- published: 29 May 2012
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The local churches (one-city, one-church) (Chinese: 地方教會) is a Christian group based on the teachings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee and associated with the Living Stream Ministry publishing house. The term "Lord's Recovery" is also used by them about themselves because of their belief that truths, experiences and crucial elements from the Bible were lost in time and recovered from the Reformation onwards, and that today only they currently are what the Lord is recovering. One of the defining features of the local churches is their interpretation of the Bible refers only to churches as being defined by their locality and that the Christians in a city or locality are members of the church in the locality in which they reside. Many of the churches refer to themselves as "The church in (city name)", e.g. "The church in New York City" and "The church in Anaheim" even though according to this interpretation all Christians in a locality constitute the church in that locality.
The group began in China some time after Watchman Nee (倪柝聲) became a Christian in 1920. Between 1920 and 1952 Watchman Nee established local churches throughout mainland China. Watchman Nee was imprisoned by the People's Republic of China in 1952. It is asserted by the Living Stream Ministry that before his imprisonment, Watchman Nee asked Witness Lee to go to Taiwan in 1948 in the event that the Communists took over so that their work would not be lost inside China. In 1962 Witness Lee moved to California. Local churches are now spread throughout the world: in the United States, the far East, Europe, Russia, South America, Africa and the Middle East.The Shouters are an offshoot.[citation needed]
John the Baptist (Hebrew: יוחנן המטביל, Yoḥanan ha-mmaṭbil, Arabic: يحيى بن زكريا Yahya ibn Zakariya, Aramaic: ܝܘܚܢܢ Yoḥanan, Greek: Ὁ Ἅγιος/Τίμιος Ἐνδοξος Προφήτης, Πρόδρομος καὶ Βαπτιστής Ἰωάννης Ho Hágios/Tímios Endoxos, Profḗtēs, Pródromos, kaì Baptistḗs Ioánnes) (c. 6 BC – c. AD 30-36) was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels and the Qur'an. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River. Some scholars maintain that he was influenced by the Essenes, who were semi-ascetic, expected an apocalypse, and practiced rituals corresponding strongly with baptism, although there is no direct evidence to substantiate this. John is regarded as a prophet in Christianity, Islam, the Bahá'í Faith, and Mandaeism.
Most biblical scholars agree that John baptized Jesus at "Bethany beyond the Jordan," by wading into the water with Jesus from the eastern bank. John the Baptist is also mentioned by Jewish historian Josephus, in Aramaic Matthew, in Pseudo-Clementine, and in the Qur'an. Accounts of John in the New Testament appear compatible with the account in Josephus. There are no other historical accounts of John the Baptist from around the period of his lifetime.