Living Stream Ministry

Living Stream Ministry (LSM), founded in 1968, is a non-profit corporation based in Anaheim, California, affiliated with the local church movement. Its activities include the publication of the works of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, Bibles, including the Recovery Version of the Bible, tracts, and other works. It also has a broadcast arm which produces radio programs. It is a member of the "Evangelical Christian Publishers Association" (since 2002) and the "Christian Booksellers Association" (since 1981).

Mission statement

The published mission statement of Living Stream Ministry is as follows:

"The Living Stream Ministry publishes the works of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, providing the authoritative and definitive collections of treasures from these two servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. The writings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee focus on the enjoyment of the divine life, which all the believers possess, and on the building up of the church, the goal of God's work with man in this age."

Living Stream Ministry provides video tapes, audio tapes, and printed spiritual materials, which it distributes through churches and bookstores. The ministry also supports broadcasting programs that broadcast ministry messages. These include the "Life-Study of the Bible", a thirty-minute radio program composed of excerpts from the works of Witness Lee. This program, which began production in 1996, is currently broadcast in three languages to more than 100 radio stations.

Among the most noteworthy of Living Stream's publications is the Recovery Version of the Bible, which features extensive footnotes, charts, maps, and spiritual cross references by Witness Lee and the editorial section at LSM. Some of the footnotes in the Recovery Version are controversial, especially those which pronounces all denominations as wrong and divisive in nature of the "One Body of Christ". Complimentary copies of Recovery Version New Testament are widely and freely distributed by Bibles for America, Bibles for Australia, Bibles for New Zealand, Bibles for Canada, and other "local church" related entities.

The Living Stream Ministry is the second largest publisher of church / parachurch ministries in the U.S., with total amount of $49,949,128 in net assets and $7,955,653 annual revenue as of 2005, only next to the [http://www.bibles.com/ American Bible Society] , [http://www.ministrywatch.com/mw2.1/F_LargestMin.asp according to MinistryWatch statistics.]

Lawsuits

During its short history, Living Stream Ministry has received criticism from a number of religious denominations. It has been a consistent target of several other Christian denominations, groups, and authors.

In 1999, an entry on the local churches and Living Stream Ministry was included in the book "The Encyclopedia of Cults and New Religions", published by Harvest House Publications. The local church movement and Living Stream Ministry sued the publisher for $136 million dollars. In January, 2006, an appellate court in Texas ruled in favor of the publisher, dismissing the suit in summary judgement. The decision was appealed to the Texas Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case. cite web |url=http://www.religionnewsblog.com/17062/open-letter-to-local-church |title=RelgionNewsBlog |accessdate=2008-06-23 |accessmonthday= |accessdaymonth= |accessyear= |author= |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |date= |year= |month= |format= |work= |publisher= |pages= |language= |doi= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |quote= ]

On May 16, 2007, some local churches and Living Stream petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari [http://www.supremecourtus.gov/docket/06-1520.htm] .This petition was denied on 18 June 2007.

References

* ReligionNewsBlog. [http://www.religionnewsblog.com/17062/open-letter-to-local-church]
* Charity Navigator. [http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm/bay/search.summary/orgid/4010.htm Charity Summary - Living Stream Ministry] . Retrieved May 14, 2005.
* Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. [http://www.ecpa.org/ECPA/Members/VOTINGMEMBERS82004.htm Voting Members] . Retrieved May 14, 2005.
* MinistryWatch. [http://www.ministrywatch.org/mw2.1/F_SumRpt.asp?EIN=237031637 Summary Profile] . Retrieved December 13, 2006.

ee also

*Local churches (affiliation)
*Witness Lee
*Watchman Nee

External links

Official sites belonging to the Living Stream Ministry

* [http://www.lsm.org/ Living Stream Ministry Website]
* [http://www.livingstream.org/ Living Stream Ministry Bookstore]
* [http://www.ministrybooks.org/ Living Stream Ministry Online Publications] - Complete online texts of many of its publications.

Other sites with information on the lawsuits

* [http://www.contendingforthefaith.org/libel-litigations/harvest-house-et-al/index.html Libel-litigations] Complete information on the case
* [http://www.contendingforthefaith.org/index.html Contending for faith] This Web site addresses controversies
* [http://afaithfulword.org/articles/AttacksOnLSM.html#Role A Faithful Word] Behind accusations against the Living Stream Ministry

Related sites distributing Living Stream Ministry publications

* [http://www.rldbooks.org/Welcome.aspx?LangID=1 Rhema Literature Distributors] - International, multilingual distribution of Living Stream titles
* [http://www.biblesforamerica.org/ Bibles for America] Distributing Free Study Bibles Across America