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Originally Posted by Sons to Glory!
The central authority shouldn't be part of it. I'm simply referring to how the early Christians identified themselves, and it was usually by location of the area they were in. Sometimes it is also identified as the gathering in someone's home. (And yes, the central leadership thing is a really bad idea and usurps Christ's headship - the biggest example, of course, is the Church in Rome!)
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Identifying by a city or denomination makes little difference. Even is Revelation, each city had different influences and characteristics that set them apart from each other.
In the early church, it seemed that the further the gospel got from the epicenter, Jerusalem, the more the Christian faith branched off.
"One church, one city" is a nice sounding ideal but it's not something we can bring to fruition in this age. It's too great of a vision for any one movement or even a combination of movements to handle. Historically when humanity tried to accomplish this by their own strength we got the universal Roman Catholic church. That will be the end for every movement that attempts to fulfill Jesus's vision. Only he can establish his vision and he will do it at his 2nd coming in a twinkling of an eye.
I agree, central authority shouldn't be a part of Christianity but that's just the way it is and will be until Christ returns, raptures his church, and personally establishes his central authority in the New Jerusalem.
The truth is we are inherently a rebellious people so God allows human government to exist within society and all religions for this reason. We may think that we can handle living out our faith without leadership (perhaps some individuals are more capable then others) but as a whole without any governing authority it'll just become spiritual anarchy. We just have to bear with the segregation until Jesus returns.
It should go without saying but when leadership oversteps their bounds and commits crime, call the police! God established the police for that reason.