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Additional Quotes about the Local Church by Witness Lee and Watchman Neeh. The Organic Nature of Local Church Administration Both Witness Lee and Watchman Nee were fully aware of the organic nature of the church. Because the local churches are the living (hence, organic) Body of Christ, the administration in each local church must be carried out in an organic way with much prayer and fellowship in the Holy Spirit, always depending on God’s presence with God’s authority. The administration in the church is neither a democracy nor an autocracy. It is not the opinion of the people, nor the proposal of one. It is fully a matter of God’s presence. God’s presence is the authority. (Witness Lee, Elders’ Management, 123) A local church is administrated by the eldership, composed of a group of elders (1 Tim. 3:1-5; 5:17) appointed by the gifted persons who have established the church (Acts 14:14, 23; Titus 1:5). A local church, being an organic expression of the Body of Christ as the organism of the Triune God, should not be administrated in any organizational way that makes it a worldly organization. It should be administrated by the eldership as an organic body, the components of which are all organic persons who have been regenerated by the living God with His divine life and who are living in and with that life (1 Tim. 3:1-4; Titus 1:5-9). Furthermore, its administration under its eldership should, in everything, be carried out in the organic way, not by any organizational method. (Witness Lee, Brief Presentation, 31) Under normal circumstances, when eight or ten elders come together, they should not adopt a congressional system and should not look for a democratic solution. Rather, they should open to one another and fellowship in the Holy Spirit. Every elder should learn to fear the Lord and to live before the Lord. They should learn to present all their feelings concerning a certain matter. Those elders who are the authority should also learn to fear the Lord, to be without preconceptions, prejudice, or bias, and to listen to this fellowship and to touch the brothers’ feelings. After they have sensed the intention of the Holy Spirit, those who are the authority can make the decision and can announce that the matter should be taken care of in a certain way. If they do this, the result will not be democracy or autocracy, but will be something that issues from the Holy Spirit. (Witness Lee, Elders’ Management, 123-124) 1 Timothy 2:1 I exhort therefore, first of all, that 1petitions, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings be made on behalf of all men; 1 Timothy 2:11 A prayer ministry is the prerequisite for the administrating and shepherding of a local church. Concerning the difference between petitions and prayers, see note 62 in Phil. 4. (Witness Lee, Footnotes, ) It is only when the church has degraded and deviated from the line of life, that organization is needed. If the elders take the lead in an organizational way, this indicates that the church has degraded. If the elders live in the spirit by life to nourish, cherish, and shepherd the church, they are not organizational but organic. When a local church is organic, all the serving ones serve organically. (Witness Lee, Eldership (1), 81) In the appointment of elders the apostles did not follow their personal preferences; they only appointed those whom God had already chosen. That is why Paul could say to the elders in Ephesus, “The Holy Spirit has placed you as overseers” (Acts 20:28). The apostles did not take the initiative in the matter. They merely established as elders those whom the Holy Spirit had already made overseers in the church. (Watchman Nee, Collected Works, Set 2, Vol. 30, 43) Elders are not men who think themselves capable to control church affairs, or men whom the apostles consider suitable, but men whom the Holy Spirit has set to be overseers in the Church. Those whom the Spirit chooses to be shepherds of the flock, to them He also gives grace and gifts to qualify them for spiritual leadership. It is their spiritual call and their spiritual equipment, not their official appointment, that constitutes them elders. In a spiritual sense they are already elders before they hold the position officially, and it is because they actually are elders that they are publicly appointed to be elders. In the early Church it was the Holy Spirit who first signified His choice of elders; then the apostles confirmed the choice by appointing them to office. (Watchman Nee, Collected Works, Set 2, Vol. 30, 44) | ||||