Absolute surrender

Andrew Murray (1828 – 1917) was a South African writer, teacher, and Christian pastor. Murray considered missions to be "the chief end of the church."



Andrew was sent to Aberdeen in Scotland for his initial education together with his elder brother, John. Both remained there until they obtained their master's degrees in 1845. From there, they both went to the University of Utrecht where they studied theology. The two brothers became members of Het Réveil[1], a religious revival movement opposed to the rationalism which was in vogue in the Netherlands at that time. Both brothers were ordained by the Hague Committee of the Dutch Reformed Church on May 9, 1848 and returned to the Cape.

Andrew pastored churches in Bloemfontein, Worcester, Cape Town and Wellington, all in South Africa. He was a champion of the South African Revival of 1860.

In 1889, he was one of the founders of the South African General Mission (SAGM), along with Martha Osborn and Spencer Walton. After Martha Osborn married George Howe, they formed the South East Africa General Mission (SEAGM) in 1891. SAGM and SEAGM merged in 1894. Because its ministry had spread into other African countries, the mission's name was changed to Africa Evangelical Fellowship (AEF) in 1965. AEF joined with SIM in 1998 and continues to this day.

His writings greatly influenced the writings of both Watchman Nee[2] and Witness Lee[3].

Absolute surrender — let me tell you where I got those words. I used them myself often, and you have heard them numberless times. But in Scotland once I was in a company where we were talking about the condition of Christ's Church, and what the great need of the Church and of believers is; and there was in our company a godly worker who has much to do in training workers, and I asked him what he would say was the great need of the Church, and the message that ought to be preached. He answered very quietly and simply and determinedly:

" Absolute surrender to God is the one thing.''

The words struck me as never before. And that man began to tell how, in the workers with whom he had to deal, he finds that if they are sound on that point, even though they be backward, they are willing to be taught and helped, and they always improve; whereas others who are not sound there very often go back and leave the work. The condition for obtaining God's full blessing is absolute surrender to Him.

And now, I desire by God's grace to give to you this message — that your God in heaven answers the prayers which you have offered for blessing on yourselves and for blessing on those around you by this one demand: Are you willing to surrender yourselves absolutely into His hands? What is our answer to be? God knows there are hundreds of hearts who have said it, and there are hundreds more who long to say it but hardly dare to do so. And there are hearts who have said it, but who have yet miserably failed, and who feel themselves condemned because they did not find the secret of the power to live that life. May God have a word for all!

ABSOLUTE SURRENDER AND OTHER ADDRESSES
BY ANDREW MURRAY [1897]

[1] A movement in Swiss, eastern French, German, and Dutch Protestant history known as le Réveil . Le Reveil was a revival of Protestant Christianity along conservative evangelical lines at a time when rationalism had taken a strong hold in the churches on the continent of Europe.

[2] Watchman Nee (1903–1972) was a Chinese Christian author and church leader during the early 20th century. He spent the last 20 years of his life in prison and was severely persecuted by the Communists in China. Together with Wangzai, Zhou-An Lee, Shang-Jie Song, and others, Nee founded The Church Assembly Hall, later which would be also known as the "Local churches" or more commonly as "assembly hall"

[3] Witness Lee (1905–1997) was a Chinese Christian preacher associated with the Local Churches movement, and the founder of the Living Stream Ministry. He was born in the city of Yantai, Shandong Province, China, in 1905, to a Southern Baptist family. He became a born again Christian in 1925 after hearing the preaching of Peace Dang Wang. He later joined the work started by the late Chinese Christian worker Watchman Nee[2]. Witness Lee moved to Taiwan in the late 1940s as the Communists were advancing in mainland China. During the 1950s, Lee worked with T. Austin-Sparks, who held conferences with him in Taiwan in 1955 and 1957. In 1948, Lee extended his ministry from Taiwan to cities in Malaysia and Indonesia. In 1950 his ministry reached Manila, Japan in 1957, the United States in 1958, and extending to other countries in the Americas and Africa, including Ghana by 1972.

Witness Lee's teachings emphasized the experience of "Christ as life" and the believers as the Body of Christ. Lee taught that God's goal can only be carried out as believers renounce all forms of sectarianism, adopt the proper standing as a church in their locality, and maintain the oneness of the Body of Christ. These "local churches" were soon established in the Western hemisphere and South-East Asia. In the last decade, a number of churches have been founded in Russia and in eastern European countries. The Local Church movement is now in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia.