page_title: Restorationism
section_title: Local churches
hierarchical_section_title: Restorationism / 20th-century and contemporary groups / Local churches
caption_attribution_description: English: Source: www.c-f-p.com/images/NeeHdSh.jpg This photograph was taken in the 1950s in China and is not to my knowledge subject to any copyright. It would now be in the public domain.
context_page_description: Restorationism is the belief that Christianity has been or should be restored along the lines of what is known about the apostolic early church, which restorationists see as the search for a purer and more ancient form of the religion. Fundamentally, "this vision seeks to correct faults or deficiencies by appealing to the primitive church as a normative model."
  Efforts to restore an earlier, purer form of Christianity are often a response to denominationalism. As Rubel Shelly put it, the "motive behind all restoration movements is to tear down the walls of separation by a return to the practice of the original, essential and universal features of the Christian religion." Different groups have tried to implement the restorationist vision in a variety of ways; for instance, some have focused on the structure and practice of the church, others on the ethical life of the church, and others on the direct experience of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. The relative importance given to the restoration ideal, and the extent to which the full restoration of the early church is believed to have been achieved, also varies among groups.
context_section_description: The local churches are a Christian movement influenced by the teachings of J.N. Darby, Watchman Nee and Witness Lee and associated with the Living Stream Ministry publishing house. Its members see themselves as separate from other Christian groups, denominations, and movements, part of what they sometimes call "The Lord's Recovery". One of the defining features of the local churches is their adherence to the principle that all Christians in a city or locality are automatically members of the one church in that locality. Another defining feature is the lack of an official organization or official name for the movement. Those in the local churches believe that to take a name would divide them from other believers. Thus, they often say they meet with "the church in [city name]" with the understanding that they are not the only church but belong to the same church as every believer in their city.
caption: Watchman Nee
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