Regarding the Ground of Locality - David Canfield

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by Igzy

The local ground is not viable for basing a Chinese church on because the government has outlawed Christian gatherings of more than 25 people. So home churches are the way the Lord is using in China.

It is worthwhile to note that China was so-called "virgin land" to the gospel. Supposedly, in the absence of traditional and degraded Christianity, having only the Spirit of God and the scriptures to guide them, the believers in China would automatically embrace and practice the "ground of locality." Obviously this did not happen in China, even though they were basically totally cut off from any influence from the rest of the Christian world. No one could have designed a better "test case" for this church teaching and practice to flourish unhindered. Why didn't it?

Neither can external persecution be used as an excuse, since the early churches with Paul also suffered continually at the hands of Judaizers, Romans, and even locals. As China emerged from the isolation and suffering of Mao's "cultural revolution," surprisingly this form of church structure did not surface. This speaks volumes. Even WL was surprised.

We should also note here that the so-called "Ground of Locality" took a back seat during the "New Way" of the 80's. Home meetings were all the rage, promoted incessantly by WL himself, seeing how the Lord was moving and blessing in China. WL henceforth rarely mentioned the old Taipei model of "one church - many halls" after this, as he had done in the early days of the Recovery in the US.