What is the boundary of the Local Church?

[Koinonia]

Originally Posted by Evangelical

Yes. To give an analogy, we cannot say our body parts are absolutely autonomous because each part is joined to each other part, but each body part can sometimes take a mind of its own and do its own thing.

In this analogy, you are making the LSM-affiliated churches the members of the body, rather than individual believers. Now I am sure this is not what you believe, but it raises an interesting point. LC members and leaders very often equate "the Body" with their small group of churches and constituent members. In their view, the LSM-affiliated churches are meant to be autonomous in practical arrangements but interconnected (as "the Body") in a spiritual way. Yet, they effectively exclude nearly all other believers in their experience and understanding by presuming that a factor of oneness within the Body of Christ, and a factor of legitimacy of a local church, is relatedness to them. The "fellowship of the Body" becomes the fellowship of their group.