Introduction: Are there offices—that is, official positions—in the church? What are these positions? How are their rights and responsibilities defined? In The Conclusion of the New Testament (Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1988), Witness Lee, a prolific twentieth-century Christian writer, presents the Scripture’s answers to these questions in his clear, thorough discourse on the offices in the church. This Website provides relevant excerpts from that discourse which define and describe the official positions, or offices, in the church.

In order to identify the offices in the church, however, it is necessary to understand that according to the New Testament, the church has two aspects—the universal aspect, comprising all believers everywhere (Matt. 16:18; Eph. 1:22-23), and the local aspect, composed of all the believers within a locality, a city (Acts 8:1; 13:1; Rev. 1:11; Matt. 18:17). In the passage below, Witness Lee briefly distinguishes between the universal and local church and then enumerates the offices in the local church:

The church has two aspects: the universal aspect and the local aspect. The universal aspect is mainly for the expression of the wonderful, all-inclusive Christ, whereas the local aspect is for administration to carry out this marvelous mystery in the universe….With the offices in the church there is a position. This means that the office has the right to do certain things. We may use the office of President of the United States as an illustration. This office gives the President the position and the right to do certain things to carry out his presidency. According to the New Testament, there are offices in the church. As we shall see, there is one office in the universal church, and there are two offices in the local church. (2158)

Witness Lee explains that to carry out the administration of the church for Christ's expression, local churches are necessary. Furthermore, these local churches are provided with God-ordained offices, or positions, in which certain individuals are authorized to carry out certain responsibilities for the benefit of that local church.