The Breaking of the Outer Person

Abstract When the Sino-Japanese War began, Nee was traveling. He attended the Keswick Convention in the United Kingdom and impressed Western audiences. His writings began to be published and translated into foreign languages. Upon his return to China, Nee began to work in his brother’s pharmaceutical company to earn money for Assembly Hall ministers. This decision was opposed by the Shanghai elders, and Nee was excommunicated for six years, ceasing his public ministry. Witness Lee spearheaded his return. Nee now spoke of brokenness as true spiritual maturity. Nee’s brokenness was not ascetic harsh treatment, but self-sacrificial sociability—love and pliability with other Christians for the sake of the church. This was reinforced by staying in local congregations under the “one city, one church” principle. Nee also put the development of the church into a cosmic timeline, leading to Christ’s return, while tinkering with church practices, partly in response to Communism.