Perfecting Training

by Witness Lee

According to [Ephesians 4:11-16], we are first told that the gifts were 'And He gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some shepherds and teachers.' This is the initial step; then the result is unto the work of the ministry, that is, unto the building up of the Body of Christ. How could the Body be built up? By the growth in life. Then out of the growth in life the function will come, the operation in measure of each one part, to cause the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love. Thus, there is the initial stage and then there is the result. Between these two ends is the perfecting of the saints. If there is no perfecting of the saints, all the gifts given by the Head become vain. Also, there will be nothing to cause the growth of the Body in life that functions may come out to build up the Body in love. The crucial and central point in this portion of the Word is the perfecting of the saints. Throughout the past years the Lord has been leading us in the ministry to perfect the saints for the growth in life so that the functions may come out to build up the Body in love.

524 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 1990

About the author

Witness Lee (李常受, pinyin Lǐ Chángshòu) was a Chinese Christian preacher associated with the Local Churches movement and the founder of Living Stream Ministry. He was born in the city of Yantai, Shandong Province, China, in 1905, to a Southern Baptist family. He became a Christian in 1925 after hearing the preaching of Peace Wang and later became a close coworker of Watchman Nee. Witness Lee moved to Taiwan in 1949 as the Communists were advancing in mainland China. During the 1950s, his ministry extended throughout Southeast Asia and in 1962 Lee moved to the United States, relocating the base of his ministry to Southern California. He gave his last public conference in February 1997 at the age of 91. Many of Lee's spoken messages have been published in over 400 books and translated into more than fourteen different languages. Lee's major work is Life-study of the Bible, comprising over 25,000 pages of commentary on every book of the Bible from the perspective of the believers' enjoyment and experience of God's divine life in Christ through the Holy Spirit. Lee was also the chief editor of a new translation of the Bible entitled the Recovery Version.