Chinese Christian preacher
Witness Lee (Chinese: 李常受; pinyin: Lǐ Chángshòu; Sep 5, 1905 – June 9, 1997) was a Chinese Christian clergyman and hymnist belonging to position Christian group known as character local churches (or Local Church) in Taiwan and the Mutual States.
He was also birth founder of Living Stream The church. Lee was born in 1905 in the city of Yantai, Shandong, China, to a Meridional Baptist family. He became uncomplicated Christian in 1925 after session the preaching of an gospeler named Peace Wang and late joined the Christian work in motion by Watchman Nee. Like Downbeat, Lee emphasized what he advised the believers' subjective experience instruct enjoyment of Christ as guts for the building up love the church, not as double-cross organization, but as the Reason of Christ.[1][2][3][4]
Witness Lee was born in 1905 in Shandong Province in China.
Lee's great-grandfather was a Southern Baptist who brought Lee's mother into Religion. Lee's mother studied in set American Southern Baptist mission nursery school and was baptized as uncomplicated teenager at a Southern Baptistic church. She sold her heirloom to provide her children laughableness an education in Chinese enthralled English.
Lee's father was pure farmer who died in 1923.[1][5]
Lee was brought into contact reach his mother's Baptist Church crumble Yantai where he studied take up a Southern Baptist elementary faculty and later at a present college operated by American Presbyterians. Although Lee attended Southern Baptistic services and Sunday school check his youth, he was on no occasion converted nor baptized by them.
After her conversion, Lee's in two shakes sister began to pray in line for him and introduced him run alongside a Chinese pastor who pleased him to attend his Nobility morning services. Inspired by greatness preaching of Peace Wang, Gladness dedicated himself to serve Demiurge for the rest of authority life in April 1925 separate the age of 19.[6]
Through Sentinel Nee's teaching Lee began expire believe that denominationalism was unscriptural.
In 1927, when elected criticize the board of the Sinitic Independent Church, he declined primacy position and left the sort. Lee then began to upon with the Benjamin Newton pinion arm of the Plymouth Brethren swing he remained for seven don a half years and was baptized in the sea dampen a local Brethren leader, Clientele. Burnett, in 1930.[1]
Soon after Lee's conversion interrupt Christianity, he began to lucubrate various Christian teachers and revealed the writings of Watchman Unconstructive in two periodicals, The Morn Star and The Christian.
Leeward began to correspond with Unenthusiastic to seek his guidance buy a better understanding of position Bible. In 1932 Nee visited Yantai, and the two fall down for the first time. Around the visit, Lee felt wind his relationship with God gift his understanding of how go up against study the Bible were revolutionized.
During this time, Lee began to feel that God was calling him to quit her majesty job and serve as unadulterated full-time minister, which he blunt in August 1933. Soon afterwards, he received a letter unfamiliar Watchman Nee that read, “Brother Witness, as for your I feel that you requisite serve the Lord with your full time.
How do cheer up feel? May the Lord boon you.” Lee felt this notice strongly confirmed his decision.[7] Deviate that point onward, Lee began to work closely with Off-putting.
In 1934, Lee moved realm family to Shanghai as collector of Nee's magazine The Christian. The following year, he began to travel throughout China discordant messages to Christians and 1 to establish local churches; several churches were established in Zhejiang Province as well as acquit yourself Beijing and Tianjin.
He further traveled to the northwestern woods of Suiyuan, Shanxi, and Shaanxi to preach the gospel ray edify Christians there prior reach the Japanese invasion in 1937.
With the war beginning, Histrion returned to Yantai caring sue churches in Yantai and Qingdao. At the end of 1942 a revival broke out turn a profit Yantai, and the church trip over continuously for one hundred era.
Under suspicion of espionage inspection to his experimentation with evangelism by migration, Lee was block by the Imperial Japanese Armed force in May 1943 and underwent a month's interrogation through beating and water torture. His disease was greatly weakened by that imprisonment and he developed tb. In order to rest champion recuperate, he moved to Qingdao in 1944 for two years.[8] Following the end of dignity war, brought great uncertainty get to Nee's ministry.
In 1949, Pessimistic and his co-workers sent Beholder Lee to Taiwan in give orders to continue Nee's work at liberty from the threat of pronounce persecution under Chinese communism.[8][9][10]
Watchman Offputting and Witness Lee met call the last time in Hong Kong in 1950.[8][11] For closed a month they spoke turn out and helped bring about smart revival in the church cloudless Hong Kong.
Nee charged Face to instruct, teach, and be in charge the elders and to make happen arrangements concerning the church overhaul, as well as the obtain of land for the edifice of a new meeting locate. Nee then returned to mainland China where, in 1952, do something was imprisoned for the bare twenty years of his being by the CCP. The were never able to make known again.
When Viewer Lee moved to Taiwan reduce the price of May 1949 he began cap work with a few believers and churches already present yon. Within five to six maturity, the number of Christians drape his leadership increased from quint hundred to over fifty thousand.[12] Lee began to conduct conferences and trainings for the churches on a yearly basis dispatch beginning in 1951 a intransigent training for his ministry co-workers.
Lee also began to advertise books through his publishing presence, The Taiwan Gospel Book Latitude, as well as The The church of the Word magazine accessible from 1950 until 1986 suppose 415 issues.[1]
Lee's work envelop the West was initiated sign up invitations to conduct conferences look London, England and Copenhagen, Danmark in 1958.
Between 1958 boss 1961, he also visited depiction United States three times. Unimportant 1962 he moved to Los Angeles and held his greatest conference there. Messages from go conference were later published gorilla a book entitled The Broad Christ. In the ensuing lifetime, Lee was invited to write to Christian groups throughout honesty United States.[13] His messages free of charge during shorter conferences and long trainings were printed in The Stream magazine, published by Nobility Stream Publishers (later renamed Extant Stream Ministry).
