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The Collected Works of Watchman Nee #30
The Normal Christian Church Life
During conferences held in Shanghai and Hankow, Watchman Nee spoke to his fellow workers on the principles in the New Testament concerning the practical arrangement of the churches, the ministry, and the work.
188 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1938
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264 people want to read
About the author
Watchman Nee
594 books629 followersWatchman Nee (Chinese: 倪柝聲; pinyin: Ní Tuòshēng; Foochow Romanized: Ngà̤ Táuk-sĭng; 1903–1972) was a Chinese Christian author and church leader during the early 20th century. He spent the last 20 years of his life in prison and was severely persecuted by the Communists in China. Together with Wangzai, Zhou-An Lee, Shang-Jie Song, and others, Nee founded The Church Assembly Hall, later which would be also known as the "Local churches" (Chinese: 地方教會). or more commonly as (聚會所) meaning "assembly hall"
Born into a Methodist family, Watchman Nee experienced a religious revival, and joined the Church of Heavenly Peace, Fuzhou in 1920 at age 17 and began writing in the same year. In 1921, he met the British missionary M. E. Barber, who was a great influence on him. Through Miss Barber, Nee was introduced to many of the Christian writings which were to have a profound influence on him and his teachings. Nee attended no theological schools or Bible institutes. His knowledge was acquired through studying the Bible and reading various Christian spiritual books. During his 30 years of ministry, beginning in 1922, Nee traveled throughout China planting churches among the rural communities and holding Christian conferences and trainings in Shanghai. In 1952 he was imprisoned for his faith; he remained in prison until his death in 1972.
Born into a Methodist family, Watchman Nee experienced a religious revival, and joined the Church of Heavenly Peace, Fuzhou in 1920 at age 17 and began writing in the same year. In 1921, he met the British missionary M. E. Barber, who was a great influence on him. Through Miss Barber, Nee was introduced to many of the Christian writings which were to have a profound influence on him and his teachings. Nee attended no theological schools or Bible institutes. His knowledge was acquired through studying the Bible and reading various Christian spiritual books. During his 30 years of ministry, beginning in 1922, Nee traveled throughout China planting churches among the rural communities and holding Christian conferences and trainings in Shanghai. In 1952 he was imprisoned for his faith; he remained in prison until his death in 1972.
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September 11, 2024
Note, Sept. 11, 2024: I just edited this review to correct a misspelling, which my Goodreads friend Bionic Jean helpfully caught (thanks, Jean!).
Chinese Christian theologian Nee Shu-Tzu (he changed his name to Nee “To-sheng,” which means Watchman, in 1925) was born in 1903 into a Christian family which identified with the Methodist denomination, and was educated in mission schools. He became a Christian himself in 1920, at the age of 17. Interested early on in Christian service, he didn't have much formal training, but was mentored by British missionary Margaret Barber (d. 1930). Through her, he came into contact with the Exclusive wing of the Plymouth Brethren movement, who undoubtedly influenced his understanding of the church; but his theology was mainly shaped by his own immersive reading of the Bible and extensive reading of other Christian writings, interpreted through his own experience as an ethnic Chinese believer. While the Exclusive Brethren were nominally “non-sectarian,” he recognized that their refusal to extend any Christian fellowship to “sectarian” believers was itself divisively sectarian, and his refusal to copy it ultimately precipitated a break between him and their movement. At the age of 21, he planted his first church, and would go on to have a fruitful ministry of evangelism, church planting, Christian publishing, and book writing. His labors resulted in a strong network of locally-based, nondenominational house churches, independent of control by any mission. Despite the subsequent attempt of the Communist government to crush it (as a result of which he spent the last 20 years of his life in prison for his faith, and died there) it endures today.
