II. Four Aspects of the Practicality of the Church

There are four crucial aspects related to the practicality of the church, outlined below in detail by Witness Lee: its building, its administration, its work, and its coordination. Together these four points show us how the early Christians practiced the local church meeting as the local church and how we can likewise remain faithful to the revelation and practice of the church presented in the holy Word.

A. The Building

Witness Lee states clearly that the practicality of the building up of the universal church can take place only in the local church:

First of all, the practical building up of the church is in the local churches. Without the local churches, how could the church be built? Suppose we do not have local churches, but we plan to build up the church in the heavens. How could we do it? It is impossible. Without the local churches, there is no practical building. If we are not built with others in the local churches, we have never been built up in the church. The practicality of the building of the church is in the local churches.

B. The Administration

A second key element of the practicality of the church is its administration, its government.

I. Local Government and Local Eldership

Witness Lee explains below that the administration of the church, as revealed and recorded in the New Testament, is absolutely local, under the eldership in each local church.

Then there is the administration or the government of the church. In the church there is the need of the government. Even in Matthew 18 the government of the church is mentioned. If we have a problem with a brother which we cannot solve with two or three, we must bring it to the church. The church has government.

In the Book of Acts and in all the Epistles, the government of the church is mainly centered in the elders. But without the local church, how could there be any elders? If two or three are the church, you will be an elder to yourself, and I will be one to myself. Everyone will be an elder. Then how could the elders be appointed?

In the first local church at Jerusalem, there were elders taking care of the government (Acts 11:30; 15:2, 4, 6, 22; 16:4; 21:18). Later the Apostle Paul appointed elders in every church (Acts 14:23). Thus, there were elders in the church at Ephesus (Acts 20:17). Afterward Paul ordered Titus to appoint elders in every city (Titus 1:5)—not in every home, but in every city. There should only be elders in a city according to the Scriptures. If just two or three meet in a home as the church, there is no need of having any elders in the city. But the local church in a city has the practical need of elders.

The administration or government of the church is in the local churches. If we do not have the local churches, we do not have this government. This is why so many prefer to say that two or three meeting together are the church. They do not want the government.

In the local church there is the government which is a real restriction and real test to our flesh and our natural self. If we know how independent our natural self is, we will be so willing to have the church. Then we will have a government to which we can submit. We all need to learn submission because of our independent self. This is why we need the government and restriction of the local church.

2. The Local Churches Implied in First Peter

In the following passage, Witness Lee discusses this principle of local church government and eldership as implied in 1 Peter.

The book of I Peter also has something regarding the government of the church with the elders. In chapter one, verse one, it says, "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia." Altogether, there are five provinces mentioned in this verse. Two of these five are very familiar to us, Galatia and Asia. Were there not churches in Galatia? Yes, for we have the book to the Galatians which mentions the churches of Galatia (1:2), as well as I Corinthians 16:1. And the Book of Revelation lists the seven local churches in Asia (1:4, 11). Therefore, according to the record of the Bible, there were many local churches in the provinces of Galatia and Asia.

Some have used I Peter 1:1 as ground to oppose the concept of the local church. The dissenting thought is that this is not a letter to the local churches, but to the strangers scattered throughout so many places, and since this is so, how could all these scattered ones be the living stones built up into one spiritual house (2:5) as a local church? This sounds reasonable, but I Peter is not only of two chapters. We must read on until we come to chapter 5. Chapter 5, verse one, says, "The elders which are among you ….” The elders among who? It must be the elders among the scattered saints who were in the local churches. If the scattered saints were just the scattered ones without meeting with the local churches or just meeting by two or three, there would be no need of elders. According to the teaching of the New Testament, the elders among the Christians are in the local churches. If there were no local churches, there was no need of elders. If the scattered saints never met together, there was no need for them to have elders.

I do believe that Peter was writing to the scattered Hebrew Christians, yet they were in the local churches. They were scattered in Galatia, Asia, and other provinces, but they must have been in some local churches, since we have seen that there were many local churches both in Galatia and in Asia. We have a similar situation with the Chinese brothers and sisters scattered throughout America. If a brother in Taiwan wrote a letter to all the Chinese brothers and sisters in the U.S.A., this does not mean that there are no local churches in the U.S.A. In fact, most of them are in the local churches here in this country in which there are elders. The practical administration of the church with the elders is in the local churches.

C. The Work

A third dimension of the church’s practicality is the work carried out by the Lord’s apostles and other servants. Witness Lee points out the necessity of a practical local church where the Lord’s work can take place:

Thirdly, all the work of the apostles and prophets was practically in the local churches and for the local churches. Without the local churches, it is rather difficult to have a practical work to edify the saints. The Apostle Paul said, "I teach every where in every church" (1 Cor. 4:17). Without the local churches, Paul simply did not have a place to work or teach. He taught in every church.

Without the local churches, the Lord’s work is impractical. Paul said that he ordained or commanded the same thing in all the churches (I Cor. 7:17). In other words, without the local churches, it is rather difficult for the apostles and the Lord’s servants to do anything to fulfill the Lord’s purpose. The practical work is in the local churches.

D. The Coordination

In the excerpt below, Witness Lee emphasizes the need for the practical coordination among the members of the Body of Christ by means of the local churches.

The last point is the coordination of the church. Without the local churches, how could we as members be practically coordinated together as a Body? If we would have the Body life, the church life, in a practical way, we must be coordinated with one another. Therefore, we need the local churches. Suppose the brothers in Los Angeles did not have the local church, how could they be coordinated? It is impossible. You may talk, teach, and write very much about the coordination of the saints in the Body life, but without the local churches, it is impractical.

We do praise the Lord that in these past few years, we have really experienced the practicality of the church life. We do have something practical with coordination and building together. We thank the Lord, that there are local churches with a real submission and a good order. This is something practical, not just a teaching. We do have the practicality of the Body life in coordination. However, we are not satisfied. We are always pressing on.

E. The Need for the Local Churches

Witness Lee sums up his discussion of the local church as the practicality of the church with a fervent and practical appeal to the believers:

To have a practical church life, we need the local churches. I would say one thousand times to all the brothers and sisters that you need a local church! Do you not agree that you need a local church? I Timothy 3:15 says that we need to know how to behave ourselves in the house of God, which is the church of the living God. This could only be practical in a local church. I do believe the Lord is going to recover the real and practical church life to prepare His Bride for His return.

Clearly, for all four aspects of the practicality of the church to be implemented, a local church is needed. In addressing the crucial matters of the building up of the church, the administration of the church, the work carried out for the church, and the coordination among the members of the Body, Witness Lee impresses us with the fact that local churches are the means employed by the Lord to fulfill His need in gaining the Body of Christ.