Watchman Nee, a faithful servant of Christ Jesus, was consecrated to the Lord even before birth. Desiring a son, his mother had prayed to the Lord, "If I have a boy, I will present him to you." Soon afterward, in 1903, Watchman Nee was born in Foochow, China of second-generation Christian parents. He was not only keenly intelligent but also an exceptional student, always ranking first in his class as well as in the entire school from grade school through college. From his youth Watchman Nee was acquainted with the gospel, but he also had the deep realization and conviction that if he received Jesus as his Lord for salvation, he must serve Him absolutely. In 1920, at the age of seventeen, he was saved with this view of lifelong service to the Lord.

倪柝声，耶稣基督的忠仆，甚至早在出生之前便分别归主。倪柝声的妈妈渴望有个儿子，她向主祷告：“如果我生个男孩，我就把他奉献给你。”不久，1903年，倪柝声出生了，生在中国福州一个第二代基督徒父母的家庭。倪柝声不但聪慧敏锐，还是个优异的学生，从小学一直到大学，他总是班级乃至全校的头等生。倪柝声从小就熟知福音，他深深地认识并相信，如果他接受了耶稣作他的救主，他必须完全地服事祂。1920年，在他17岁时，倪柝声怀着终身事主的心得救了。

Watchman Nee attended no theological schools or Bible institutes, yet he acquired an exceptional knowledge concerning God's purpose, Christ, the Spirit, and the church through his study of the Bible as well as the writings of spiritual men and women. During his early ministry, he spent one-third of his income on books by Christian authors such as D.M. Panton, Robert Govett, G.H. Pember, Jessie Penn-Lewis, T. Austin-Sparks, John Nelson Darby, William Kelly, and C.H. Mackintosh. He was brilliantly gifted in his ability to select, comprehend, discern, and memorize appropriate material. Watchman Nee gleaned all the good, scriptural points from his collection of over 3,000 of the best Christian books, including nearly all the classical Christian writings from the first century on. In addition to the spiritual knowledge he gained, he received much spiritual edification and perfection early in his Christian life from Margaret E. Barber, a former Anglican missionary.

倪柝声没进过神学学校或圣经学院，然而，通过学习圣经和属灵的弟兄姐妹的著作，他对于神的目的、基督、圣灵以及教会有着非同一般的认识。在他早期的事奉中，他将收入的三分之一都用于基督徒作者的书籍，如D.M. Panton, Robert Govett, G.H. Pember, Jessie Penn-Lewis, T. Austin-Sparks, John Nelson Darby, William Kelly, 和 C.H. Mackintosh。他在挑选、理解、分辨以及记忆恰当的材料方面有着出色的天赋。倪柝声从他超过3000册的最佳基督教藏书中，收集了所有优良的属灵的论点，这些书囊括了自公元一世纪以来几乎所有的基督徒作品经典。在他的属灵知识之外，在他的基督徒生涯早期，他从前圣公会宣教士和受恩那里，接受了大量属灵的教诲和完善。

Through this fellowship with Miss Barber, along with his study of the Bible and numerous spiritual books, Watchman received a wealth of revelation. He had the foundational realization that to be a Christian is altogether a matter of the divine life. In fact, his entire ministry testified that he had learned to pay more attention to life than to work. He saw the subjective aspects of Christ’s death and resurrection as well: that he had been crucified with Christ; that it was no longer he that lived, but Christ lived in him. He also realized that in order to experience the death of Christ in a subjective way, he needed to bear the cross. He saw that he had risen with Christ and that the resurrected Christ with the fullness of the Spirit had become his life. Further, he saw that the church as the Body of Christ is simply the enlargement, expansion, and expression of the resurrected Christ. Watchman Nee’s realization that Christ in resurrection is the life and content of the church was far advanced. He was truly a seer of the divine revelation in the present age, a revelation which resulted in the Lord’s twofold burden and commission to him: first, to bear a specific testimony of the Lord Jesus, and second, to establish local churches.