This particular book reproduces the content of talks by the author presented at two Christian workers conferences in Shanghai and Hankow in 1938. Originally, he had no idea of publishing them in book form; but he was prevailed upon to do so, first in a Chinese edition, and later by request in an English translation, which he did himself. (He was literate in English from his mission school days, and had visited both the U.K. and the U.S. in 1933.) Its title is a riff on his best-known book, The Normal Christian Life, and from faulty memory (I first read it back in the early 70s) I listed it under that title on my read shelf for years.
However, where the latter book concentrates on the life of the individual Christian believer, this one sets forth his understanding of the Christian church, its internal life, Christian ministry, and the relationship between the church and ministry (“the work”). His view is grounded on a close reading of the New Testament, particularly the book of Acts, as well as the Pauline and other epistles, viewed from a fresh, non-Western perspective which did not take denominational divisions and a clergy-laity dichotomy for granted. Its main messages can be summarized as follows: all Christian believers are part of one church, the Body of Christ. This church is not an organization, but an organism, a family of God with no head but Christ. A local church is made up of all the believers in one locality, regardless of differences in theology, nationality, language, etc., and God's desire is for all of the believers in a locality to fellowship with each other without creating artificial divisions. Churches normally originate (in the book of Acts and in early 20th-century China, in both of which the faith was spreading in a geographical context where it was relatively new) from the ministry of an apostle –that is, someone sent out by the call of God from an existing church as a missionary. (The two words mean the same thing.) But the apostle/missionary remains mobile, appointing a plural body of elders from the membership of each local church to direct its life and work, rather than settling in himself to do the directing. (The male pronoun reflects Nee's own consistent usage; this could be taken as generic, but more probably reflects a males-only view of ministry, which I disagree with though I'm largely in agreement with him on most points.) The local church meets together, mostly in private homes, for common prayer, Bible study, to “break bread,” and to mutually edify and encourage each other by the use of their individual gifts. Monologue sermons by a trained professional, or a specially called missionary or evangelist, have a place in reaching nonbelievers, or even in building up the church at times. But they are a feature of the “work” of the Body, not a normal feature of its internal day-to-day life. Meetings of the church are normally participatory, not passive listening sessions; and the elders are equippers of the whole congregation for ministry, not a clerical caste who do all the ministering.
Dependence on the Holy Spirit's guidance and empowerment of believers in general, and Christian workers in particular, is a strong theme here; and Nee exhibits an obvious confidence (borne out by practical experience), that this dependence is not misplaced. The Spirit will equip sincere believers to encourage and build each other up, even if they're all relatively new to Christian faith and lacking in training; will guide and help us to fellowship in loving harmony with fellow believers who have different views than ours, will direct the journeys of apostles/missionaries and their helpers in the directions that He wants, and will provide the financial resources for Christian work and workers if they trust Him for it in faith. (And that kind of faith precludes begging fellow Christians for money, another strong theme that many Christian workers then and now would find more convicting than congenial.) He frequently emphasizes that the principles in this book cannot be used as a manual for purely human implementation, apart from divine guidance, empowerment and grace. A sincere attitude of humility, faith, dependence on God, and commitment to do His will and not our own is a necessity for the work and common life of the church. Another thing I really appreciate here is the author's irenic attitude, and insistence on recognizing the common membership of all Christians in both the universal and the local church, even if they don't themselves recognize it.
This book is not the absolute last word on the theology of the church. For instance, it doesn't really deal with the whole subject of church discipline, though that's a very important one. (While the Apostle Paul enjoins us not to pass judgment over “disputable matters,” there are definitely ethical standards in the Bible that are not disputable.) Here, Nee only refers to the “breaking of bread” (the Lord's Supper) once or twice in passing; there's no treatment of its important place in the life of the church. (That's a subject I feel strongly about, and feel that the modern observance of this ordinance is almost universally haphazard and sub-biblical.) In other instances, the principles enunciated are sound as far as they go, but how to apply them in different settings and circumstances requires thought. For instance, what constitutes a “locality” is not as cut and dried as Nee implies. (He does allow that a huge modern metropolis such as London isn't one “locality;” and that a single local church may have multiple house fellowships, though the whole body of believers should come together occasionally). Appointment of elders in a given church by the apostle(s) who founded it is obviously biblical; but that doesn't tell us how the body of elders is to be perpetuated over time when the original ones die, or how a local church is to create a body of elders if it never had one in the first place. (Personally, I think there is Scriptural warrant for the office of elders and deacons to be filled by congregational election.) His strong belief that Christian work should be carried out by called individuals, not organizations (though he didn't condemn those who disagreed, and was willing to work with organizations that sought to build up autonomous local churches) works in the context of small groups of missionaries; but is more problematic in the case of ministries like colleges, hospitals, publishing houses, etc., which weren't feasible in the first century, and which require a high degree of specialization and stability.
