Unregistered

For Drake:

It is known and understood that there were suburbs in ancient cities but, again, the poor (of which the church was mostly comprised) would not have had the ability to range far and wide to attend meetings. The point being made here, again, is that each church was small in those days and started with family groups after one member was saved. Most of these lived in very close proximity to one another. Therefore, they could meet house to house.

It is not I who seeks information to back my theory here. It is the LC. They desperately need to show that there was ONE church per city in God's eyes and that He continues to see it this way today and desire it that way. It is the understanding of most Christians that He refers to them in this way because they just happened to be started in cities and were THE church of that city only because of their smallness in number combined with the one location enforced by the close proximity of family and neighbors at that time. No doubt today He would call them by whatever name they choose-- the name they know themselves by.

Coming back to the assertion that crowded conditions are unfactual, there are multiple references showing the crowded and compact living conditions experienced by the poor in ancient cities-- whether they lived inside the walls or out. Property was expensive and so the poor were forced to live very close together. The church was, again, largely made up of those experiencing these conditions.