Watchman Nee and the House Churches of China
Ni Tuosheng — Watchman Nee — planted hundreds of indigenous "Little Flock" assemblies across China, then spent the last twenty years of his life in a Communist labour camp without recanting.
Ni Tuosheng was born in Fuzhou in 1903. Converted at 17 under the preaching of Dora Yu, he took the name Watchman Nee — a watchman calling people to wake up. From 1922 he began planting indigenous, non-denominational assemblies across China that came to be known as the "Little Flock"; by 1949 there were roughly 700 of them.
His books — The Normal Christian Life, The Spiritual Man, Sit, Walk, Stand — were transcribed from his teaching and circulated worldwide. After the Communist victory in 1949 he refused to flee. Arrested in 1952 on fabricated charges, he was sentenced to 15 years; the sentence was extended indefinitely. He died in a labour camp in Anhui province on 30 May 1972. A note found under his pillow read: "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."