08.03 - The Nature of Local Churches

8.3 THE NATURE OF LOCAL CHURCHES The concept of the local church as described in the New Testament is diametrically opposed to what we see in the denominations. This produces a tremendous barrier to communication, since when we use the word church it produces an image in the mind of the hearer which is considerably different from that which is found in the New Testament.

We could write an entire book on this subject, looking at all of the uses of the word church throughout the New Testament, and comparing with all of the other words that are used to figuratively describe it: kingdom, bride of Christ, holy nation, elect, priesthood, etc., etc. To keep this section short, however, we are going to avoid this rigor and summarize. We hope after you have studied the scriptures from the other parts of this book (in their contexts) and gone on to your own private studies, that you will understand and appreciate the validity of the statements made in this section. Further, we would urge you to reread the entire New Testament, with special emphasis upon the book of Acts and the letters (Romans through Jude) to assure that the statements made here are valid. The general concept of the Lord’s church as held by most denominations is that it consists of an ongoing, sanctioned, ordained organization of God which is tangible, has corporate offices, etc. Most central offices of the denominations, and certainly the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic church fulfill this expectation. Even those organizations which are outside of the denominational mainstream -- the huge radio and TV mega-churches -- fulfill this expectation for the vast majority of people. It gives them great comfort to be a part of something which is much larger than themselves. The only problem with this concept of the church is that this is totally a creation of man. When Jesus was confronted with the issue of defining just where his kingdom was, he responded with something that would sound very confusing today (Luk 17:20-21): "And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." The kingdom, which is the Lord’s church, is not something that you join. There is no concept of "joining the church" in the New Testament. Read it through and verify this (as well as everything else being presented here) -- you will never find anyone joining the church. The reason is that the church, at least that part which we can see (i.e., the local church), does not pre-exist the conversion of Christians. We recognize that there is a universal church which consists of those saved throughout all time (Heb 12:18-24). However, this is never organized on this earth. There is never a gathering of the universal church, nor is there any attempt to organize churches above the local level. This can only be verified by reading through the New Testament -- we urge you to do just that! So where does this leave us? If the local church does not pre-exist Christians, then how is a local church formed. Read through the book of Acts and you will see that it was the seed of the word of God (see also Mat 13:1-23) which was planted. When that word was believed, those who were baptized became Christians and Christians only. Seeing their common cause, and the fact that God had ordained the local church to both evangelize (Mat 28:18-19) and to sustain their salvation (Heb 10:24-25), they organized themselves as given by the authority of Christ through the apostles (e.g., see 1Ti 3:1-16 and Tit 1:1-16). The point is that there was no authority of man on this earth that ordained or sanctioned a given church. This is abundantly clear by a review of Gal 1:1-24 and 2, in which the apostle Paul is trying to make this very point. Paul’s authority did not stem from Jerusalem or Rome -- it came directly from Christ! Denominations compromise this great truth by placing their organizations between man and his God -- between a congregation and their Lord. It is completely foreign to the sacred word of God and can do nothing but create a deterrent to one’s faithfulness.

Thus, a church must be formed bottom up -- it cannot be imposed top down. When a faithful group of Christians associate themselves together as God ordained in the New Testament, this is exactly what God expects. It occurs in obedience to His word, and only in obedience to His word. Absolutely no organization of man needs to be involved; in fact, if such an organization is required according to some church doctrine, it does not fit the pattern of scripture -- it violates God’s word (2Jn 1:9). The bottom-up nature of the local church fits the pattern exactly. Consider Heb 8:7-13, which essentially says that the church of the lord will be composed of believers and only believers. This cannot be said of top-down denominationally organized religious organizations. We know that this organization fosters all kinds of corruption from within. On the other hand, when a local church is formed by the collaboration of those whose only intent is to restore the doctrine and practice as given in the New Testament, this church has to be sound. [Sound implies the intent to do everything that the New Testament teaches and nothing else; it does not imply perfection in this regard.]

Now many will be mystified by such a loose organizational structure, and they will claim that it is impossible. Even when they see it in action, they will claim that there is some global organization. They cannot even accept it when they see it in reality. The proof is in a direct observation of reality. There are groups like this organized independently without any centralized authority of man all over the world. We can find them in virtually any country and in many if not most cities of this country. They have no other commonality than that they have accepted the word of God as being the final authority in all things. Yet their practices as far as worship, work and teaching are in many cases as uniform as that of many denominations who impose consistency top down. This proves that it not only can work, but it is working!

If you ask me to tell you what religious organization this is, I can only say that it is the church that you read about in the New Testament. If I were to attempt to lump all of these together and give them a name, I would be as guilty of denominating as any of the denominations have been. The burden of proof falls upon you, the reader, to find that organization which is sound and doing God’s will -- or else to form such yourself. While I might be able to point you in the right direction if I have some knowledge of your geographical location, it is not my job to verify the doctrine and practice of every local congregation. That job is your’s. All that I am submitting to you is that it not only is possible, it is a reality in most cities of the United States and most countries throughout the world. As a final proof that this process of individual effort toward determining the truth, consider the major reason that the Roman Catholic church and the denominations are able to take down such a large number of followers simultaneously. Is it not because they have linked all of their congregations under a common hierarchy? Thus, when the hierarchy goes bad, so does the entire denomination. And this fall is inevitably (1Pe 2:1-3): "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not."

If you have read this far, we are convinced that you see that this applies to the leadership of the denominations today. Ignoring God’s plan for the independent organization of the local churches, they have led their members to believe all kinds of myths, the seven given in this book being only the beginning. Indeed, they have their followers thinking of the Lord’s church as being a monstrous abomination, with multiple bodies, multiple heads, and God as the author of such confusion. Who can believe it? The solution is so very simple -- it is as simple as casting off the traditions of man and going back to God’s word for all teaching, all work, all practice, and all worship.

Most members of denominations have been taught by their family, friends, religious leaders and popular lure that this is impossible. Indeed, if this were impossible there would be no local congregations at all who have, in absolute reality, abandoned all denominational affiliations, all creeds, and all traditions of man and have dedicated themselves to only practicing and teaching exactly what the bible teaches for us today. But there are hundreds if not thousands of such groups throughout this country and the world. This proves that the impossibility of unity within God’s word is a myth. The fact that this is possible, and the fact that such is commanded of us (1Co 1:10, etc.) makes the restoration of the Lord’s church a command to us today. Thus, any failure on our part to attempt to restore the Lord’s church is sin. As one further proof of the validity of this claim, consider the fact that these congregations (local churches) have no organization greater than their own individual elders and deacons. That is, each one is autonomous and free to preach, teach and practice their religion as they see fit. This is the essence of free will. Nothing binds an individual to any given congregation -- each is free to come and go as their conscience dictates. Further, and more importantly, there is absolutely not common creed of doctrine other than the bible itself. And yet, the practices, worship and teachings of these churches do not vary significantly from one congregation to the next. I can go half way around the world, find a congregation true to God’s word, and I will be worshipping and having fellowship with them in every other way. This, despite the fact that we might not have any common acquaintances, and we have never read any other common literature except the bible itself. This evidence flies in the face of those who teach and honestly believe that such is impossible. That people with nothing else in common but their common belief in Gods word would come to such unity of belief totally defies explanation if it were not ordained of God. This is the way that God wants His people to be organized. It is given that way in the New Testament. "How do I know; the bible tells me so."