Additional Quotes about the Local Church by Witness Lee and Watchman Nee

Everyone has a different line of ministry. Time and again God has raised up some new witness, or group of witnesses, giving them fresh light from His Word, so that they could bear a special testimony for Him in the particular time and circumstances in which they live. All such ministry is new and specific and is of great value to the Church; but we must bear it well in mind that if God commits a specific ministry to any man relating to certain truths, he must not make his particular ministry, or his particular line of truth, the basis of a new “church.” No servant of God should cherish the ambition that his truth be accepted as the truth. If doors are closed to it, let him wait patiently upon God who gave it until He opens doors for its reception. No separate “church” must be formed to bear a separate testimony. The work of God does not sanction the establishment of a church for the propagation of any particular line of teaching. It knows only one kind of church—the local church; not a sectarian church, but a New Testament church.

(Watchman Nee, Collected Works, Set 2, Vol. 30, 112-113)

Every denomination also has a special teaching or practice. For example, the Southern Baptists practice baptism by immersion and insist that you be baptized by them. If you are not willing to be immersed by them, they will not accept you as a member. For them, the receiving of the believers is not based upon the faith, but based upon the baptism they practice. Likewise, certain Pentecostal groups will not receive those believers who do not speak in tongues. Hence, their kind of so-called church is built upon the ground of speaking in tongues. Speaking in tongues is their special practice and teaching. This special practice constitutes them a sect. Regarding baptism, the Church of Christ is even stronger than the Southern Baptists. They claim that if you are not immersed by them, you are not even saved and thus cannot be accepted by them. In like manner, if you would join the Seventh-day Adventists, you must agree to keep the Sabbath day and to tithe. Otherwise, you will not be accepted as a member. This particular practice constitutes them a sect.

Today there are a great many independent groups. Nearly every group has particular terms as a requirement for being accepted into that group. Although some would not say this, they hold such a particular term in secret. Eventually, when you desire to become a member, they will reveal the terms for being received by them. They may say, “It is very good that you want to join us. But in order to be a member of this group, you must agree to this teaching or practice.” Any group like this is a sect.

(Witness Lee, Spirit and the Body, 211-212)