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Additional Quotes about the Local Church by Witness Lee and Watchman Nee2. Deaconsa. Their Qualities and Some Examples of Their Practical Service in the Local Church Deacons carry out a Levitical service in the practical affairs of the local church. Here, Witness Lee and Watchman Nee enumerate some of the characteristics of deacons and provide examples of the practical services they render to the local church. There are deacons in the local churches. The work of the deacons in the local churches is Levitical in nature. They take care of the practical affairs, and these affairs are related to the church. (Watchman Nee, Collected Works, Set 3, Vol. 51, 51) Let us glance for a moment at the deacons. They do not occupy such an important position as the elders, who rule the church; they are chosen by the church to serve it. They are the executors who carry out the decisions of the Holy Spirit through the elders and the church. (Watchman Nee, Collected Works, Set 2, Vol. 30, 164) A brother who is a deacon may say that he serves merely because he was appointed and has no choice. This is organizational. If we ask another brother why he serves, he may say, “Praise the Lord! The Lord is within me. He leads me and burdens me to love Him, and I like to serve the saints. I do not care whether I was appointed to be a deacon or not. Even if the church did not appoint me, I would still like to serve more.” This brother’s service is organic. To be in the realm of organization is to be in degradation. (Witness Lee, Eldership (1), 81) 1 Timothy 3:9 Holding the 1mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. 1 Timothy 3:91 The faith here, as in 1:19 and 2 Tim. 4:7, is objective, referring to the things we believe in, the things that constitute the gospel. The mystery of the faith is mainly Christ as the mystery of God (Col. 2:2) and the church as the mystery of Christ (Eph. 3:4). A deacon in a local church should hold the mystery of the faith with full understanding in a pure conscience for the Lord’s testimony. (Witness Lee, Footnotes, 979) 1 Timothy 3:11 Women similarly must be grave, 2not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things. 1 Timothy 3:112 Corresponding with not double-tongued in v. 8. The devil is a slanderer (Rev. 12:10). To slander is to live out the nature of the evil slanderer. A sister who is a deaconess, a serving one in a local church among many other sisters, should flee slander, the evil act of the devil. (Witness Lee, Footnotes, 979) In a local church there is not much problem if there are not many brothers and sisters. If a church is in a large city or the number of brothers and sisters is more than several hundred, it is not easy to find someone. If someone comes from out of town, he would not know whom to look for. Therefore, the deacons in the church should come to the business office to work. There must be a place, and there must be someone available so that when people come, you have a way to make arrangements to take care of them. You should distribute to each, as anyone has need. You should have a place to keep records, knowing what the needs are, how many people there are, how many family units there are, and how many children there are. There should always be someone supervising and arranging. In other words there must be a place for making arrangements and for contacting one another in order to take care of matters. This is the first use of the service office: mutual contact of one another. Otherwise, if some brother or sister comes to that church to look for other brothers and sisters, he would not know where to go to look for them. There must be a place where he can find them. I do not know if you have seen this principle or not. Such contact with one another requires a business office, or we might call it the service office. (Watchman Nee, Collected Works, Set 3, Vol. 51, 108-109) | ||||