通过与和教士的交往，加之他对圣经和众多属灵书籍的学习，倪柝声接受了丰厚的启示。他有一个基本的认识，就是成为一个基督徒完全是件关乎属天生命的事情。事实上，他的整个事奉证实他已经学会了关注生命胜于工作。他看见基督的死并复活应用在个人方面：即他已经与基督同钉十架；现在活着的不再是他，而是基督活在他里面。他也认识到为了用个人方式经历基督的死，他需要背十字架。他看见他已与基督一同复活，并且满有圣灵的丰富复活的基督已成为他的生命。他进一步看见，教会作为基督的身体只是复活基督的放大、扩张和表达。倪柝声关于复活的基督是教会的生命和内容的认识非常先进。他确实是当代属神启示的一个先见，一个启示，这启示让他接受从主来的双重负担和使命：首先，担当主耶稣的明确见证；第二，建立地方教会。

Watchman Nee suffered greatly for the sake of the ministry. He suffered poverty, gravely ill health, intense opposition from Christians, and two decades of harsh imprisonment. His depth of revelation combined with his selfless sufferings issued in a rich ministry of life according to the Lord’s commission to him: the unique New Testament ministry of Christ and of the church.

倪柝声为着服事受了很多苦。他经受贫穷、重病、来自基督徒的强烈反对，以及二十年之久的艰苦牢狱。他获得启示的深度与他无私的受苦结合在一起，造就出按照主给他的使命的一个生命的丰富服事：向着基督向着教会的独一无二的新约服事。

Although he was a man of God living by faith and fully occupied with the ministry of Christ for the building up of the churches, Watchman Nee did not lead a peculiar, ascetic lifestyle. In 1934 at the age of thirty, Watchman Nee married a sister in the Lord named Charity Chang. The Lord gave them no children. Additionally, in 1939 he began to assist in the management of his brother’s pharmaceutical factory. With the factory profits, he was able to care for the needs of a number of Christians and purchase a training center. He eventually handed over the factory to the work of the ministry as an offering to the Lord.

尽管他是一个属神的人，一个凭信生活且全时间作基督的事工、建立诸多教会的人，倪柝声没有倡导过特殊的禁欲的生活。1934年，年届三十的倪柝声，与主内一位姐妹张品蕙结婚，主没有给他们孩子。此外，1939年，他开始帮助管理他哥哥的制药厂。靠着制药厂的利润，他能够照顾许多基督徒的需要，并购买了一间训练中心。他逐渐地交出工厂，转向服事的工作，将此作为对主的奉献。

Early in his ministry Watchman Nee was joined by Witness Lee, a young believer who labored with him for twenty years and became his closest co-worker. In 1949, due to the incursion of Communism, Watchman Nee sent Witness Lee to Formosa (Taiwan) to continue Brother Nee’s ministry of Christ and the church. Watchman Nee felt that the Lord was keeping him in Mainland China to maintain His testimony and to care for the churches. He was arrested by the Communists in 1952, by which time approximately four hundred local churches had been raised up in Mainland China and over thirty throughout Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, under Witness Lee’s ministry, the churches in Taiwan multiplied and flourished.

在服事早期，倪柝声和李常受合作，李常受——一个年轻的信徒 ，和他一起工作了20年，并成为他最亲密的同工。1949年，由于共产党的进入，倪柝声将李常受差往台湾以继续倪弟兄的基督和教会的事工。倪柝声觉得主让他留在大陆以保持祂的见证，并照看教会。他于1952年被捕，至此，在中国大陆已有近400间地方教会兴起，整个东南亚有30多家。与此同时，经李常受的服事，台湾的教会也兴盛倍增。

On May 30, 1972, after twenty years of imprisonment for his belief in Christ and his participation in the local churches, Watchman Nee rested with Christ, Whom he loved and served at the cost of his life. Before his departure, he left a note under his pillow to testify of the truth:

1972年5月30日，因着信仰基督和对地方教会的参与，在20年的牢狱生活之后，倪柝声安息主怀，安息在他用一生热爱并服事的基督怀里。在他离世前，他留下一张纸条在他的枕头下，见证这真理：

“Christ is the Son of God who died for the redemption of sinners and resurrected after three days. This is the greatest truth in the universe. I die because of my belief in Christ. Watchman Nee.”

“基督是神的儿子，为救赎罪人而死，并在三天后复活。这是宇宙中最伟大的真理。我因信基督而死。倪柝声。”

He remained a faithful testimony of Christ Jesus according to the burden and commission he had received from the Lord. In fulfillment of his mother’s prayer, he had lived a consecrated life by the Lord’s mercy and grace.

按照他从主接受的负担和使命，他留下了一个基督耶稣的忠实见证。为成就他母亲的祷告，靠着主的怜悯和恩典，他活出了分别为圣的一生。