was a young man, I often heard my pastor use the term "denominations" in a formal and official way without any negative connotation. However, after Watchman's ministry sounded the trumpet against denominationalism, no one dared use the term "denomination" in a positive sense. Nearly all Christian leaders became convinced that denominations were doctrinally wrong. Although they would not give up their denominations, they did insist that in spite of their denominations they would not have the spirit of the denominations. But the denominations, they claimed, were still needed for the spread of the gospel and the edifying of believers. The trumpet sound of Watchman Nee's ministry against denominationalism has left an indelible impression upon the ears and consciences of all Christians in the Far East up to this very day.
Watchman Nee's ministry was spiritual in nature and laid great stress on spirituality. Many seeking believers were helped to divide soul from spirit. Before the ministry of the word of God was manifested through him, few Chinese Christians knew how to discern the difference between soul and spirit. Now, since his ministry has been continuing for many years, emphasizing the importance of knowing the soul negatively and knowing the spirit positively, the matter of seeking spirituality has become commonplace among Christians in the Far East. Though many Christians in the Far East do not live according to the spirit but according to the flesh or the soul, they nevertheless have come to know through his ministry that there is a difference between a life and a walk which are fleshly and soulish and a life and a walk which are spiritual. What Watchman's ministry did was to pave the way for seeking Christians to live and work according to the spirit, rather than according to the flesh or the soul. His ministry in this aspect greatly uplifted the standard of Christian life in the Far East.
The central point of Watchman Nee's ministry was Christ in His death, resurrection, and ascension. He himself bore this testimony both in his life and in his work. A good number of those who came in touch with him were brought into identification with Christ in His death, resurrection, and ascension. They were helped by his ministry to live by Christ in conformity to His death through His resurrection life. This was the central point of his ministry, and this was much deeper than all the previous items of his accomplishments. Such a life in union with Christ is the inner substance of the Lord's recovery, the hidden base of the church life, and the sustaining pillar of the Lord's testimony. It is this feature which produces the overcomers, who are joined to the Head to fight the spiritual warfare for the fulfillment of God's eternal purpose that His kingdom might be brought in.
The achievement of his ministry consummated in the establishment of hundreds of local churches, mostly in the Far East. By the time he was arrested in 1952, approximately four hundred local churches had been raised up in China. Approximately one hundred of these were in the county of Ping-Yang in the province of Chekiang in southern China; over forty were in the province of Suiyuan in northwest China; approximately twenty were to the north in the province of Kiangsu; and over twenty were in the province of Taiwan. The rest were scattered in major cities and seaports throughout the provinces of China. If the situation had not changed, it is possible that these local churches under Watchman Nee's ministry could easily have evangelized the entire country of China.
In addition, over thirty local churches in the southeastern Asian countries of the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia were directly or indirectly raised up through Watchman Nee's ministry.
Although it was not his specific intention, a ministry of supply was spontaneously built up through his ministry, especially his publication ministry. In the last half century in the Far East, many Christian workers, including those who opposed him, used his writings for their preaching and teaching. His Gospel Bookroom eventually became a station of supply. Most of the seeking Christians in the Chinese-speaking world received spiritual food and life supply from his publications. Thus, even the opposing denominations were nourished through his written ministry.
