Local churches (affiliation)

The local churches are a Christian movement founded in China whose beliefs and practice are based on the teachings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee. They condemn denominationalism and instruct believers to meet together with no name or basis other than the city or locality in which they reside. They emphasize the subjective experience of Christ as well as the Biblical truths regarding Christ and the church. Nee was influenced by the writings of the Plymouth Brethren.

Local churches are found on every continent and claim several million members.

History

Origins

The development of the local churches as a group can be traced to the conversion of Watchman Nee in Fuzhou, China. At an early age, Nee committed his life to Christian ministry. Mostly self-educated, he published his interpretation of the inner Christian life and of New Testament church practices through books and magazines after moving to Shanghai in 1927.

Witness Lee was an early follower of Nee's. Nee and Lee met for the first time in Chefoo in 1932. In 1934, Lee moved to Shanghai to work with Nee. One of Lee's many responsibilities was editing Nee's publications. In the following years, Nee published many works and held regular conferences and trainings for church workers. Nee, Lee and other workers established over six hundred local churches throughout China and Southeast Asia before the Communist Revolution of 1949.

No Church in the Wild

"No Church in the Wild" is a song by American hip hop artists Kanye West and Jay-Z from their first collaborative album Watch the Throne (2011). It is the first track on the album and features vocals from Odd Future's Frank Ocean and The-Dream, although the latter is uncredited for his contributions to the song. The song explores themes of religion and decadence. The track received highly positive reviews from music critics, who praised Ocean's vocal hooks, the depth of the verses, the cinematic production and the song's power as an opening track.

The track was released as the seventh and final single from Watch the Throne. The song peaked at number 72 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and entered the top 40 on both the US Billboard Hot Rap Songs and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts. The song received a music video directed by Romain Gavras released on May 29, 2012. The video does not feature any of the performers featured on the song and instead features anarchic riot footage and large street fights. The video received positive reviews from critics who praised the visuals of the video and the unique aesthetic presented in the video.

Church

Church may refer to:

Religion

These Streets

These Streets is the debut studio album by Scottish singer-songwriter Paolo Nutini, released by Atlantic Records on 17 July 2006. Preceded by the single "Last Request", the album debuted and peaked at number 3 on the UK Albums Chart and was later certified with five Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry for domestic shipments in excess of 1,500,000 copies. It also entered the charts in many other European countries, and in 2011 it was certified double Platinum by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry for sales of over 2,000,000 copies in Europe.

Background

Most of the songs featured on the album were inspired by the end of Nutini's relationship with his long-term girlfriend Teri Brogan, which began when they both were fifteen. Among the others, "Last Request" describes the couple's last night together, while "Rewind" expresses the willing of turning back time before the end of their lovestory. Another auto-biographical intimate relationship served as the inspiration for the album's second single, "Jenny Don't Be Hasty", which tells about Nutini's involvement with an older woman who refused him because of his age.

Church in These Streets

Church in These Streets is the eighth studio album by American rapper Jeezy. The album was released on November 13, 2015, by Def Jam Recordings and CTE World. The album was supported by the singles "God", "Church in These Streets", "Gold Bottles" and "Sweet Life" featuring Janelle Monáe.

Singles

On September 4, 2015, the album's first single "God" was released. On September 23, 2015, the album's second single "Church in These Streets" was released. On October 9, 2015, the album's third single "Gold Bottles" was released. On October 16, 2015, the album's fourth single "Sweet Life" featuring Janelle Monáe was released.

Critical reception

Upon its release, Church in These Streets received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 69 based on 5 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". David Jeffries of AllMusic said, "When taking in a full album, his monotone, bellowing delivery is an acquired taste, and with only a few guest shots, plus a long track list, newcomers might find this big LP a tough go. Regardless, the ambitious Church in These Streets stands with the man's great Thug Motivation 101 while beating that album on artistic merit and meaningful lyrics." Aaron McKrell of HipHopDX stated, "With Church in These Streets, Jeezy has succeeded in staying fresh through six albums. Church in These Streets is a batch of trap-based jams that will inspire its target audience and delight a wide array of listeners." Matthew Ramirez of Pitchfork Media said, "The best Jeezy music often exploited how far he could go with memorable ad libs and punchlines, a triumphant kind of simplicity. Here that gets muted to muddied results."