II. The Attitude and Relationship of the Workers

B. Not Keeping the Results of Our Work in Our Hands

In the previous chapter, Witness Lee expressed his deep concern regarding the tendency of the Lord’s servants to build up a ministry for themselves instead of building up the local churches. The danger of producing a sect rather than building up a local church as a genuine expression of the universal Body of Christ is very real. It is because of such concern that he once again addresses this crucial matter, beginning with the pattern of the apostle Paul:

Another thing which we, the workers, have to be careful about and which was mentioned already in the preceding chapter is that we should not keep any of the results of our work in our hands. This is the pattern set up by the apostle Paul. In the first journey of his ministry, wherever Paul went, he preached the gospel, and a number of believers were raised up. Then Paul helped them to be the local church in their respective place. All the results of his ministry went to the local churches. He kept nothing for himself.

If I try to keep anything of my work here in Los Angeles in my hands, this becomes a sect. Regardless of how I declare and proclaim it, it is a sect. But if all the results of my work go to the church here, then the local church here has its own jurisdiction and its own liberty. The church here has a free hand to go on with the Lord. Suppose the saints in the church here feel the need to invite a worker from Texas. They have the full liberty to invite him. If they feel the need to invite another one from Europe, another one from Africa, and another one from South America, they have the full liberty to do so. This is the proper way for us to practice.

To further illustrate the danger of keeping one’s work for oneself, Witness Lee gives an example from recent church history, a situation encountered by his co-worker, Watchman Nee, in mainland China:

In 1934 the Lord was moving among the Chinese young believers. They saw something about the church, and that had an influence on the work of the China Inland Mission. The CIM missionaries gathered in Shanghai to have a conference to discuss how to handle the situation. They knew that the situation was due mostly to the work among us, so some of them had some contact with Brother Watchman Nee. Brother Nee talked with them according to the truth. He told them, “You brothers have sacrificed your country, your family, and a lot of other things to come to China to work for the Lord. I believe your intention is to build up the Body of Christ.” They replied, “Right, Brother Nee. We are here to build up the Lord’s Body.” Then Brother Nee said, “Wonderful! We are doing the same thing. Then let us work together.” But eventually, it became clear that the CIM missionaries were not willing to give up the so-called CIM Church.

Then Brother Nee told them, “If your coming and staying here is to build up your CIM Church, this is a big difficulty. If you would be willing to keep your hands off your work and let the believers be the local churches, everything would be all right.” Then the missionaries replied, “We are not a denomination. We are just a mission—the China Inland Mission.” Brother Nee said, “It is good that you are just a mission, but the mission has to keep its hands off the churches. As a mission, you should not form a mission church.” Eventually, they were not able to get through in this matter. Many missions went to China, but unfortunately, instead of building up local churches in China, the missions built up their respective mission churches. This became a problem to the Chinese saints.

Our work is to build up local churches for the building up of the Body of Christ. We should not be afraid that if we keep our hands off the local churches, they will be carried away. Do not be afraid that a local church will be carried away. If it can be carried away, let it be carried away. Do not take the excuse that you are going to be the custodian to protect the little children. The Lord is the Custodian; you are not the custodian. You are just a servant of the Lord serving His children.

Both Watchman Nee and Witness Lee were abundantly clear regarding the problematic tendency among Christian workers to keep their work in their own hands instead of releasing it to the Lord. The unique work of the Lord is to establish and strengthen local churches for the building up of the Body of Christ.

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