Witness Lee and the "Local Churches": A Personal Testimony
by Daniel Azuma
Part 5: The Last Word
They say that God is sovereign, that He is in control and is able to protect us and guide us according to His will, if we choose to follow Him. But often we'll be put through situations that seem harsh, cruel, even stupid, and we ask, "why?" Why would a loving God allow me to be overtaken by this group, to be deceived into believing for a while that I had found "God's sole move on the earth today," and later to be humbled, to realize that despite the knowledge, the intelligence and reasoning power that I had thought I posessed, as a scientist and engineer by training, even I was led blind into error? Why?
Perhaps the full answer has not been given to me, but God has been gracious to show me at least a small glimpse of His intentions for me, and this I share now with the hope that it may make a difference in how people perceive movements such as this one. I hope it has been clear that my experience with the group known as the "Local Churches," while ultimately negative, was in actuality quite mixed at times, and I believe that this is likely fundamentally the case with any organization that is often decried as a cult. Indeed, I submit that for each pseudo-Christian cult, each fringe sect, or each and every new denomination that comes into existence, you can point to some corresponding failure within the church as a whole that the new group is trying to deal with. Whether the group, denomination or cult actually deals with the issue satisfactorily, or perhaps deals with it at the expense of more important concerns, may be a different question. Nonetheless, no group can be entirely dismissed if its very existence is a testimony to a concern which the church is not addressing adequately.
Therefore, it is my view that the best way to approach controversial groups like the "Local Churches" is to learn from them. Who are they? What to they do? What are their goals, their intentions? Where have they succeeded and where have they failed?
As a former member, I can say I've learned a great deal from the experience, perhaps much more than I ever really wanted to. Many of their grievances with "Christianity," as the call outside Christians with disdain, are quite legitimate, and deserving of much more attention than most of us are willing to give. Perhaps, as a learned member of the body of Christ, you may think you have much to teach, much to correct or much to condemn in an unusual, deviant or cultic organization. You may be right. But what is less obvious but just as true is that they have much to teach, correct, maybe even condemn in the rest of us.
For example, the name often given to them-- "Local Church"-- comes from their doctrine of "locality." This is the strict view that the church should be organized by city, and that individual churches should take the name of their corresponding city, as was apparently the case during the period of time covered by the book of Acts. And so, the movement has organized itself according to such a structure; indeed, you can identify a church affiliated with the movement by opening your yellow pages and looking for the name "Church in (city name), The". Now, this form of organization is of course impractical for the church as a whole in modern times, particularly in areas of metropolitan sprawl such as the Los Angeles basin, where the group is based. However, the ideal is valid, something that should be paid attention to. How would the church change if it saw the diversity that would come from being organized, not necessarily by city, but at least by geographic area, instead of by belief subsystem, ethnicity, or ministry focus? Is this an ideal we would like to see? Even if a radical reorganization of the entire Christian church isn't necessary, profitable or even possible, what tangible steps can be taken towards such an ideal; and particularly, what kinds of steps can be taken to destroy those walls that too often appear along denominational, philosophical, racial, even age boundaries? On the other hand, what other effects does this form of organization have, particularly on the matter of Christian unity? Because the doctrine of locality, the distinction between the city-church system as implemented by the "Local Churches" and other systems of organization, is strict and highly visible, it tends to lead to spiritual isolation.
Just by examining that one policy implemented by the "Local Churches," its advantages (which are significant) and its disadvantages (which are also significant), perhaps Christians can learn something about church macro-organization, about the Biblical basis for it, and about its tangible effects on the believers' walks with Jesus Christ. Our God is sovereign. Therefore, He allowed, perhaps even ordained, the "Local Churches" to come into existence. By that, what is He telling us?
At the time of this writing, it has been several years since the Christian fellowship meeting I described at the very beginning, in which the topic of cults had been thrown around so casually. I also have had several similar experiences both before and after, and they sometimes weigh heavily on my mind. The cult phenomenon is not a new one. There is evidence that even the New Testament apostles had to battle heresies and sociological evils within the church. But here at the close of the 20th century, we can look back on the last hundred years and see more cults, sects, "new religious movements," and other such organizations established than in all previous human history, and those who have studied the phenomenon believe their growth is still accelerating. And I believe one of the strongest forces feeding this frenzy is the cavalier attitude of mankind, even of Christians, towards the situation. We watch as the media reports on such events as the Heaven's Gate mass suicides, and we laugh. "How stupid they are!" we say to ourselves, forgetting that those were real, thinking, caring, intelligent people just like us, forgetting that if they could be led to such incredible extremes, how much easier it is for us to be led astray into organizations, practices, belief systems that are perhaps not as overtly dangerous, but may be just as damaging to ourselves, our relationships with God, and our relationships with each other. We joke about cults, blind to the same phenomena at work, perhaps less visible, more insidious, but definitely present, even within our own churches.
In this is the message of my testimony of Witness Lee and the "Local Churches." I do not hate them for what they are and what they do, even though I sometimes still feel anger when new related situations arise or old problems resurface. Some readers may see this as a testimony of condemnation of the group, and while I do believe they are to be considered a cult, and while I cannot recommend that any Christian make commitments to associate regularly with the "Local Churches," that is not the heart of my message. It is true that they have many problems, and it is true that I wasn't able to give myself to God until I had stopped giving myself to the group. Nevertheless, I did grow during my involvement with them, and I did learn many unique and valuable things from them. I grieved as they did at the passing of Witness Lee in the summer of 1997, and I continue to pray for my many friends, even close ones, who are still part of the movement.
My message is one of caution, of diligent watchfulness, of study and of prayer. Cults and other perversions of faith do exist-- indeed, they exist in greater abundance than nearly any of us realize-- and they are very good at what they do. Cults are nothing to joke around about, because for countless people like myself, they are quite definitely no laughing matter. They are not to be dismissed as someone else's problem, or we carry the real risk of falling into the very same errors. And they are most certainly not to be ignored, lest we turn deaf ears to the messages God gives us through them.
"In the denominations," a member of the "Local Churches" might say, "there is only division and confusion." They may even be right, to an extent. I believe it is the Lord's calling for us followers of Him to let go of our cliques, our comfortable routines, our self-centered programs, our human desire to cling exclusively to those of like mind or race or conviction. With such an attitude, we will never truly understand the church, and we open the door for the enemy to introduce hosts of problems. Instead, we must look outwards. We must hear and understand both our friends and our enemies, and not pre-judge or take lightly what we see. We must listen to those who claim the cross of Jesus and speak in His name, not dismissing summarily anyone's testimony, not turning deaf ears simply because we don't like what we hear. But we must always, always test what we hear against the Scripture. For God's Word is the last word.
