If we are serious about following the Lord, and we read the Bible carefully, we will know that the Lord's desire is to build up His church in this age. He declared in Matthew chapter 16, verse 18: “I will build my church…” This is the greatest prophecy and promise in the New Testament. The Bible reveals clearly that it is only through the builded church, that the multifarious wisdom of God will be made known to the authorities of darkness; and at the same time, the authority of Satan shall not prevail against it (Eph. 3:10; Matt. 16:18). God’s eternal purpose is fulfilled by building up His church in this age, and eventually consummating in New Jerusalem (Eph. 3:10-11; Eph. 4:15-16; Rev. 21 & 22).
The church is the Body of Christ, an organic entity of divine life in Triune God. Anything not out of Christ or anything not taking Christ as the content is of the church. Neither is anything invented by man according to man's imagination, preference and tradition is of the church. Anything more or less than what the Bible has revealed to us concerning the church is not of the genuine church either.
The New Testament provides a clear pattern concerning the existence and practice of the church. In the New Testament, there are such as: “the church which was in Jerusalem (Acts 8:1)”, “in Antioch, in the local church (Acts 13:1)”, “the church which is in Cenchrea (Rom. 16:1)”, “to the church of God which is in Corinth (1 Cor. 1:2)”, etc. God uses the city as a ground and limitation for the local church. This is God's wise and sovereign arrangement. His goal is to keep His testimony on earth in the practical oneness among all his believers in a city. The ground of the church is not bigger than a city, so it won't become organizational; yet not smaller than a city, so it won't become divisive.
A local church in a city is the manifestation and expression of the universal Body of Christ in that locality which includes all genuine believers in that city. Just as apostle Paul practiced, writing the epistle to the church in Corinth (1 Cor. 1:1), and to the churches in Galatia (Gal. 1:2 Note: Galatia was a province, including many cities). Apostle John practiced the same, writing seven epistles to the seven churches in Asia. Those seven churches were taking seven cities as their boundaries for the ground of their existence as seven local churches respectively. One city, one local church – this is what we see in the New Testament.
If we touch the building-up of a local church as the part of the universal church, we cannot but have to touch the matter of oneness, for in the church, everything is “one.” “One Body, one Spirit… one hope… one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God and Father…(Eph. 4:4-6).” The Lord wants this oneness to be realized among His disciples. That's why the Lord had a long prayer before He went up to the cross in John chapter 17, praying desperately to the Father for several times that there may be oneness among the disciples even as the Father and Son are one (John 17:11, 21-23). The way the Lord build up His church is to dispense His divine life into us that we may grow until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and arrive at a full-grown man (Eph. 4:12,13).
Today the principle of oneness should be applied to every local church in a city, even to universal church in the whole earth; for if there is no oneness, there is no reality of the Body of Christ, no building-up of the church. But the oneness we mention here is absolutely not the “unity” or “uniformity” in certain worldwide or national religious entities and groups in an organizational or hierarchical or even authoritarian way. The oneness we should have is the oneness in the Lord’s prayer, the genuine oneness in triune God, in the spirit, with the biblical revelation, through the fellowship of divine life in the reality of the Body of Christ.
According to the Bible, there should be no divisions in a local church. Divisions or sects are considered as fleshy by apostle Paul (1 Cor. 1:10-13; 1 Cor. 3:3-5; Gal. 5:19, 20) and are abhorrent in the sight of God. A local church, no matter how many different members meeting together, even though the inclusiveness being limited by some practical factors, should embrace all the true believers, regardless of race, nationality, language, culture, social status...etc, in that city as the genuine and unique testimony of Jesus in that city. This is the truth and normal practice concerning the local church in the Bible, and no one can deny this.
Then, how do we follow the pattern and apply the church truth in a city today? The basic principle is to go back to the Bible – we do not do the things that the Bible has not taught us, neither do we fall short of what Bible has taught and left us as the pattern for us to follow. For the normal practice of the church life today in the city of Berlin, what we need is just simply forsake our respective private names, drop off our religious background, forget about man’s preference and man-made traditions…. Let all the Christians in Berlin come together and meet together and declare that we are “the church in Berlin,” a real shining golden lampstand in this city (Rev. 1:20). By this simple practice, the Father will be expressed and glorified, and Satan will be put to shame. Also by this practice, the Lord's prayer in John 17 can be fulfilled and His heart's desire can be satisfied.
Please do not think to keep another name besides the name of Jesus is not a big deal. Actually, we are gathered into the name of Jesus (Matt. 18:20); and the church in Philadelphia is praised by the Lord for “they have not denied My name (Rev. 3:8).” A church bearing any other special name will certainly break the Body of Christ into pieces. We simply do not need a special name to distinguish us from other children of God; for in so doing will definitely make us divisive, make us a sect, and make us a human religious organization, not a church.
All the points mentioned above are the truth, biblical pattern, and normal practice in the Bible and should not be compromised by the genuine truth followers. If we seek for Father's will and determine to do Father's will, we should have no hesitation but to pay the price to follow it for God's glory and also for the kingdom reward (Matt. 7:21-23).
We beseech that whoever has a chance reading this article would bring this vision concerning the church to the Lord with much prayer in a serious seeking manner and would follow the leading of the Lord with much grace and faithfulness that the Lord may have a free way to fulfill His purpose in this age that He may come back soon for His ready bride.
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