The Genuine Ground Of Oneness

The ground of the church is directly related to the importance of the church. Certain portions of the Word such as Matthew, Ephesians, and Revelation reveal the importance of the church. In this book Witness Lee considers the importance of the church as shown in these books. Then he goes on to consider the inward and outward aspects of the church as well as the oneness manifested in the four great acts of God. This oneness is the genuine ground of the church.

This issue of The Ministry of the Word contains a complete record of the twelve messages given as the crystallization-study of 1 and 2 Kings in the July 2022 semiannual training, held in Anaheim, California. The Key Statements on the following page embody and summarize the crucial truths and main burdens covered in these twelve messages.The Reports and Announcements section contains "An Update concerning Europe," a "Summer 2022 Mass Distribution Update," and important information concerning upcoming conferences and trainings hosted by Living Stream Ministry and a website link to information on similar events in Europe and Israel.

This issue of The Ministry contains a complete record of the nine messages given during the 2007 International Training for Elders and Responsible Ones in Mexico City, Mexico, October 4-6, 2007. The general subject of the training was "Knowing and Caring for the Church." This knowing is a knowing by revelation and by the experience of life. We need to know the Lord, to know God's economy, the divine dispensing, and to know the church. Our care for the church is limited by our knowing of the church, and our behavior and proper conduct in the church as the house of God is determined by our knowing of the church. This is a set principle. The burden in these messages is that we must first know the church in order to care for the church. If we do not know the church, we cannot care for the church in a proper way. Therefore, we need to be those who know the church in the way that God knows the church, and then we need to care for the church in the way that God cares for the church. Our knowing the church according to revelation and the experiences of life brings in the proper caring. We must care for the church according to the revelation, the vision, and the experiences of life that have constituted our inner knowing of the church. Therefore, our knowing of the church, which is progressive, must increase. We also include letters from Romania concerning the Lord's move there.

The Collected Works of Witness Lee,1969, volume 3, contains messages given by Brother Witness Lee from July 17 through December 28, 1969. Brother Lee remained in Los Angeles through the month of July until the end of August. He made a brief trip to San Francisco, California, and then rested nearly the entire month of September. At the beginning of October he visited San Francisco, California; and then traveled to Phoenix, Arizona; Mesa, Arizona; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Las Vegas, Nevada; and San Francisco, California; a second time. After returning to Los Angeles for one day in the middle of November, he visited Yorba Linda, California; Louisville, Kentucky; Toronto, Canada; East Hartland, Connecticut; Boston, Massachusetts; New York City; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Erie, Pennsylvania. He returned to Los Angeles at the end of December. Regrettably, there is no record of his speaking in Phoenix, Las Vegas, Louisville, Toronto, East Hartland, and Boston. The majority of his speaking in Pittsburgh and Erie was recorded in handwritten notes. The contents of this volume are divided into fourteen sections, as follows: 1. Twenty-six messages given in Los Angeles, California, from July 17 through August 21. These messages were previously published in a twenty-four-chapter book under the title Christ and the Church Revealed and Typified in the Psalms. 2. One message given in Los Angeles, California, on August 16. It is included in this volume under the title An Additional Word in Response to Testimonies concerning Five Secrets of Life Revealed in Second Peter 1. 3. Five messages given in Los Angeles, California, on August 22 through 24. The first four of these messages were previously published in The Ministry magazine, volume 2, numbers 4 through 7, April, May, June, and July 1998, and the fifth message was previously published in The Ministry magazine, volume 2, number 8, August/September 1998, as one section of a compilation of Brother Lee's speaking on migration during the years 1969, 1970, 1971, and 1972. The entire series of five messages previously published in The Ministry magazine appeared under the title Migration in God's Move. 4. One message given in Los Angeles, California, on November 16. This message is included in this section under the title Fellowship on Migration. 5. Seven messages given in San Francisco, California, from August 29 through September 1 and on October 3. They are included in this volume under the title Exercising the Spirit and Walking according to the Spirit to Build Up the Church. 6. Three messages given in Los Angeles, California, on August 21 and 22. They are included in this volume under the title Denying Our Soul-life and the Living, Walking, and Abiding in Our Spirit for the Building Up of the Church. 7. One message given in Los Angeles, California, on September 25. This message is included in this volume under the title Helping the New Believers to Be Properly Grounded in Their Salvation and to Grow in Life. 8. One message given in Mesa, Arizona, on October 15. It is included in this volume under the title Needing to Live in Our Spirit in Order to Meet in the Proper Way. 9. Six messages given in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on October 17 through 20. These messages are published in this volume under the title Enjoying the All-inclusive Spirit in Our Human Spiritfor the Building Up of the Church. There is no record of the first two messages. 10. Four messages given in San Francisco, California, on November 7 through 9. They are included in this volume under the title Fall Conference in San Francisco. 11. Eight messages given in Yorba Linda, California, on November 27 through 30. These messages are included in this volume under the title The Two Trees in the Christian Life. Two of the messages were combined. 12. Four messages given in New York City on December 18 through 21. They are included in this volume under the title Enjoying and Ministering Christ for the Fulfillment of God's Purpose. 13. One message given in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on December 22. This message is included in this volume under the title The Lord's Recovery of the Practice of the Church Life. Its contents were taken from the personal notes of an attendee. Brother Lee spoke two additional messages on December 23, but there is no substantial record of his speaking. 14. Thirteen messages given in Erie, Pennsylvania, on December 24 through 28. These messages are included in this volume under the title The Lord's Recovery of the Church Life. Of the thirteen messages spoken, only two were recorded. The content of the remaining chapters was taken from the personal notes of a conference attendee. Some messages were combined to form the nine chapters in this section. In addition to the above, Brother Lee gave six messages in Los Angeles, California, on August 16 through 21. These messages, together with messages given in 1963 and 1965, were previously published in a book under the title Our Human Spirit. This book in its entirety is included in The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1965, volume 3.