Local Church

Overview

The Local Church began in twentieth-century China as gatherings of those who followed the teachings of Watchman Nee. Nee sent Witness Lee to Taiwan, and the assemblies that grew there spread along the Pacific Rim and to the United States. Witness Lee moved to the United States in 1962 and founded Living Stream Ministry (LSM). The movement is grounded in dispensationalism, fundamentalism, and verbal inspiration, the view that every word of the Bible was inspired by God. Church historians classify it within the separatist tradition. In Korea, the Korea Gospel Book Room has published Witness Lee's books. Because it advocates a return to the pattern of the early church, it is also called the "Recovery Church."

Main Claims and Doctrines

• One church in one city: Citing Acts 8:1, Acts 13:1, Revelation 1:11, and other passages, the movement holds that all regenerated believers belong to the church of the city in which they live. Accordingly, its churches are named only after their locality, and adopting a denominational name is regarded as wrong.
• Structure of offices: On the grounds that every believer should be a preacher of the gospel, the movement does not appoint separate pastors or evangelists as established churches do.
• Method of expansion: The movement has spread by having several believers relocate together to a new area and establish an assembly there.

Assessments by Major Korean Denominations and Associations

• The Presbyterian Church of Korea (Tonghap) declared Witness Lee and the Local Church heretical at its 76th General Assembly in 1991. A supplementary study report is reported to have been submitted afterward to the 77th General Assembly. The study report identified problems in the movement's doctrines of God, Christ, humanity, and the church. Specifically, it cited a tendency toward modalism that blurs the distinction among the three Persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit); the notion that humans and God become one; trichotomy, which divides the human person into spirit, soul, and body; and an exclusive ecclesiology that rejects the institutions of established churches. In its conclusion, the report judged that Witness Lee's thought, together with that of Watchman Nee, had served as the matrix from which several Korean heretical groups emerged, including those of Kim Ki-dong (Berea) and Kwon Shin-chan (the Salvation Sect).
• The Presbyterian Church in Korea (Kosin) is likewise recorded as having declared the movement heretical at its 41st General Assembly in 1991.
• The Presbyterian Church in Korea (Hapshin) and the Presbyterian Church in Korea (Hapdong) are also counted among the denominations that have designated it heretical. However, the exact years and sessions of their resolutions could not be confirmed for this article.

The Group's Position and Rebuttal

The Local Church maintains that the heresy designations stem from misunderstanding. It argues that Witness Lee was not a modalist, since he confessed God not as "one person" but as "one Spirit with three persons." Regarding the Tonghap decision, the Local Church contends that it was unjust in both procedure and basis, asserting that it relied on the personal research of a single pastor and that the Local Church's petition for reconsideration was rejected. It also points out that Fuller Theological Seminary in the United States, after a two-year review, concluded that the Local Church's teachings belong within the historic Christian faith, and that the Christian Research Institute (CRI), an American countercult research organization, revised its assessment. In Korea, a book based on these reassessment materials was published in 2012.

Public Controversy

The controversy surrounding the Local Church centers mainly on the evaluation of its doctrine and the legitimacy of the heresy designations. Citing the reassessments by overseas organizations, the Local Church has called on Korean denominations to reconsider their resolutions. Korean heresy researchers, by contrast, counter that the Local Church portrays established Christianity as the kingdom of Satan while presenting itself to outsiders as orthodox.