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

The first item we need to discern is the bread on the Lord’s table. The bread on the Lord’s table should be a symbol not only of the Lord’s physical body, but also of the Lord’s mystical Body, which is universally one (Eph. 4:4). Although we may take the Lord’s table in many different cities around the globe, we all are taking just one bread, because the bread we partake of is a symbol of Christ’s mystical Body, which is universally one. Thus, 1 Corinthians 10:17 says, “We who are many are one bread, one Body; for we all partake of the one bread.''...If a proper, genuine group meeting has the Lord’s table, that table will be the table of a local church, with the bread as a symbol of the entire Body of Christ. That is a practice that keeps the oneness of the Body.

(Witness Lee, Brief Presentation, 54)

The church (the universal church, not the local church) includes only all the saved believers. It does not include the unsaved.

(Watchman Nee, Collected Works, Set 1, Vol. 15, 239)

1. Revealed by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 16:18

We need to point out that the Lord Jesus mentioned the church twice in the Gospels--once in Matthew 16:18 referring to the universal church and once in Matthew 18:17 referring to the local church.

(Witness Lee, Lessons on Service, 10)

The church of Christ has two aspects. The first aspect, the universal aspect, is spoken of in Matthew 16. The universal church includes all the believers both past and present. There is only one such church, and we cannot add another to it. The universal church is unique. The second aspect, the local aspect, is spoken of in Matthew 18. The local church includes all the local believers at a certain time and in a certain place. It is limited to time and place. It can be counted. This is why we see expressions in the Bible such as the “church'' (Acts 9:31), the “seven churches'' (Rev. 1:4), and the “churches'' (1 Cor. 11:16; 14:33).

(Watchman Nee, Collected Works, Set 2, Vol. 43, 572)

The Lord said to Peter, “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and whatever you bind on the earth shall have been bound in the heavens, and whatever you loose on the earth shall have been loosed in the heavens'' (Matt. 16:18-19). This is what the church is in the Lord’s mind. In the Lord’s mind, the church is always real....Not only is this true with the universal church, but this is even true with the local churches.

(Watchman Nee, Collected Works, Set 2, Vol. 36, 227)

In the four Gospels, only Matthew mentions the church. The Gospel of Matthew mentions the church twice, both of which are words spoken by our blessed Lord. One is in 16:18, and the other in 18:17. There are two biblical meanings for the word church: (1) The church that is composed of all those redeemed by the precious blood of the Lord. The Bible calls this the Body of Christ. (2) The believers in every place being gathered together to become the church in that place; for example, there is the church in Corinth, and there are the churches in Galatia. The first meaning refers to the universal church, whereas the second refers the local church as part of the universal church....The two mentions of the church in Matthew bear these two meanings. Verse 18 of chapter sixteen refers to the universal church, whereas 18:17 refers to the local church.

(Watchman Nee, Collected Works, Set 1, Vol. 7, 1017-1018)

When Christ was on earth He referred to the church two times--in Matthew 16 and Matthew 18. In the first instance, He referred to the universal church, and in the second instance, He referred to the local church.

(Watchman Nee, Mystery of Christ, 62)

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