The Meetings and Spiritual Exercise of the Local Church

Prophesying Meetings

3. Prophesying Meetings of the Local Church

Watchman Nee and Witness Lee labored to recover the practice of the local church meeting in which all can prophesy (1 Cor. 14:31). In the prophesying meeting, all the believers exercise their spiritual function to speak their realization and experience of Christ for the building up of the Body of Christ. Such speaking is what Paul calls prophesying. In this meeting the believers prophesy; that is, they speak for God and speak forth Christ from the Word of God for the edification of the believers and for the building up of both the local church and the universal church (1 Cor. 14:3-4). The prophesying meeting provides believers the opportunity to participate mutually for the building up, encouragement, and consolation of all those in the meetings of the local churches (1 Cor. 14:3).

Here Witness Lee remarks on the need for all the believers to prophesy in the prophesying meetings of the local churches:

Eventually, we have to help these perfected saints learn how to prophesy, how to speak for God. Prophesying in the church meetings builds up the churches for the building up of the Body of Christ. If only a few speak in the meetings of the church, the Body of Christ cannot be built up.

We must try our best to perfect and to build up all the saints to prophesy, to speak for the Lord. The more speakers there are in the church meetings, the better it is. This kind of speaking edifies the saints locally and builds up the Body of Christ universally. First, we need to exercise ourselves to speak for the Lord. If we will speak for the Lord every week, we will build ourselves up and we will grow. Then we will become living members not only of one local church but also of the universal Body of Christ.

(Witness Lee, Training and Practice, 14)

Elsewhere, Witness Lee speaks of some of the benefits of the believers’ speaking for the Lord in the prophesying meetings of the local churches:

Finally, we need to prophesy in the church meetings for the building up of the Body of Christ through the local churches (1 Cor. 14:1-5, 12, 31). We need to learn to prophesy, that is, to speak for the Lord and to speak forth the Lord in order to minister Christ to people. If we all exercise our spirit in the meetings to prophesy, we will have living, fresh, uplifted, and rich meetings. Then the universal Body of Christ will be built up through the local churches.

(Witness Lee, Satanic Chaos, 121-122)

From these quotes by Witness Lee, we see that all the believers should learn how to prophesy, that is, to speak for God in the local church meetings. This kind of speaking ministers Christ to people and builds up the Body of Christ in all the local churches. In the additional quotes, Witness Lee and Watchman Nee share the history and the benefits of the prophesying meetings in the local church.

Main

Meetings

Lord’s Table

Prayer

Prophesying

Small Group

Gospel

Children’s

OT Type

Spiritual Exercise

Reading

Praying

Singing

Speaking

Thanksgiving

Praising

Serving

Calling

Pray-Reading

Bibliography

Links