Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohio
It's become so obvious how contentious this "ground of locality" teaching has become. Have not the recent turmoils caused anyone on the reservation to rethink their position?
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In my honest opinion Ohio, when Watchman Nee endorsed this doctrine in China, historically it made sense. Christianity in China was very denominated. Set aside your denominatons and come together in Christ.
In the present state of Christianity in North America, many have come out of denominations and into community Churches, foursquare churches among other non-denominational churches.
Now the ground of locality teaching has morphed into a ground of ministry teaching. Here in Washington, one local church can say "we are meeting on the ground of locality", but if this local church is not under the same ministry as the other local churches, this local church is called a rebel church (as it was in the mid-1990's) or now "they're our friends". From your posts something similar has already happened in the Midwest.
A church can call themselves The Church in _____, but if this church is not under the same ministry, this church is not considered a local church. Just as the Plymouth Brethren have gone through division after division, the Local churches are taking the same course. My message: Set aside the ground teaching, set aside emphasizing a ministry, and just come together in Christ.