I. The Way for the Practice of the Church Life

A. One Church for One City, One City with One Church

Witness Lee begins chapter twelve of The Life and Way for the Practice of the Church Life with a clear word regarding the oneness of both the universal church and the expression of the universal church within a city, the local church. The verses quoted in the following passage exemplify the New Testament practice of all the believers in a particular city meeting as the one local church in that city. Those local churches were regarded by the Lord as golden lampstands shining out the reality of the one Christ in the universe.

In Acts 8:1 we have this expression – “the church which was in Jerusalem.” In the early days, the church in Jerusalem had more than ten or twenty thousand members (Acts 21:20 – note 20[1] ). One day they had about three thousand baptized (Acts 2:41), and then on another day they had about five thousand (4:4). We are also told that the believers were all the more being added to the Lord and that they multiplied greatly (5:14; 6:1, 7). They had such a big membership and they met in many homes, “breaking bread from house to house” (2:46). Yet they were still called the church, the one church (not the churches), in Jerusalem.

Now let us turn to Acts 13:1. This verse says, “Now there were in Antioch, in the local church, prophets and teachers.…” Here it does not say “in Antioch, in the local churches,” but “in Antioch, in the local church.” This indicates that in one locality, in one place, in one city, there is only one local church.

Now let us read Revelation 1:11: “Saying, What you see write in a scroll and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamos and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.” Verse 20 says, “The mystery of the seven stars which you saw upon My right hand and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the messengers of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.” In these two verses we can see two things. The first thing is that there were seven churches in seven cities, indicating one church for one city, one city with only one church. The other thing is that the seven churches were seven lampstands. This indicates that the lampstand signifies the church. Regardless of how weak the churches are, they are still the lampstands. Even though John did have a strong and rich ministry, his ministry was not the lampstand. The lampstand is the church, not the ministry.

We have seen that God’s eternal goal is to work Christ Himself into us that we may be the real parts of Christ as the living members of the Body of Christ, which is the church as the living expression of Christ. Now we have to see the proper way, the right way, the best way, for us to come together to practice this wonderful church life. We are not talking about the way to organize or to form something. We are talking here about the proper way for us to practice a living expression of Christ.

We all know that in the whole universe the church is one. There is one Christ, one Head, and one church, one Body. You cannot have one Christ and more than one church. You cannot have one Head with more than one Body. In the universe there is only one Christ, and this one Christ has only one Body. However, although the church is one in the universe, it is expressed on this earth in many places. This one church has many expressions. Because the church in the universe is one, the expression of the church in any place must also be one.

Let us illustrate in this way: Today if you go to Tokyo, which is a big city with millions of people, you cannot find two American embassies there. You can find only one American embassy in Tokyo. Regardless of how big the city is, there can be only one American embassy. If there were two, that would mean that America is divided. When I go to Tokyo, there is no need for me to ask which American embassy I should go to. There is only one embassy in Tokyo representing America. The United States embassy in Tokyo is the very expression of the United States in that city. The United States is one, not two. So in any place, any embassy representing the United States must be one.

In the same principle, the church in the whole universe is one. So in any place, in any locality, if there is some expression of the church, that expression must be one. If we want to be in the proper way to practice the church, we must first remember that the church in the whole universe is one. So if we are going to express the church in any place, we must be one. In any locality there must be only one local church as a living expression of the Body of Christ. If there is more than one, that means division has taken place. This is exactly what has happened today. If you go to Tokyo, there is no need for you to inquire about what American embassy you should attend. But today when people go to a city, they ask about what church they should attend. There are many different kinds of churches today. This means divisions have occurred. Any denomination is a division. There should not be many different churches in one locality, that is, many different expressions of the Body of Christ in one city. In one city, there should be only one expression of the one Body of Christ. (100-102)

Witness Lee emphasizes in this portion that just as there is one Christ in this universe who has one unique Body, so any expression of this one Body must also be one. The local churches—one church in each one locality—are thus the living expression of the Body of Christ.

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