Watchman Nee’s Christology and Global Evangelicalism

Watchman Nee (1903–1972) founded the Little Flock (or the Local Churches) in 1921. Under his relatively short ministry (1921–1952), the Little Flock increased dramatically in mainland China. The only churches he established outside China were in Malaysia (1924) and Singapore (1925). However, this does not mean that his theology in general, and his Christology in particular, do not have global evangelicalism in view. In fact, undergirded by his emphatic proclamation of Christ as the Overcomer of God for the entire earth, the Little Flock, under the leadership of his closest co-worker, Witness Lee (1905–1997), has achieved a global presence. A notable feature of their global evangelicalism is that their converts in every locality worldwide are mainly people of local origin rather than Chinese immigrants. This proposal argues that situated in a prevailing ethos of defeat on the national level (the Second Sino-Japanese war) and spiritual level (believers’ spiritual warfare), Nee developed his Christology by focusing on “Christ as the Overcomer of God,” which has been instrumental to the Little Flock’s global gospel outreach by empowering and enabling all believers to engage in evangelicalism as God’s little overcomers. To achieve that goal, the paper will first briefly survey Nee’s ministry from a global point of view, which will be analyzed in the context of the Second World War and the civil war in China. Then, based on the Collected Works of Watchman Nee (62 vols.), the paper will attempt to present Nee’s view of Christ as God’s Overcomer in a theologically coherent manner while interweaving it with the Little Flock’s global evangelical endeavors. Next, I will bring in Irenaeus’s Christus Victor and what Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen calls “the emergence of global testimonies to Christ” as Nee’s interlocutors. By comparing notes with these various strands of global Christologies, the paper highlights Nee’s theological insights in enabling all believers everywhere to carry out evangelical responsibilities by living out Christ’s overcoming zoetic life. The significance of this proposal lies in the fact that despite the increasing number of scholarly works on Nee, there have been few on his Christology, let alone its direct influence on the Little Flock’s global evangelicalism.