The Not-So Practical Expression of the Church

[Only by Grace]

Originally Posted by YP0534

Based upon the concept of the locality doctrine I have received, and tell me if you did not hear this, but the brothers and sisters in the Baptist churches in my locality are in actuality part of the unique assembly of God here, simply, and unfortunately, are meeting in a division.

One clear mandate is THAT we assemble. Those who assemble are obviously the assembly. Those who would decline to coordinate for the practical purposes for which coordination is directed in the New Testament demonstrate their intention to remain separate and then we don't need to concern ourselves with further analysis. But the thinking gets off when a group attempts to establish and maintain some form of group identity other than that of the general assembly in our respective places which we are all spontaneously a part of by faith in Christ.

The Local Church makes a pretense of having such a general assembly identity as their only character but, at least, for those of us fellowshipping here, we can honestly state with knowledge that this is not true and that such a claim is unfortunately a false self-delusion. I would like to tell my dear brothers there that no matter how strenuously you insist that you are in the genuine "local churches," your strong will cannot change at least this reality. You are in something else and you can't see it and you need the eye salve, dear brothers. (This really breaks my heart.)

A quick question from the Baptist bleacher seat...from my perspective, I assemble at a "local" church in my community...one of say, 8-10 meeting places. The "local" assemblies meeting places happen to have "Baptist," "Church of Christ," "Community Church," "Foursquare Church," and a few other titles on their signs. However, I know that I could walk into any one of them on any given Sunday and break bread with these fellow believers. Likewise, if other believers show up to break bread in our fellowship, no one is withholding the bread. So, where does the assumption come that we (who attend a fellowship with a sign on the lawn) are divisive or are insisting that "we are the one genuine church" in the neighborhood. That really just isn't happening...at least not in my small community. So, could it be the group that is doing that kind of "insisting" is the one who is divisive?

We do have "community" gatherings, where we invite all believers in the area to join in at one of the buildings...but again, the practicality of it all is that there is not a building large enough to hold us all on a regular basis. So, we coexist, each congregation, or assembly if you will, worshipping with our "few" brothers and sisters -- our group meets at 10:45 a.m, while there are two services 8:30 (contemporary) and 11:00 (traditional) worship services at a group who assembles a few miles away. Why is the assumption (not yours, necessarily, but someone is assuming and teaching), that there is something wrong with that model or practice. And furthermore, in my rural community of a couple of "sister towns," there is no Lee-like or Nee-like assembly that I know of...so what do the local believers in our area do? Do we wait for someone to claim the ground and then all head over there? Or, should we build a giant church in the middle of town and all meet there? Or, should we not be meeting in our current buildings at all becauses the group that has gathered in one place might speak in tongues, and in another place they might not? Or, in one congregation they sing hymns and in another they sing with a guitar and drum? I don't see us as divisive Christians...rather, we are all just "practically" assemblying with brothers and sisters where we seem to "fit," but we are not fighting one another or "insisting" we've got it all figured out...my guess is that we would all find that while we "disagree" on some things, we all agree that we are followers of the Lord Jesus Christ and that we are saved by His grace, and that we long to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

Can you explain why (or if) (from the LC perspective or from any of your individual perspectives) this would be considered a wrong way for Christians to meet on a Lord's day, or to break bread with one another?

Thanks...trying to understand the mindset...