Local churches (affiliation)

This article is about the group started by Watchman Nee. For other uses, see Local church (disambiguation).

The Local Church
ClassificationChristian
OrientationNondenominational
PolityCongregationalist
AssociationsLiving Stream Ministry
FounderWatchman Nee
Origin1920s
China

The local churches are a Christian group which was started in China in the 1920s and have spread globally. The basic organizing principle of the local churches is that there should be only one Christian church in each city,[1] a principle that was first articulated by Watchman Nee in a 1926 exposition of the seven churches in Asia in Revelation 1:11.[2] The local churches do not take a name, but some outsiders referred to the group as the "Little Flock" as they sang from a hymnal entitled Hymns for the Little Flock.[3]

From early on, members of this group emphasized a personal experience of Christ and the establishment of a pattern of church practice according to the New Testament.[4] Though assemblies identifying as "local churches" can be found worldwide, there are no definitive statistics available on membership, partly because the largest number of members are in China. Estimates range from five hundred thousand to two million members worldwide.[5][6]

  1. ^ Olson, Roger E.; Atwood, Craig D.; Mead, Frank S.; Hill, Samuel S. (2018). Handbook of Denominations in the United States (14 ed.). Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press. p. 328. ISBN 9781501822513. OCLC 966194680.
  2. ^ Nee, Watchman (February 1926). "The Things Which You Have Seen". The Christian. No. 4. p. 4. Published in an English translation in The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Volume 4: The Christian (2). Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry. 1992. pp. 194–195. ISBN 0870835890.
  3. ^ Nee, Watchman (1928). "The Dawn of Revival". The Present Testimony. Published in an English translation in The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Volume 8: The Present Testimony (1). Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry. 1992. p. 23. ISBN 0870835890.
  4. ^ Miller, Elliot (2009). "The "Local Church" as Movement and Source of Controversy". Christian Research Journal. Vol. 32, no. 6. pp. 10–11.
  5. ^ Liu, Yi (2016). "Globalization of Chinese Christianity: A Study of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee's Ministry". Asia Journal of Theology. 30 (1): 110.
  6. ^ Pitts, Hon. Joseph R. (29 April 2014). "Watchman Nee and Witness Lee" (PDF). Congressional Record. 160 (62): E621.