Nevertheless, the basic principles set forth here, read early in my Christian walk, shaped my essential understanding of the church for the rest of my life (though, to be sure, I was already in sympathy with the basic idea). That aspects of the book challenge the reader to think about how they should be implemented, and that aspects of it may make us uncomfortably aware that our practice of truth falls short in places, isn't a bad thing. (My local church is a congregation that's part of the Church of God Reformation movement, but Nee would be rightly critical of aspects of its life and practice. For me, the challenge is to be a constructive critic.) Despite a rather repetitive prose style, I believe the content of this book is vitally important enough, and theologically valid enough, that every serious Christian ought to read it, and that it should be in every Christian academic library.
Chinese Christian theologian Nee Shu-Tzu (he changed his name to Nee “To-sheng,” which means Watchman, in 1925) was born in 1903 into a Christian family which identified with the Methodist denomination, and was educated in mission schools. He became a Christian himself in 1920, at the age of 17. Interested early on in Christian service, he didn't have much formal training, but was mentored by British missionary Margaret Barber (d. 1930). Through her, he came into contact with the Exclusive wing of the Plymouth Brethren movement, who undoubtedly influenced his understanding of the church; but his theology was mainly shaped by his own immersive reading of the Bible and extensive reading of other Christian writings, interpreted through his own experience as an ethnic Chinese believer. While the Exclusive Brethren were nominally “non-sectarian,” he recognized that their refusal to extend any Christian fellowship to “sectarian” believers was itself divisively sectarian, and his refusal to copy it ultimately precipitated a break between him and their movement. At the age of 21, he planted his first church, and would go on to have a fruitful ministry of evangelism, church planting, Christian publishing, and book writing. His labors resulted in a strong network of locally-based, nondenominational house churches, independent of control by any mission. Despite the subsequent attempt of the Communist government to crush it (as a result of which he spent the last 20 years of his life in prison for his faith, and died there) it endures today.
This particular book reproduces the content of talks by the author presented at two Christian workers conferences in Shanghai and Hankow in 1938. Originally, he had no idea of publishing them in book form; but he was prevailed upon to do so, first in a Chinese edition, and later by request in an English translation, which he did himself. (He was literate in English from his mission school days, and had visited both the U.K. and the U.S. in 1933.) Its title is a riff on his best-known book, The Normal Christian Life, and from faulty memory (I first read it back in the early 70s) I listed it under that title on my read shelf for years.
