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The Local Church is a sect of Christianity founded by Witness Lee (1905-1997). Known as "The Lord's Recovery" by those within the sect, individual churches are called by the name of their respective cities (e.g. the "Church in San Francisco"). Witness Lee was himself influenced by the teaching of his coworker, Watchman Nee, a Christian teacher falsely imprisoned by the Chinese government for twenty years, eventually dying there.
In 1962, after extensive international travel establishing churches, Witness Lee settled in the U.S. and founded the first Local Church in Los Angeles. As the result of his preaching, teaching, writing, and conference speaking, Lee raised up a number of church fellowships during the sixties and seventies. Local Church members in California began migrating to other major American cities to claim the ground for "the Lord's recovery" movement. Individual Local Church movement fellowships in each city will take on the name of those particular cities and claim to be the sole expression of Christ in them. According to Local Church doctrine, there can be only one church in each city - and that church must be the Local Church. This practice is according to the teaching in Revelation 1:11, Acts 14:23 and Titus 1:5 of the Bible.
The Local Church movement is comprised of men and women of all ages, representing a broad range of social, ethnic, and economic groups. Some members have forsaken employment altogether to "serve the Lord" full-time. These full-timers are supported by the free-will offerings of fellow Local Church members. The church emphasizes devotion, praying, sharing, and self-denial.
Most members of the Local Church live in close proximity to their meeting halls. It is not uncommon for single men and women in some locales to share apartments or reside in individual brother and sisters communal homes. These arrangements allow for close fellowship and the sharing of duties at their nearby meeting halls.
Individual Local Church fellowships generally meet in unmarked meetings halls in most major cities in the U.S. and around the world. The giving of money is strictly free-will. Contributions are usually placed in a box located at the rear of the meeting hall. Local Church meetings have emotional, highly-spirited atmosphere, characterized by enthusiastic shouting, singing, and the raising of fists, and are often reminiscent of old-fashioned gospel meetings.
The Local Church movement has experienced a reasonable amount of success during its history in the U.S. Witness Lee began the movement in several homes and has spread his movement out across America and to the rest of the world. This movement has appealed to those who became dissatisfied with what traditional Christianity has to offer. The sharp denunciation of denominationalism and the call to unity and simpler forms of worship had attracted many converts during the turbulent sixties and seventies, and still does so today.
The Local Church evangelizes on college campuses. Club names include Christians on Campus, Campus Christians, Christian Students, Christian Student Fellowship, Christians at...University, Students for the Truth, or Christians.
Two books, The Mindbenders and the God-Men were published in 1977 accusing the "Local Church" of being a cult. The Mindbenders was eventually retracted and withdrawn from publication with a public apology, and The God-Men was determined in court to be “in all major respects false, defamatory and unprivileged, and, therefore, libelous.” The Statement of Decision is the legal record of the verdict of the Superior Court of the State of California in and for the County of Alameda.