Watchman Nee establishes the first local church, in Foochowįather, a farmer, dies in Changchun, ManchuriaĪ local pastor visits him for a few months begins meeting with the Chinese Independent Church (February)Ģ5 April: saved through Peace Wang’s preaching on Satan’s usurpation in the world (Exodus 1) walking home, devotes his life to the Lord to preach the gospel from village to village, “even if I must live on tree roots and drink from mountain brooks” Studies writings of Confucius and Mencius at 15 begins to despise Christianity, stops attending the Baptist church loves soccer and Chinese operas The Boxer Rebellion to rid China of “foreign devils” begins 32,000 Christians killed Lee’s mother hides her Christian books and escapes to the mountains to surviveĥ August: Lee is born near Chefoo, China to Lee Kuo Chung and Lee Sun Lian Chi grows up in a poor, Christian family, the sixth of seven children attends Sunday school in the Southern Baptist church Robert Morrison, the first Protestant missionary, arrives in China Below is a timeline of the major events of his life that I put together for those who want to understand him in his context and get an overall impression of his life and work. To a certain extent this is fitting, since his theological project itself involved conflict and change, working in the spirit of Luther to revolutionize the church’s life and practice in light of God’s word.Īlthough he recounted aspects of it numerous times in messages or fellowships, an official biography has never been published in English. Both of his primary contexts (China and the U.S.) were ones of conflict, revolution, and change.
His life and work were played out on the stage of the world like a Wagner opera-full-scale and fervent-not in the quiet confines of a lecture hall. He was at the center of one of the greatest religious awakenings in the history of Christianity. It takes place during a time of great upheaval-the Second Sino-Japanese war that bled right into the rise of communism in China and then the countercultural movement of the 1960s in the U.S. Lee’s story, however, remains largely unknown, although like Augustine, Luther, and Barth it is highly dramatic in both context and content.
As someone once said: “A message moves your heart, a testimony moves your feet.” Augustine’s dramatic conversion in the garden, Luther’s unwavering stance at the Diet of Worms, and Barth’s thunderous “No” to theological liberalism are compellingly told in plenty of books. In many ways, the stories of the saints of the past-the cloud of witnesses-strengthen us to faithfulness in a way that their teachings can’t quite match, no matter how much light they provide. But while many have a passing acquaintance with his name or a single book of his, few know the story of his life. His work of preaching, teaching, and establishing churches spanned multiple continents, just like his printed works span multiple bookshelves. His collected works, not including his biblical commentaries, include 138 volumes.
Witness Lee’s life is like his ministry-epic, inspiring, and vast.
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