Quote:
Originally Posted by Evangelical
As you well know, Nee puts restrictions on the size of a church being anything other than a city, based upon the Bible not formally (as in an entity with golden lampstands and an angel) referring to churches as anything less than a city.
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"Probably?" The things you've quoted have no authority.
I don't care what Nee says. I'm asking
Where does the Bible say there is only one set of elders over every city church? There is not one set of elders over the universal church, and it is a church. There is not one set of leaders over "the church" mentioned in Acts 9:31 (see below). So why do you assume there is always one set of elders over every city church? Where is the evidence that the city church is the "practical church" with one set of leaders your doctrine says it is? There is no word in the Bible to make this claim clear. You've assumed it.
If there are house churches within the city church, they may have one leadership, simply because of the size. But there is no evidence that the city churches in the Bible
always submitted to one set of leaders. None whatsoever. You've presumed it does. Your legalistic doctrine of locality by which you discount thousands of otherwise legitimate Christian churches around the world is based on a leap of faith and presumption.
"Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers." Acts 9:31
Please don't say this refers to the universal church, as Lee said. (One of his lamest claims.) The Bible is taking a subset of the Christians on earth, because there were likely Christians in other places as well, in a area which is in an area larger than a a city and calling it "the church." Did this church have one set of elders? How can it be "the church" then if its not the universal church or a city church? And if its neither and does not have one set of leaders, then why couldn't a city church have the same characteristics?