However, where the latter book concentrates on the life of the individual Christian believer, this one sets forth his understanding of the Christian church, its internal life, Christian ministry, and the relationship between the church and ministry (“the work”). His view is grounded on a close reading of the New Testament, particularly the book of Acts, as well as the Pauline and other epistles, viewed from a fresh, non-Western perspective which did not take denominational divisions and a clergy-laity dichotomy for granted. Its main messages can be summarized as follows: all Christian believers are part of one church, the Body of Christ. This church is not an organization, but an organism, a family of God with no head but Christ. A local church is made up of all the believers in one locality, regardless of differences in theology, nationality, language, etc., and God's desire is for all of the believers in a locality to fellowship with each other without creating artificial divisions. Churches normally originate (in the book of Acts and in early 20th-century China, in both of which the faith was spreading in a geographical context where it was relatively new) from the ministry of an apostle –that is, someone sent out by the call of God from an existing church as a missionary. (The two words mean the same thing.) But the apostle/missionary remains mobile, appointing a plural body of elders from the membership of each local church to direct its life and work, rather than settling in himself to do the directing. (The male pronoun reflects Nee's own consistent usage; this could be taken as generic, but more probably reflects a males-only view of ministry, which I disagree with though I'm largely in agreement with him on most points.) The local church meets together, mostly in private homes, for common prayer, Bible study, to “break bread,” and to mutually edify and encourage each other by the use of their individual gifts. Monologue sermons by a trained professional, or a specially called missionary or evangelist, have a place in reaching nonbelievers, or even in building up the church at times. But they are a feature of the “work” of the Body, not a normal feature of its internal day-to-day life. Meetings of the church are normally participatory, not passive listening sessions; and the elders are equippers of the whole congregation for ministry, not a clerical caste who do all the ministering.
Dependence on the Holy Spirit's guidance and empowerment of believers in general, and Christian workers in particular, is a strong theme here; and Nee exhibits an obvious confidence (borne out by practical experience), that this dependence is not misplaced. The Spirit will equip sincere believers to encourage and build each other up, even if they're all relatively new to Christian faith and lacking in training; will guide and help us to fellowship in loving harmony with fellow believers who have different views than ours, will direct the journeys of apostles/missionaries and their helpers in the directions that He wants, and will provide the financial resources for Christian work and workers if they trust Him for it in faith. (And that kind of faith precludes begging fellow Christians for money, another strong theme that many Christian workers then and now would find more convicting than congenial.) He frequently emphasizes that the principles in this book cannot be used as a manual for purely human implementation, apart from divine guidance, empowerment and grace. A sincere attitude of humility, faith, dependence on God, and commitment to do His will and not our own is a necessity for the work and common life of the church. Another thing I really appreciate here is the author's irenic attitude, and insistence on recognizing the common membership of all Christians in both the universal and the local church, even if they don't themselves recognize it.
This book is not the absolute last word on the theology of the church. For instance, it doesn't really deal with the whole subject of church discipline, though that's a very important one. (While the Apostle Paul enjoins us not to pass judgment over “disputable matters,” there are definitely ethical standards in the Bible that are not disputable.) Here, Nee only refers to the “breaking of bread” (the Lord's Supper) once or twice in passing; there's no treatment of its important place in the life of the church. (That's a subject I feel strongly about, and feel that the modern observance of this ordinance is almost universally haphazard and sub-biblical.) In other instances, the principles enunciated are sound as far as they go, but how to apply them in different settings and circumstances requires thought. For instance, what constitutes a “locality” is not as cut and dried as Nee implies. (He does allow that a huge modern metropolis such as London isn't one “locality;” and that a single local church may have multiple house fellowships, though the whole body of believers should come together occasionally). Appointment of elders in a given church by the apostle(s) who founded it is obviously biblical; but that doesn't tell us how the body of elders is to be perpetuated over time when the original ones die, or how a local church is to create a body of elders if it never had one in the first place. (Personally, I think there is Scriptural warrant for the office of elders and deacons to be filled by congregational election.) His strong belief that Christian work should be carried out by called individuals, not organizations (though he didn't condemn those who disagreed, and was willing to work with organizations that sought to build up autonomous local churches) works in the context of small groups of missionaries; but is more problematic in the case of ministries like colleges, hospitals, publishing houses, etc., which weren't feasible in the first century, and which require a high degree of specialization and stability.
