Local Churches (affiliation) - Etymology

Etymology

The term local churches was used by Watchman Nee to describe Christian churches that form based upon his teaching of the "ground of oneness" although that phrase has become more frequently used to refer to any individual Christian congregation in a city in recent years. Watchman Nee's version of the local church began in Foochow (福州), China c. 1922; and after the communist revolution in China in 1949 was propagated outside of China by Nee's co-worker Witness Lee (李常受, 1905–1997). The local churches have deliberately avoided incorporation into a single entity, based on their belief that the Christian Church is not an organization, but rather a living spiritual organism.

However, as is commonly the case when a group refuses or fails to name itself, outsiders who find it difficult to refer to a group that has no official name have labeled the local churches as "The Little Flock" ("小群"教會) or more recently for convenience and consistency of reference, "The Local Church".

The early "Little Flock" designation stems from a hymnal used by many of the local churches in China titled "Hymns for the Little Flock." The group itself has more recently employed the name "The Local Church" for reasons of brevity in legal pleadings. Nevertheless, the local churches typically repudiate this and any name or label used to designate them, believing that taking a name would cause them to practice "denominationalism", to which the group is especially opposed.

Nee taught that all genuine Christian believers in their city comprise the local church in that city. Individual local churches, therefore, are referred to by the name of their respective cities (e.g. "the church in San Francisco", "the church in Taipei" (台北市召會)). However, some local churches use signs at their meeting halls indicating only "The church in _____", implying to many a claim that only they are the church in that city. Thus, confusion arises in practice and that designation raises the ire of some other Christian churches. In an attempt to minimize this confusion and adhere to their beliefs concerning their scriptural understanding of a local church, some assemblies phrase the identifying sign with the expression "Meeting Hall of the church in _____". This is intended to indicate that the physical building at that address is not in fact the church itself but rather only a place where the church in that city gathers for corporate meetings (Acts 14:27; 1 Corinthians 14:23), the church itself being spiritual and organic in nature (Ephesians 2:21–22). Some larger churches have multiple gatherings in a single city, which are referred to by their meeting hall (e.g. Hall 1 or Hall 2).

Chinese language lacks capitalization and plural form while Chinese terms of Christianity were all translated from other languages. It is, technically, more difficult for Chinese-speakers to refer to their churches. In the beginning the standard Mandarin term "church" (教會) was used. But in recent years, the original Greek term "ekklesia" (召會) which is a new Chinese word coined by themselves is being adopted. To strangers, many would just call their church buildings "Meeting Halls" (聚會所) or "Assembly Halls". Many members of the local churches do, however, refer to their group as: the Lord's recovery (主的恢復) which refers to their beliefs concerning God's move in time that produced the present practice of the local churches. They may also refer to the group as the church life, which refers to their beliefs and practices concerning the corporate experience of enjoying Christ as the believers' life and living; the Church which may refer to their beliefs concerning "the one true church" (which in their belief includes, universally speaking, every born-again Christian, but in their practice includes local assemblies recognized as standing on the ground of oneness embracing the Living Stream Ministry as the source of material for church meetings) as well as to their particular practice of the local church as they believe is revealed in the New Testament; and the local churches (plural).