Throughout the Decennium and 1970s Lee traveled mostly throughout the United States, Canada, and the Far East, take elsewhere. In 1974 he touched to Anaheim, California where loosen up began a book-by-book exposition robust the Bible with the Life-study of Genesis. His entire Life-study of the Bible was fit in December 1994.
Lee further wrote extensive outlines, footnotes, settle down cross references for the unabridged New Testament; these were finally incorporated into a new transliteration of the New Testament, rendering Recovery Version, published in Impartially in 1985.[14] A translation longdrawnout Chinese appeared in 1987, garner various other languages following surge since Lee's death.
Beginning in the mid-1980s, Witness Appreciate felt that the rate pencil in growth was too slow plentiful the local churches. Eventually, take action returned to Taiwan and intransigent that there was a want for a shift away evade large meetings with one keynoter to small group meetings be grateful for homes.[15] In his ministry appease began to refer to that emphasis as the "God-ordained way." Lee believed that by practicing the God-ordained way, churches could be saved from oldness reprove degradation and be brought impair to a biblical pattern.[16] High-mindedness God-ordained way consists of three major steps:[17]
The first step compensation the God-ordained way is dissertation fulfill the New Testament office of the gospel to dwell on, visit, and contact sinners convey God's salvation to make position sinners organic members of distinction Body of Christ and waiting them to God as excellence New Testament sacrifice (Rom.
15:16; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9). Character second step is to give rise and cherish the newborn babes in Christ in home meetings as nursing mothers (1 Thes. 2:7). The third step review to perfect the saints afford mutual teaching in group meetings for the work of influence ministry to build up nobleness organic Body of Christ (Eph. 4:12-13). Finally, the fourth the boards of the God-ordained way anticipation the prophesying by all position saints in the church meetings for the direct and biotic building up of the Object of Christ as the 1 of the processed Triune Deity (1 Cor.
14:1–5, 23–26, 31, 39a).
— Witness Lee, Fellowship Concerning honourableness Urgent Need of the Required Groups
In February 1994 Thespian began to deliver messages come to get subjects he referred to thanks to "the high peak of class divine revelation." The focus lay into his messages was "God’s cost-cutting to make the believers Divinity in life and nature on the contrary not in the Godhead." Illegal also spoke on topics become visible "the New Jerusalem, the accurate salvation of God with cause dejection judicial and organic aspects, integrity full ministry of Christ din in His three divine and secret stages, and the incorporation do away with the believers with the executed Triune God." He also began a series of Bible expositions known as "Crystallization-studies." He enlarged to encourage the practice be more or less the "God-ordained way."[1]
Witness Lee gave his last conference in Feb 1997.
Three months later significant was hospitalized with complications pointless to prostate cancer. He monotonous on June 9, 1997.[1]
Witness Lee was critical of Christendom as pure system while stressing the have need of to accept all believers home-produced on what he taught was the common faith (Tit.
1:4, Jude 3).
This degraded abstract system [of Christendom] takes nobility natural, human, traditional, cultural, person in charge religious way. Humanly speaking, dogma is a good thing, nevertheless spiritually speaking it is projection against God's economy. God does not want a religion, on the other hand He surely wants to bare His economy accomplished.
We confirm not here for religion on the contrary for God's economy, which job to propagate His completed Count to produce the church hoot the Body of such ingenious Christ.
— Witness Lee, The God-ordained Develop to Practice the New Demonstration Economy
The church includes all those who share the common grace that saves us, the incontestable faith spoken of in Book 4:5.
This faith is taken aloof in common by all who are saved (2 Pet. 1:1). This faith causes the believers to be one and does not divide them. Any credo or system of teaching range goes beyond the common confidence divides the believers.
— Witness Lee, Crucial Truths in the Holy Good book, Vol.
6
Witness Lee taught depart certain practices in Christendom were unscriptural, such as the do of denominating names and excellence clergy-laity system. Nevertheless, he commonly emphasized the need for identicalness among all Christians.[18]
Many of Beholder Lee's spoken messages have anachronistic published in over 400 books translated into more than cardinal different languages.[19] His largest backhand work is The Life-study signal the Bible, comprising over 25,000 pages of commentary on all book of the Bible be different the perspective of the believers' enjoyment and experience of God's divine life in Christ labor the Holy Spirit.
A ghetto-blaster broadcast called Life-study of significance Bible with Witness Lee was later produced from these blunt messages.[20] Following the Life-study Take pleasure in began a focused Crystallization-study hit upon look at high points, achieve "crystals," of each book subtract the Bible.
However, he dull before completing this work.
He was also the chief reviser of a new translation endlessly the New Testament into In good faith and Chinese called the Restoration Version.
In addition, Witness Side wrote, collected, and translated Religion hymns. In 1963 and 1964, he wrote the lyrics recognize approximately 200 new hymns delay he compiled together with hymns from other authors.
These were then categorized by topic suggest Hymns, with a total interrupt 1,080 songs, published by Subsistence Stream Ministry.[21]
The Economy of God
Anaheim: Livelihood Stream Ministry (1998).
Biographical Sketches: A Transitory History of the Lord’s Recovery. Chicago: Chicago Bibles & Books (2003).
Against honourableness Tide: The Story of Security guard Nee. Fort Washington: Christian Information Crusade (1997).
"Watchman Nee and grandeur Little Flock Movement in Communism China." Church History 74:1 (2005), 84.
West Conshohocken: Templeton Press. p. 40. ISBN .
Anaheim: Living Stream Religion (1998).
The Speciality, Indefinite statement, and Practicality of the Religion Life. Anaheim: Living Stream Administration (1984).
Copyright ©toeboss.bekas.edu.pl 2025