Watchman Nee

Watchman Nee

His release never came.

SHU-TSU NEE was born in 1903 in southern China. Shu-tsu’s mother, Peace Lin, was unhappy in her arranged marriage and took it out on her children. She was obsessed with ambition and social connections, often at the expense of her family, and Shu-tsu resented her for it.

When Shu-tsu was seventeen, his mother attended an evangelistic meeting led by Dora Yu, a prominent woman who had abandoned a lucrative career as a physician to become a preacher. Peace Lin was filled with admiration for Dora Yu and found her words cutting through to her angry soul. Asking forgiveness for her self-serving pursuits, Peace Lin gave her life to Christ. Shu-tsu could not believe the change he saw in his mother. Although Shu-tsu had a general disdain for religion, he was curious enough to go hear Dora Yu for himself, for he knew that what he saw in his mother was more than empty religion. After hearing Dora Yu preach, he confessed his sins and accepted Jesus as his Savior and Lord.

As is customary when Chinese reach a turning point in their lives, he chose a new name for himself, Nee To-sheng, or Watchman Nee in English. His life was indeed forever changed. He vowed to “give Christ all of my life, my loyalty, and my love.” He became a preacher, even though he had previously called it “the most despised and base of all occupations.”

Watchman found a mentor in Margaret Barber, an Anglican missionary. She was strong willed, fearless, and intensely passionate for God’s Word. His lifelong motto came from her example: “I want nothing for myself; I want everything for the Lord.”

During the 1930s under Chiang Kai-shek’s leadership, China experienced a transportation boom. With this new opportunity, Watchman and his coworkers envisioned evangelizing all of China. He relentlessly encouraged Shanghai Christians to share their faith. His words were hard to ignore: “Because you are not witnessing, many have not heard the gospel. They will be eternally separated from God. What a consequence of our apathy! . . . This is my challenge to you. Witness to at least one person a day. Witness to whomever you meet. . . . It is time for us to put feet to our faith.”

In 1934 Watchman married his childhood sweetheart, Charity, also a committed Christian, and they loved each other deeply.

During the 1930s and 1940s, China was embroiled in war. The civil war between Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist Party and Mao Tse-tung’s Communist Party was temporarily suspended by the war with Japan. During the wars Watchman and Charity continued undaunted in their efforts to evangelize China. After the war the Communist Party drove out the Nationalists, expelled the foreign missionaries, and outlawed Christianity. Evangelism became very dangerous. On Black Saturday, April 27, 1951, thousands of Shanghai intellectuals were arrested by the Communists and subjected to “thought reform.” Some of those taken were Watchman’s coworkers. Watchman fearlessly continued his work and began preparing materials for underground churches to use after his inevitable imprisonment by the Communists.

On April 10, 1952, Watchman was arrested and charged as a lawless capitalist. The communist media informed the world of the “crimes of Watchman Nee,” citing many hundreds of alleged crimes and vices. He received a fifteen-year sentence but was not released at the end of his term. His days were divided into three 8-hour segments: hard labor, “reeducation,” and solitary confinement. During his first twenty years in prison, he was allowed no communication, so he knew nothing of what had happened to his wife. During his twentieth year in prison he became sick, and his captors allowed him limited communication. He found out that Charity had also been arrested and had died years earlier. On June 1, 1972, Watchman also died in prison after spending twenty years in chains for the gospel.

Reflection

Watchman Nee did not let the prospect of imprisonment curb his zeal for Christ. He worked fearlessly for the Lord in spite of the arrest he knew was coming. What can you learn from his life?

I have worked harder, been put in jail more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again.

2 Corinthians 11:23