The Ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, Patrick and Deborah Bradley

We grew up in Southern California, met in high school and married after our high school graduation. We attended college during the turbulent years of the war in Vietnam, the “hippie movement,” and intense anti-war and anti-establishment feeling, especially on college campuses. In this time of conflicting ideals and loyalties we began to question everything we had earlier believed in and trusted; including our government, our teachers, and our families' values.

In late 1971 a former high school friend came to us and spoke to us about Jesus Christ. He had received the Lord earlier that year and was meeting with the local church in Los Angeles. Eventually, through his speaking, and also by seeing his unmistakable joy and focus in life we also prayed to receive the Lord, and experienced a strong salvation from the world.

We began to meet with the church in San Diego and also to drive to Los Angeles for conferences where Witness Lee gave messages. From the first messages we heard in 1972 up to the last ones given in 1997, we can strongly testify that the result of each and every message for us was an increased appreciation and love for the Person and work of Jesus Christ. The ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee have instilled in us a great love for the Bible as the Word of God, which not only reveals God to us, but also ministers God into us as spirit and life (John 6:63).

In 1974 we moved to Atlanta, Georgia, to meet with the local church in Atlanta, and continued to be helped very much by the books of Watchman Nee and the active ministry of Witness Lee. In 1992 we went to the former Soviet Union with our two younger daughters to serve the Lord in the gospel for the building up of His Body (Ephesians 4:12-16), along with many other believers from different countries. During this time we held large gospel conferences and spent our time caring for those who had been brought to Christ. Our goal was that they would know and love Christ; the Bible; prayer; gathering together to fellowship as the church for a testimony of Jesus (Revelation 1:9) in their city. As we introduced to them the ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee we saw in these believers an ever-growing revelation of and appreciation and love for Christ, the Bible, and the Body of Christ.

During this time I (Patrick) traveled often with other brothers in Russia and in the Ukraine and the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Everywhere we went we shared from the ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee and distributed books containing their messages. Many of those who invited us to come were already believers in Christ, loving Him as their Savior, but knowing that there must be more to the Christian life. Through this ministry they began to know Christ as much, much more: as the Life-giving Spirit (1 Corinthians 15:45), as grace (2 Timothy 4:22), as the reality of all the Old Testament offerings (Hebrews 10:5-10), as the Law of life (Romans 8:2), as the Head of the Body (Colossians 1:18), and as the Bridegroom (Matthew 9:15) to name a very few aspects of the unsearchably rich Christ (Ephesians 3:8).