The Practical Expression of the Body of Christ, Frank Meng

In Acts 9, when Saul was on the road to Damascus, the Lord said to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” This “Me” mentioned by the Lord is a corporate Me, and Saul (later called Paul) would realize that his persecuting of the believers was his persecution of the Lord Himself. I was studying this portion of the Word recently and I had a fresh appreciation of Christ, the Head of the church, and His Body.

My experience of the local churches began at an early age. My parents were both Christians and both were brought by the Lord to meet with the local churches. My testimony of the local churches as a child growing up is one of family. My fondest memories are of the years when our family lived in a small college town two hours south of Chicago. Some Christian brothers and sisters meeting with the local church had migrated to that town in order to preach the gospel on the campus there. Those years were filled with a family atmosphere that was based on the fact that we were brothers and sisters in the Lord. When our house needed to be re-roofed, the brothers were there on top of our house helping my father hammer in new shingles. When I was sick in the hospital with pneumonia, the brothers would come by to sit with me, allowing my mother to go home and rest for a while. Almost twenty years have passed since those days, and today I realize that was really the expression of the humanity of the Lord Jesus being lived out through those brothers and sisters.

As I got older, the Lord began to show me another aspect of the local churches, that of its oneness. I have had the opportunity to live in Taiwan, Chicago, New York, Boston, Los Angeles, and the Bay Area of California. Everywhere I went, the Lord was sovereign to provide our family with a place where there was a local church. I realize today that the many local churches throughout the earth are just one in expression, and they are local expressions of the universal church, the unique Body of Christ. In every local church I have been, it is the same speaking and the same expression. In Revelation, the differences among the seven churches were all negative, but in the Lord's eyes, the churches should all be golden shining lampstands, all identical. I really saw this in the local churches.

I thank the Lord for having mercy on me and placing me in the local churches. I thank the Lord that I have received so much from the brothers and sisters and I have had the opportunity to experience much Christ in the local churches through the ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee. Praise the Lord for the local churches!