Nevertheless, the basic principles set forth here, read early in my Christian walk, shaped my essential understanding of the church for the rest of my life (though, to be sure, I was already in sympathy with the basic idea). That aspects of the book challenge the reader to think about how they should be implemented, and that aspects of it may make us uncomfortably aware that our practice of truth falls short in places, isn't a bad thing. (My local church is a congregation that's part of the Church of God Reformation movement, but Nee would be rightly critical of aspects of its life and practice. For me, the challenge is to be a constructive critic.) Despite a rather repetitive prose style, I believe the content of this book is vitally important enough, and theologically valid enough, that every serious Christian ought to read it, and that it should be in every Christian academic library.
December 18, 2012
Extraordinarily detailed and scholarly writing by famed Chinese Christian of doctrines from the book of Romans. Due to the age of the text (approximately 80 years), the modern reader will need to re-read many passages to get the full value from the text. It's worth it. Modern writings seem like skimmed milk compared to the cream-rich writing of Watchman Nee.
Details what amount to good, better and best doctrines of the Christian's dying to sin and self.
Note to potential readers: this ebook edition is rough. I haven't done a line for line comparison, but the ebook doesn't seem to include all the text of the hard copy which I am also reading, and it certainly isn't organized in anyway to read the reader. (This is my first experience reading a book almost simultaneously in ebook form and hard copy. Hard copy wins on several counts, which I'll explain on the other review.)
Details what amount to good, better and best doctrines of the Christian's dying to sin and self.
Note to potential readers: this ebook edition is rough. I haven't done a line for line comparison, but the ebook doesn't seem to include all the text of the hard copy which I am also reading, and it certainly isn't organized in anyway to read the reader. (This is my first experience reading a book almost simultaneously in ebook form and hard copy. Hard copy wins on several counts, which I'll explain on the other review.)
November 17, 2021
I really enjoyed this book. He takes the reader back to the "genesis" of church life, not to the protestant reformation or the papacy but ALL the way back to the first century. This book is written to those who are workers in the church and as such, interested in matters of church life and function (when he speaks of "the church" he is referring to the people, not an impersonal building). He does repeat himself often saying the same thing in more than one way but one has to remember that this was a series of lectures BEFORE it was put in written form.
October 11, 2021
Great book (and appropriate title for a study of the book of Romans)
January 26, 2022
This will be difficult for most church workers, advocates a pretty radical departure from current practice.
December 3, 2019
This is a very important book for the Christian churches of America. I have read a lot of Nee and most of what is in here can be found in his other writings. However, in this book he very forcefully and concisely lays out the scriptural guidelines for how the men and women that were working with him were instructed to found and instruct churches. It is particularly pointed away from traditional western church organization and toward a scriptural understanding of church with the tradition stripped away. The churches that these men and women founded and encouraged survived the and flourished during the last 80+ years of persecution and opposition from the Chinese government and I believe part of the reason for that is contained in this book. If you care about church life I suggest that you read this book.
July 14, 2021
Should Be Required Reading for Every Christian
This book, is packed so full of good, biblical, practical information regarding the Christian life, that it should be handed to every single Christian as required reading. Nee does not deviate one millimeter from practices outlined in the New Testament. If this book was followed as a text book of sorts, we would not have all of the different divisions and denominations that we have today. I am overwhelmed by the information. I will read this book again and again and again to soak up all of its nutrients. I highly recommend all of Watchman Nee’s books.
This book, is packed so full of good, biblical, practical information regarding the Christian life, that it should be handed to every single Christian as required reading. Nee does not deviate one millimeter from practices outlined in the New Testament. If this book was followed as a text book of sorts, we would not have all of the different divisions and denominations that we have today. I am overwhelmed by the information. I will read this book again and again and again to soak up all of its nutrients. I highly recommend all of Watchman Nee’s books.
November 10, 2010
Nee always has great things to impart. Here he takes an organic approach to church life that's refreshing and for the most part unpracticed by most modern churches. It's a revelation that's challenging and radical.
Want to read
August 24, 2009I have been reading this for a long time...
Read
April 28, 2013I loved this book! I felt the he unlocked the mysteries of Romans and I can't wait to read it again.
Read
July 15, 2013Not for me. Got through page 8.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews