Quote:
Originally Posted by Jo S
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 then 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.
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Agree! And the LC is a good example of that. In the beginning - mid 1960s - the churches in various localities were living and vibrant and pretty much autonomous. But over a few years things started to gravitate more and more to Anaheim.
By the time I hit Berkeley in 1974, things were still living, but Anaheim and WL were starting to exercise a sort of covert authority over local matters. This was even though there was a lot of preaching about how each local church was fully autonomous. But the practice became more and more towards overt central authority. The speed at which this took place certainly seems like an indicator that WL, et. al., had authoritarian designs from the beginning, but I couldn't say for sure. Man's dirty hands were definitely in "the pie."
By the time we made it to the LC in Columbus OH in the 80s, the central authority was getting quite jelled in most areas. But as mentioned before, the churches in Ohio did not come under the authority as well as the command & control liked. This was the same for some of the gatherings in Washington state. Both areas suffered measures taken by Anaheim against them, for not coming fully under the central control of LSM.
Much damage was done to dear ones (church splits, etc.) in both areas because of the overt central control exerted. But I can testify that we're here in Scottsdale as a result of all that, enjoying Christ with one another - thanks be to God - He had a way through it all!
Man's control, whether it is a central church's control over localities or within a particular group, suppresses the working of the Holy Spirit. I'm amazed to experience on a regular basis how much better the Spirit can move and speak, when He is not subjected to a bunch of control!
