The Governing Principles of the Practice of the Local Church

5. Under the Headship of Christ

While ministering concerning the New Testament priesthood and kingship among the believers in his book The Recovery of God's House, Witness Lee explains the way in which the headship of Christ is recognized among the members in the local church.

Today, for the Lord’s recovery in the local churches, we still need these two ministries. I am so grateful to the Lord that here in the churches, we have seen the priesthood and the kingship. The brothers and sisters know how to contact the Lord and to have a living fellowship with the Lord day by day. This is why we have the morning watch with all the pray-reading—it is simply to contact the Lord, to have a living fellowship with the Lord, and even to be saturated, permeated, and possessed by the Lord that we may really be one with Him in spirit. And it is by this that we all have come to recognize the authority of God, the headship of Christ. No human hand is ruling over us. There is no human control, but we do have the divine authority among us. The brothers and sisters are moving and acting under the headship of Christ. If you were to ask me who are the ones who take care of the churches, I would say I just do not know how to answer. What I mean is that we do not have the maneuvering of any human hand, but we do have a government, a divine government, a government under the headship of Christ. This is the kingship.

(Witness Lee, Recovery of God’s House, 39-40)

Another representative portion of Witness Lee’s teaching concerning the headship of Christ in the local church follows:

Then there is the need of the kingship. The kingship is simply the headship of Christ, the divine authority. In the local churches, the government is not like that of the world. In the world there are different types of governments. Some are run by the people, and some are run by a dictator. But the government in the local churches is neither by the people nor by a dictatorship. In the local churches the government must be the divine authority which is the headship of Christ, the kingship with divine authority.

The normal situation in a local church is that of an adequate priesthood and kingship. This means we all know how to contact the Lord, how to have living fellowship with the Lord, how to be saturated with the Lord, and how to be occupied with the Lord. And we all know how to submit ourselves to the leadership of Christ, that is, to recognize the divine authority among the Lord’s people in the local churches. If we have these two things, what a wonderful situation that will be!

I believe that many of us read the last article written by Dr. A. W. Tozer before he died. In this message he pointed out that in today’s Christianity, the headship of Christ is completely renounced. He said that in all the church services, conventions, and conferences, the headship of Christ is not recognized. This is why there is the confusion and divisions with the many different kinds of opinions. Because the headship of Christ has not been recognized by His people, there is no divine authority among the Christians; there is only confusion and division. Everyone does whatever is right in his own eyes. There is no kingship.

In the local churches we are all under the kingship and headship of Christ. If I must say something, I must say it under the kingship and headship of my Lord. If it is not under His ruling, His authority, I should not say anything. Whatever I say and do must be under the headship of Christ. Nothing rules over me except His headship. I recognize the kingship of Christ in the local churches.

(Witness Lee, Recovery of God’s House, 38-39)

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