| The ecclesiology of Watchman Nee (Ni Tuo Sheng) (1903--1972), with its emphasis on the breaking of bread, reflected the confluence of missiological and spiritual forces that intersected with his life. The present study seeks to demonstrate that a spiritual meal occupied the central place of importance in Nee's family-centric ecclesiology. Nee, who viewed the church as family, founded the Assembly (variously known as the Assembly Hall, the Local Church, and the Little Flock) as a lay Christian movement in 1927 in China.; Nee's earliest experiences of conversion and spiritual direction all involved maternal figures, who helped him to prioritize the home as a locus of worship and learning. Nee's mother, Lin Heping; the revivalist preacher, Dora Yu (Yu Cidu); and the independent missionary, Margaret E. Barber exposed Nee to two dominant missiologies of the time: woman's work for women (which supported education and Christianizing the home) and faith missions (which promoted evangelism independent from denominational agency). Nee's correspondence with the Plymouth Brethren confirmed his convictions about the inclusivity of the Lord's Table. Fundamentalism and premillennial dispensationalism (which taught that the evangelism of the world would precede Christ's second coming) gave the movement the doctrinal foundation to stand in socially and politically unstable times. The robust witness and writings of Jessie Penn-Lewis and other members of the Keswick holiness movement preserved a place for experience in Assembly worship and theology. Finally Nee's insistence on indigenous lay leadership, the parameters of the local church, the unity of all believers (with its corresponding anti-denominationalism), and the weekly breaking of bread allowed him to contextualize Christianity for his people. His book The Spiritual Man, his articles, and his messages provided the theological framework for a popular Christian movement that has become one of the fastest growing indigenous churches in China in the twenty-first century. |
