Acts and The Body of Christ - Local to National

Kaitiaki's picture

Basically this is just a "what do we learn about the Church from Acts?" thread. As we watch Paul and Barnabas and then Paul and Silas building the Church in Acts, what can we learn about their concept of the Church as a whole? Robert suggested my original plan was too cumbersome so asked me to create new threads.

Thread Moderator - Kaitiaki

This thread looks at the relationship between the local Church and the Church overall as seen in the Council at Jerusalem particularly (Acts 15). It discusses the role played by the council and how it dealt with the problem of the Gentiles Churches and the Jewish customs based on the Law.

Here is the starter question: "From the way this problem was both discussed and resolved (and with reference to other parts of the NT) there have been derived at least three forms of Church government. How would you see the procedures of your Church's system of government dealing with the issue (of Acts 15) if it had arisen in today's world? "

towJel's picture

the body of Christ

sorry for this late reply Kaitiaki, we have had a series of ministry meetings recently and i did not follow this thread

when one talks of the body of Christ there are 2 that we generally refer to. that is the local body which is the one that you go to for "the apostles doctrine,fellowship,breaking of bread and prayers"
the other is the so called universal church to which all who haved been saved by the Blood of the Lamb belong.mind you the vast majority of the members of this body has already gone into Glory so we cannot have fellowship with them till the Lords return
there are NO artificial barriers like national barriers..these are all man made barriers
now the local body can have fellowship with similar local assenblies,we recently had this excellent ministry from a visiting brother from thousands of miles away!
however we are independent of each other,visitors do admonish and encourage us but any disciplinary matters are dealt with within individual churches.all elders are equal and answerable to the Chief Shepherd ..the only legitimate Head of the Church