The Experience of Oneness, Anonymous

I came into contact with the local church less than five years ago in Fresno, California. I was born into a family with a Catholic background. I grew up believing there is a God; this God was the One that created me, the earth, and everything that is in it. I grew up believing that I needed to respect God, love God, worship God, and just have a good relationship with Him. When I was a young child, I saw my parents and grandparents go to church every Sunday to pray and worship the Lord. I always remembered my parents telling me to be good and to always pray and go to church. When in the church I was supposed to follow along with everybody there. Practically speaking, I grew up just copying my parents and grandparents and everybody else that was Catholic. As far as worshipping the Lord, I never realized what the significance of doing all the rituals was. I went on through my elementary school and high school up to my second year of college loving the Lord, worshipping God this way, but deep in me I felt that there should be something more than just going to church every Sunday with my parents.

In the middle of 1994, one of my friends met the local church, and after a few months he introduced me and some other friends to the church. At first we were a little skeptical because this Christian church didn't have a name. The brothers and sisters shared with us that in the Bible the believers met as the church in whatever city they were in (e.g. the church in Corinth). It is according to this pattern, that they practice a church life. Since then I have been meeting with the local church and since then I feel that God is so real and close to me. I would like to testify that God is expressed among the brothers and sisters in the local church.

The Wonderful Christ

Since I started reading the ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee my eyes have been opened to see many wonderful aspects of Christ revealed in the Bible. The ministry books of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee have fed me with Christ and have helped to make my Christian life more practical and experiential.

I always thought Christ was real in the sense of His coming into my life to be my personal Savior and Redeemer, yet I still felt He was quite far from me. The more I read the ministry books of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, the more I began to know how to contact Christ in such a practical way. I never knew that Christ could be so real and that I could experience Him daily and apply Him in many different ways to my daily circumstances. Christ is now so rich to me. In the Bible it says that He is the great “I Am”. I've always wondered what this meant. Through reading the ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee I began to understand it. His being the great “I Am” means that if I need love, Christ is my love. If I need peace Christ, Christ is that peace. If I need rest, Christ is my rest, and so on. He is not just my personal Savior and Redeemer. He is more than that. He is the Christ with so many wonderful aspects.