Leaving The Local Church Has Consequences

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by alwayslearning

I think it was Watchman Nee who taught that "the work" is regional and has a center and that the coworkers go to and from that center (Antioch model). Working this way the financial support for Paul and his coworkers came from various sources and not just Antioch. Can this be applied today and still be practical and workable? I'm not so sure. In practice it makes churches branch offices.

While the GLA was separating themselves from LSM and her cadre of Blendeds, many of the GLA leaders, perhaps for the first time, began to think thru the relationship between the churches and the work. Many carefully examined WN's hallmark book TNCCL. All of the dynamics which characterized the LC's relationship with LSM, could also be applied to their relationship with Cleveland.

TC attempted to avert the disaster of total disintegration by using the two principles that we in the GLA had a life-relationship with WL but not with the Blendeds, and that WL was our spiritual father, so whether he makes mistakes or not, is none of our business. Some brothers bought into this kind of thinking, and some did not. The conclusion is that WL could basically get away with murder, while the Blendeds can't get away with anything. To further this analogy, TC had a life-relationship with us, and was our spiritual father, so whether he makes mistakes or not, is none of our business.

These two principles, while sounding spiritual, undermine the accountability demanded of Christian leaders both in the Bible and in WN's book. These two principles for decades have given license to LC leaders like WL and TC to abuse their positions in the body of Christ. Using WN's book as credentials for their "work," they have become popes and bishops in the Recovery without the necessary checks and balances of the scripture. They liked to use WN's teachings about authority, yet without the necessary caveats which preserve the saints and the churches.

Today many GLA leaders will no longer endorse the old ways which they once accepted. The quarantine served to expose many of the bad habits which had crept into the Recovery. Time has served to expose the bad fruits of those old ways. Hence, many GLA elders and LC's are no longer "under the thumb" of TC. I believe most of them do appreciate all the positive they have received from the ministry of TC, but have determined to place the flock entrusted to their care above the work headquartered in Cleveland.