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Sister Congregations? The last chapter of Nehemiah speaks of the children of Israel marrying the women of Ashdod. This was bad for a number of reasons. God commanded the Israelites to not intermarry with the people of the land (Deuteronomy 7.3). As a result of marrying the people of the land, the children of Israel were drawn into idolatry. One result is mentioned in Nehemiah 13.24: "And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and could not speak the language of Judah, but spoke according to the language of one of the other people."Words have meanings and convey ideas. We have to think about what we are saying and how we are saying it. I have noticed each religious group tends to have its own peculiar vocabulary. Often the words are intended to convey a particular idea not expressed in the Bible. One danger is changing the meanings of words used in the Bible to represent what we want instead of what God wants. During the 1800’s, brethren wanted to activate the universal church. That is, they wanted to bind congregations together by creating a Missionary Society or a Benevolent Society. By doing this, the gospel could be spread better. Or, at least, that was what they thought. The problem is that the Bible does not authorize any such animal as a Missionary Society. They minimize the impact that results if each individual congregation does its own work. During the 1940’s through 1960’s, brethren divided over the sponsoring church arrangement. Brethren, in wanting to spread the gospel more efficiently, said a congregation could receive funds from other congregations in order to evangelize or help the needy. Once again, these brethren failed to recognize the impact each individual congregation could have. They thought of the Universal church being composed of local congregations. That is no more true than the Universal church being made up of denomina-tions! Individual Christians are the branches, and Jesus is the vine named in John 15. "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing" (verse 5).We can read of local congregations in the New Testament; places such as Rome, Ephesus, and Colossae had Christians meeting together. These local congregations were composed of individuals who obeyed the Gospel of Christ, (Phil. 1.1). Each congregation was "autonomous," meaning each was independent of other congregations. The church at Jerusalem did not oversee the church at Ephesus. The eldership of each congregation is limited to that local congregation. "Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers" (1 Peter 5.2, emphasis mine D.T.). Any eldership that seeks to oversee any congregation other than the one in which the elders are members, is acting without scriptural authority.Each autonomous congregation has its own membership, its own work in evangelism, benevolence, and edification. Each congregation has its own treasury in order to do its work. We need to understand that the various congregations around us may be doing the same things, and we are not in competition with brethren at some other location. But we are not "sister congregations." Such is the language of Ashdod and not of the Bible. I fear such language is used to convey the idea that one congregation exercises influence or control over another congregation. Brethren have to use some non-bible term to describe some practice foreign to the Bible. Missionary Society came to mean an organization set up to preach the gospel by receiving funds from congregations. The Society then hired preachers and sent them to foreign fields. I n the 1940’ and 50’s the term "Sponsoring Church" was used to describe a local congregation receiving funds from other congregations. In return, the eldership of the "Sponsoring Church" used to money to do some work. Such attempts to bind congregations together, even if under the oversight of an eldership, are unscriptural. I am afraid some of my brethren have an "institutional mind set" in that they view their congregation or eldership as exercising influence over other congregations. The term "Sister Congregations" has been used to describe this so-called relationship. The problem is the desire of men to have control over, or create, an organization larger then the local congregation. If I go on a "Gospel Meeting" to another congregation, I am doing so as an individual. A congregation may have numerous men qualified to preach the gospel. They may go out on a regular basis to fill the pulpit at various congregations. When our members do this, they do so as individuals, not as official representatives of the Westside church of Christ. Any one who thinks we as a group are to exercise control over other congregations is adopting the institutional mindset. Congregations do not fellowship each other any more than the Lord’s body is composed of congregations. Let us simply do our own work and leave others alone. –Dennis Tucker |