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We all know that, as the believers in Christ, we need to meet together in churches with our fellow believers; the new life we have received in Christ drives us inwardly to seek such fellowship.

And yet, as important as this is, the New Testament gives us no instructions regarding how to form churches. Rather, as Watchman Nee points out, what it shows us is that, wherever the gospel was preached and people believed in the Lord, these saved believers simply came together, without any planning or other consideration, to be the church in that place: the church in Jerusalem, the church in Corinth, the church in Ephesus, etc.

This is the New Testament pattern, and if we desire to follow the Lord according to His desire, it will be our way as well. That is, we will simply meet together with our fellow believers in the place where we live as the one unique church in our locality.

However, what we see instead among believers today are so many sects and divisions, which are different kinds of fellowships which are outside of, and in opposition to, the unique New Testament fellowship of God’s Son we have been called into as the believers in Christ:

God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
— 1 Corinthians 1:9; cf. 1 Corinthians 1:2, 10-13, Revelation 1:11

So in this episode, after stressing again the importance of simply meeting in the Lord’s name, we go one to consider some of these other kinds of fellowship that believers set up for their gatherings today.

Length: 1 hour and 3 minutes

To download the pamphlet we use as
the basis for this study, go to this page:
“What Is God’s Purpose for the Church?”
To view the pamphlet online,
go to the “Look Inside” page.

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RESOURCES

Pamphlet: “What Is God’s Purpose for the Church?”
Look Inside: “What Is God’s Purpose for the Church?”
Previous Episodes in this Series:
Podcast Series: “What Is the Church?”
Video: “How I Found the New Testament Fellowship.”
The Website for the Church of the Chicagoans:
ChicagoMeeting.org

Books
E.H. Broadbent, The Pilgrim Church

Witness Lee, The Genuine Ground of Oneness
Witness Lee, The Life and Way for the Practice of the Church Life
Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Church Life

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BIBLE VERSES REFERENCED…

In this Series:
Ephesians 1:22-23: The Body, the fullness of Christ.
Romans 12:4-5, 1 Corinthians 12:12-13: The many members of Christ.
John 1:12-13, 3:3-8, 2 Peter 1:4: Born anew with the divine life and nature.
Ephesians 2:19, 1 Corinthians 1:9: God’s family and the fellowship of God’s Son.
Revelation 1:10-13: The seven churches as the golden lampstands.

In this Episode:
1 Corinthians 3:1: Infants in Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5: Casting down the high things among the believers.
1 Kings 15:11-14, 22:41-43, 2 Kings 12:1-3, 14:1-4, 15:32-25, 2 Chron. 14:1-5, 15:17, 17:6, 20:33: The High Places were not taken away, even by the good kings.
1 Kings 12:25-33: The sin of Jeroboam.
1 Kings 13:2, 2 Kings 17:20-23: The judgment on Jeroboam and Israel for his sin.

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Recorded…
in Chicago, Illinois on Tuesday, 30 June 2025