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

While Witness Lee was away in the north of China, Watchman Nee conducted a series of meetings with the church in Shanghai in February 1934 following his conference. The meetings also included the conference attendants who stayed on after the conference, and the purpose of the meetings was to study the Bible concerning the assembly life. Witness Lee came back to Shanghai from Chefoo in May. The day after his arrival, Watchman Nee came to his place, threw a bundle of articles to him, and said, “Please write a preface for these articles.” When he opened the bundle, he was so happy to see that the articles were composed of the messages given by Watchman Nee in the Bible study meetings while Witness Lee was away. He could not stop until he had finished reading all four chapters. The most striking point in all the chapters concerned the boundary of the local church. After reading the chapters, he wrote a preface to them. They were published as a book under the title The Assembly Life.

A. Sharing the Labor in Releasing Publications

During the period after Witness Lee returned to Shanghai, Brother Nee’s health was not good. During most of the meetings, he either rested or was away elsewhere. He spoke mostly during the conference times. The burden for the ministry in the regular meetings was left to Witness Lee.

Brother Nee bore the main responsibility for two publications: The Present Testimony and The Christian. The publication of The Christian was suspended for a period of seven years, during which he published only The Present Testimony. In 1934 the decision was made with many co-workers to resume the publication of The Christian, and Witness Lee was asked to edit it. He bore this responsibility until 1940.

Witness Lee learned many lessons in the matter of life, in the practice of the church, and in caring for the work in a living way

From the end of 1933, Watchman Nee also issued a paper with news of the work and the churches entitled Collection of Newsletters. The eldest sister co-worker among them, Ruth Lee, was appointed to be acting editor of that paper. When she was away from Shanghai, Witness Lee had the responsibility of editing that paper also. Through all these responsibilities, a tremendous opportunity was opened to Witness Lee to learn how to work for the Lord in His recovery, how to help others grow in life, how to build the church with life, and how to care for the publication ministry. Having been sovereignly placed under Brother Nee’s leadership, by the Lord’s mercy and grace, Witness Lee learned many lessons in the matter of life, in the practice of the church, and in caring for the work in a living way. What he learned during this time laid a solid foundation for his future. Later Witness Lee declared, “How I thank the Lord for this! How grateful I am to Brother Nee for his perfecting work and for his gracious and wise dealings with me.”

With all of the co-workers staying in Shanghai together, Watchman Nee and Witness Lee were enabled to have much helpful contact. On one occasion the two of them were driving to a dairy ranch in a suburb of Shanghai to visit some brothers. During their ride they fellowshipped about the situation between themselves and the denominations. As they were considering the fact that the denominations were rejecting their testimony, Watchman Nee said, “From now on we must turn to the Gentiles like the apostles did in Acts 13:46.” This opened Witness Lee’s eyes to see something more of the Lord’s way.