What Shall This Man Do?

What Shall This Man Do? emerges from Watchman Nee's pastoral concern for individual believers struggling to understand their place within God's larger purposes for the church. Originally delivered as spoken ministry to Chinese Christians in the 1940s, this work addresses the tension between personal spiritual development and corporate church life. Nee wrote during a period when many believers, influenced by Western individualism, were asking how their personal calling related to the collective work of the body of Christ.

Nee argues that the fundamental question is not what God wants from each person individually, but rather what God is doing corporately through his people and how each believer fits into that divine work. He contends that personal ministry and spiritual gifts find their proper meaning only within the context of the local church as the expression of Christ's body on earth. The work examines how individual members discover their function through submission to the headship of Christ as mediated through spiritual authority in the church. Nee maintains that true spiritual maturity comes not through independent spiritual achievement but through learning to coordinate with other members in building up the church according to God's eternal purpose.

This book has remained influential among Christians who emphasize organic church life and reject institutional forms of Christianity. It continues to shape communities seeking to practice New Testament patterns of church gathering and spiritual authority. Nee's vision of corporate spiritual life has influenced house church movements and those pursuing alternative expressions of Christian community.

Who should read this: Believers interested in understanding spiritual authority, church order, and the relationship between individual calling and corporate church life will find Nee's perspective challenging and formative. Those satisfied with conventional church structures or uncomfortable with strong emphasis on spiritual hierarchy should approach this work with caution.