[Cal]

Some might ask themselves, why am I so strong against the teaching of the ground of locality. LCers, of course, believe I have a bad motive or want to save my soul-life or am possessed by the devil or something like that. I mean, how dare I?



Let me summarize:

1. There is a pattern of city churches in the NT, but it is not perfect. There is no evidence that the house churches mentioned were city churches. So extrapolating a commandment from an imperfect pattern is folly.
2. The Bible doesn't prescribe city churches, and gives evidence of non-city (house) churches. That's enough to not make an issue of it.
3. To require everyone, and call everyone divisive, who does not subscribe to city churches, is a self-serving attempt to control others.
4. To my observation and analysis, no working model of city churches has been proposed. Each model contains the seeds of its own destruction and ultimate divisiveness.
5. All arguments for city churches I've heard sound sanctimoniously vague. People who argue for city churches usually end up saying that "we" (What do you mean "we," Kemosabe?) somehow have to find a way to "make it work," and if we don't it's our failure. I tell you what. You pray to the Lord and ask him to give you a way to make it work. When he gives you an answer, let me know. I'll be all ears. I've been asking on this thread and others over and over for a model that works. It's been really strange, but none of the advocates has provided one.
6. The local ground teaching stumbles believers. Who knows how many precious believers are shipwrecked because the LC movement poisoned "Christianity" for them. I'll bet there are thousands who don't follow the Lord with much vigor now because someone told them they can't meet with anyone but the LC. Who wants to defend this stumbling to the Lord at the judgment seat?
7. The local ground teaching divides practioners from all other believers, both by its exclusive bent, and by the delusions of specialness it puts in the mind of its adherents. LCers are generally almost completely incapable of esteeming non-LCers as "better than themselves."
8. The local ground teaching restricts the Lord from moving in fresh ways. Members are not free to follow the Lord as he leads, but must get full permission from leadership. If leadership is corrupt, members must disobey the Lord to comply.
9. Critical problems with leadership cannot be resolved peaceably. If a "leading elder" or "apostle" goes bad, there is no mechanism for resolving the situation other than a complete breakdown of the system, which we have seen in cities like Toronto, Columbus, Mansfield, etc, etc. In these situations the sheep are scattered, and left wounded and dying, all because there was no fail-safe on leadership, all because of a fanatical adherence to an imperfect Biblical model which is not even prescribed by Scripture. So much for being as wise as serpents.
10. The local ground teaching is a distraction from the real work of the Great Commission. Love God, love people--those are the two great commandments. The local ground teaching has definitely been shown be a detriment to the second. It has been shown to be easier for Christians to work together to spread the gospel and shepherd people if Christians can drop their pet doctrines (which are the source of division). The local ground is another pet doctrine which hinders the cooperation of Christians.