Quote:
Originally Posted by countmeworthy
It was when we were still Christ centered...at least I was.
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And I believe you. But we were already singing songs that were so church-centered. And the teaching was so much centered on where we were as "the church" (as opposed to all those denominations). Everything had "the church" hanging off of it. And this was by the beginning of 1973.
In fact, I think that if you read from those who were around in the 60s that while it did not have the flavor of what it did in the 70s, then 80s, then 90s, etc., there was something about "the church" that was presumed to be especially important to "getting it right" and that those meeting in those little groups in odd places like Waco, Plainview, Denton, Tyler, etc., (just noting the places in Texas before the consolidation in Houston and the spread out to Dallas and others later). If there had not been this special "church" feature, I am somewhat convinced that there never would have been a "Local Churches" in the US. They would have been like the charismatic movement among so many non-charismatic groups — a subset following after something in addition to their main traditions. (There were charismatics in the Anglican, RCC, Lutheran, Baptists, etc., and they did not abandon their core traditions — just added the charismatic things.)