In Witness Lee’s presentation, the “Lord’s Recovery” is not a new denomination but God’s move to recover key biblical truths and practices centered on Christ as life, the Spirit, the church as the Body, and the kingdom, for the building up of the Body of Christ.[1][2]
## Core beliefs of the Lord’s Recovery
You can summarize the core beliefs (from Lee’s own “brief presentation” and “basic items and result”) as follows:
1. Recovery of the divine truths in Scripture
– The Lord’s Recovery is “the recovery of the divine truths as revealed in the Holy Scriptures,” especially concerning the Triune God, Christ, the consummated Spirit, life, the church, and the Body.[3][4]
2. The processed and consummated Triune God as life
– God in His New Testament economy is the Triune God who has passed through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension to become the “consummated Spirit” to be life to believers.[5][3]
3. Christ as all-inclusive and central
– Christ is the all-inclusive One in God’s economy: the embodiment and expression of God, the Head and the content of the Body, the foundation, cornerstone, and every member of the new man.[6][5]
4. The Spirit as the consummation of the Triune God
– The “consummated Spirit”—the Spirit of God compounded with Christ’s divinity, humanity, death, and resurrection—is the reality of the incarnate, crucified, and resurrected Christ and the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God.[3][5]
5. Eternal life as God Himself in us
– Eternal life is “the divine life of God and even the complete Triune God Himself,” perfect and complete, by which we are regenerated, transformed, and will be glorified.[3]
6. The church and the Body of Christ
– The church is the Body of Christ, God’s house, Christ’s bride, the one new man, and the golden lampstand as Jesus’ testimony. The local churches are the local expressions of this one Body.[7][8]
7. The oneness of the Body and the local ground
– The Recovery stresses the oneness of the Body in the Triune God (John 17; Eph 4) and practices the “local ground of the church”—one church in one city—as the practical expression of this oneness.[1][6]
8. The kingdom as the church’s reality and goal
– In proper church life, “life reigns, the Spirit rules, Jesus is King,” bringing in the practice of the kingdom as the church’s present reality and its goal in God’s economy.[7]
9. The line of life, Spirit, church, and kingdom
– Lee explicitly says the Lord’s Recovery is the recovery of life, the Spirit, the church, and the kingdom, with life as the basic item and the Body of Christ as the result.[9][7]
## Five key points (a concise “five‑point” frame)
Lee’s book “The Basic Items and the Result of the Lord’s Recovery” and related summaries make it easy to capture at least five key points that function like a concise grid.[9][7]
### 1. The basic item: LIFE
– “The basic item of the Lord’s recovery is life.” God is not only Creator and Redeemer but wants to be “our inner life,” giving us His nature and element so we may live by Him and with Him.[7][9]
– Creation and redemption are for life, and the Recovery focuses on God dispensing this life into us.[9]
### 2. The Spirit: recovery of the consummated Spirit
– A core item is “the recovery of the Spirit”: God has become the all-inclusive, compound Spirit operating in the believers, with nourishing elements and “killing power” to renew and transform them.[7]
– This Spirit is the applied reality of Christ and the practical way God builds the church.[5][3]
### 3. The church: recovery of the proper church life
– The Recovery aims to restore the “proper church life”: the church as the Body of Christ, God’s house, Christ’s bride, the one new man, and the lampstand as Jesus’ testimony.[10][7]
– This includes the practice of local churches and the building up of a local church through the functioning of all its members under the perfecting of gifted persons (Eph 4:11–12).[8][11]
### 4. The result: the Body of Christ
– Lee says explicitly: “The basic item of the Lord’s recovery is life, and the result of the Lord’s recovery is the Body of Christ.”[7]
– As the Spirit nourishes and kills the negative things, believers are renewed and transformed into the church God desires; this church is the organic Body of Christ.[8][7]
### 5. The oneness and ground: one Body, one city, for God’s goal
– The Recovery emphasizes “the oneness of the Body of Christ, which is our oneness in the Triune God,” and the practice of the local ground of the church (one church in one locality) as the practical preservation of this oneness.[6][1]
– Through this oneness and practical church life, God’s goal—building up the Body consummating in the New Jerusalem—is pursued.[6][8]
If you like, we can next re‑cast these into a one‑page teaching outline or a “chain” for classroom use, e.g.: Recovery of life → Recovery of the consummated Spirit → Recovery of the proper church life → Result in the organic Body → For the oneness of the Body unto the New Jerusalem.
Sources
[1] What is the Lord’s Recovery? – LSM Radio https://www.lsmradio.com/
[2] THE LORD’S RECOVERY https://www.ministrysamples.
[3] Crucial Points of the Major Items of the Lord’s Recovery, The, chapter 1 https://bibleread.online/all-
[4] THE LINE OF THE LORD ‘S RECOVERY https://www.ministrysamples.
[5] The Crucial Points of The Major Items of The Lord’s recovery https://www.thechurchintoledo.
[6] Msg. 2 Knowing the Three Major Items in the Lord’s Recovery https://ophandbook.e-
[7] 2411 主的恢復之基本項目與結果 – 臺灣福音書房 https://www.twgbr.org.tw/
[8] The Lord’s Recovery is for the Building up of the Body of Christ https://www.agodman.com/lords-
[9] 2411主的恢复之基本项目与结果丨第一章 – 属灵书报 https://ezoe.work/books/2/
[10] 2411主的恢复之基本项目与结果丨第四章 http://mana.stmn1.com/books/2/
[11] BASIC WORD BRIEF PRESENTATION OF THE LORD’S … https://www.churchinedmond.
[12] Brief Presentation of the Lord’s Recovery, A, глава 2 https://bibleread.online/all-
[13] Book – Concerning the Lord’s Recovery – author Witness Lee (W … https://bibleread.online/all-
[14] Witness Lee and Local Church Doctrine: The Lord’s Recovery and … https://www.reddit.com/r/
[15] What is the Lord’s recovery? It’s the recovery of the … – enjoying Christ https://agodman.com/what-is-
