Messages Given During The Resumption Of Watchman Nee S Ministry

Watchman Nee's writings have become well known for their deep spiritual insight among Christians in many nations for many years. Through these volumes a full understanding of his balanced and proper view concerning the Bible and the spiritual life can be accurately appreciated. This new compilation and retranslation of Watchman Nee's writings present the reader a fresh and unedited version of his ministry and promises to shed new light on the reader's understanding of Watchman Nee's ministry.

This issue of The Ministry of the Word contains the eight messages of the international training for elders and responsible ones hosted by Living Stream Ministry on October 8-10, 2021. The messages were provided via webcast from Anaheim, California, and the mutual fellowship, prophesying, and studying by groups were practiced locally in the various churches that participated. The general subject of this series of messages is “Meeting God’s Need and Present Needs in the Lord’s Recovery.” We must see that God has His need. No matter what our human needs or the churches’ needs are, God’s need is much greater. To see God’s need, we need to realize that God has a will, a good pleasure, which is His heart’s desire. God’s good pleasure, that which makes Him happy, is the fulfillment of His eternal purpose to have His eternal habitation for His eternal expression. In order for His will to be done on earth and for His eternal purpose to be fulfilled, God needs our cooperation. He has placed His almighty power under the limitation of the human will; hence, only when He has gained a people who will cooperate with Him by being totally responsive to Him will He have an unhindered way to accomplish His will. God also needs to recover the earth from His enemy by man’s dealing with Satan and subduing and conquering the rebellious earth. Moreover, God needs the “family of Noah” to build the church as today’s ark to terminate the present crooked and perverted age and bring in God’s kingdom. God needs the man-child, the overcomers in the church, as His dispensational instrument for His greatest dispensational move to end the age and bring in His kingdom. To be constituted as overcomers, we must realize that through regeneration we have been made a new creation. As such, we need to walk in newness of life, to serve in newness of spirit, and to be renewed daily. Furthermore, we daily need to labor on the all-inclusive Christ as the good land by seeking and enjoying Christ in every situation. Especially as elders and responsible ones, we should enter into Christ’s wonderful shepherding in His heavenly ministry by enjoying and ministering Christ to shepherd the church of God as a slave of God. In meeting the Lord’s need, prayer is our most direct and intimate cooperation with Him. Prayer is to absorb the elements of the soil of Christ [4] as the good land and to express what God has spoken within us by our contacting and fellowshipping with Him. The best prayer is to pray to God as a friend, as portrayed in Abraham’s glorious intercession, his intimate conversation with God. This kind of intercession expresses God’s desire and carries out His will. The Announcements section at the end of this issue contains a list of upcoming conferences and trainings hosted by Living Stream Ministry and a website link for information related to similar events in Europe.

This issue of The Ministry contains a complete record of the nine messages given in Auckland, New Zealand during the International Training for Elders and Responsible Ones in October 2004. The general subject of these messages is the uniqueness of the Lord's recovery (see The Ministry, February 2004, and June 2004). The burden for these messages can be summarized in the following fellowship from Message One, from excerpts of Practical Talks to the Elders by Witness Lee: We don't know how long the coming days will be; only the Lord knows. But for as long as the Lord tarries, the recovery will be on this earth...With these future days and future new ones especially in mind, I feel there needs to be a basic vision or basic knowledge of the Lord's recovery. Just five years ago a distraction came in which confused some dear ones who were concerned for the Lord's recovery. Since such a thing could happen in the past right before our eyes, how can we have the assurance that such a thing will not be repeated in the future? Thus, while the Lord still grants me the days, I would like to do as much as I can to put things clearly into writing. Then the dear ones who are in and who will be brought into the Lord's recovery can have a clear view about what it is. (pp. 51-52) God is unique. His plan is unique. His work is unique. His way to carry out His work is unique. And the very instrument used for His way is the ministry. Thus this ministry is also unique. In the New Testament, there is the unique Christ, the unique way, and the unique focus to carry out the unique circumference, the church, by the unique ministry. (p. 57) In the Lord's recovery...we are doing one work, carrying out one ministry. We are serving one Lord, worshipping one God. We are in His unique plan, in His unique economy, in His unique work, in His unique way. We minister His unique focus. (p. 60) If we are not in the focus and if we do not experience what we preach to others, we face two perils. One, sooner or later there will be divisions. Two, if we don't practice the focal points, the saints have no way to practice them. The things we teach will eventually become doctrines in the Lord's recovery. There will be no reality. The recovery will be just empty. If we don't care for the Lord's recovery by paying heed to all these unique points, then we will care for the spreading of our work. To care for the spread of our work is dangerous. It will produce different works to build up different ministries. Then division will result...I am fearful and trembling of these two perils: the peril of different works being produced to cause division and the peril of emptiness. (pp. 62-63) May the Lord speak to us in these messages to show us the uniqueness of His recovery. May the Lord keep us secure in this vision, and may He keep His recovery from division and from emptiness. Last of all, in the sections regarding reports and announcements, we include a schedule of the upcoming conferences and trainings in Europe for 2005.