Co-Workers in the Lord’s Move: 1934 - 1936

E. Co-Workers in Spreading the Ministry

At the end of May 1935, Witness Lee returned to Chefoo. Watchman Nee had decided to visit England, but before departing to England, he and his wife planned to come to Chefoo and stay in his home for some rest. Sister Nee came first in July, and Brother Nee came a little later. They were Witness Lee’s guests for over one month. For a number of days Watchman Nee went to stay in Tsinan with Brother Stearns, who was an American Presbyterian doctor. This doctor received much spiritual help from him and frequently came with his family from Tsinan to Chefoo for summer vacation.

Revival

At that time Watchman Nee and the churches were somewhat depressed. One day after reading an article on revival in a Christian magazine, he said, “We need such a revival.” Not long after this, one evening while seeking the Lord in the tennis court of the house where Dr. Stearns stayed, he experienced once more the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Following this, he held a conference with them on the overcoming life of Christ. That conference brought a revival to the church in Chefoo, and Witness Lee himself obtained the greatest help in experiencing Christ as the overcoming life.

Spreading the Gospel

Because of the revival, Watchman Nee canceled his trip to England and returned to Shanghai. Since the Lord had caused a revival, the decision was made that the co-workers were to go out to the major cities to spread the Lord’s recovery. Witness Lee was assigned to work in the north and went to Tientsin, the largest port of northern China near the old capital, Peking. This was done under the direct instruction of Brother Nee. At that time Witness Lee traveled to Shanghai to see him concerning this matter.

In January of 1936, Witness Lee, together with Peace Wang, a young sister under instruction, and two young brother co-workers, were sent there. After a short time, Watchman Nee came to Peking and Tientsin to strengthen the start of the work there. They arranged a week of special meetings for him to preach the gospel to the upper class. After those special meetings, Watchman Nee returned to Shanghai and continued to work there for the Lord’s recovery.

They preached the gospel to the governor and all his high officials with their wives and friends in that brother’s courtyard in the evenings

In May of the same year, a high official of the provincial government of Honan, a Christian brother, being zealous for gospel preaching among his colleagues, invited Peace Wang to preach the gospel to them and then invited Watchman Nee and Witness Lee to do the same. They both went according to his request and stayed in his home for about a week. They preached the gospel to the governor and all his high officials with their wives and friends in that brother’s courtyard in the evenings. The meetings were quite prevailing. During the daytime Watchman Nee and Witness Lee spent their time in fellowship. He was again somewhat depressed, and one day he said to Witness Lee, “If Sister M. E. Barber were still alive, our spiritual condition would be uplifted.” This made Witness Lee realize that he was seeking some spiritual help.

In the fall of that year, Witness Lee took the initiative to contact the Pentecostal movement in Peking and began to speak in tongues, at the same time helping others to do the same. When the news of this arrived in Shanghai, Watchman Nee sent him a cable with the word from 1 Corinthians 12:30: “Do all speak in tongues?” That simple cable helped Witness Lee a great deal in that situation.