Quote:
Originally Posted by Evangelical
If two groups of believers are completely independent and started at the same time and did not genuinely know about the other ones existing, then both are gatherings of the one genuine church in the city I would think.
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Now you are shuffling words around - "groups" and "churches" and "gatherings". The word "church" by definition means a gathering.
Peter the illiterate fisherman and Paul the sophisticated urban Pharisee preached the same gospel in the book of Acts, that God had raised Jesus from the dead. Everything we do and speak and live is either a furtherance of this testimony or a distraction from it; this applies both as individuals and when collectively assembled together. As Stg has said, it's a message wholly centered on redeeming love. The Son loved the Father and obeyed, and the Father loved the Son and raised him to glory. There is nothing else.