Do the churches of the cities (e.g. London), connect at all with other denominations or do you mostly stick to yourselves and other churches of certain cities who have the same practices as you?

We rejoice when we can have fellowship with any believer in Christ and we encourage the saints to seek it. Nevertheless, we are not in favor of the organizational structures that maintain the divisions among God's people, so we do not generally get involved organizationally with them.

In the second part of your question you mentioned "other churches of certain cities who have the same practices as you". No doubt, when you came to one of our meetings you found some of the practices quite striking. Nevertheless, we try not to make issues about practices. If you attended a meeting of some of the other churches we are connected with you might find somewhat different practices. The important thing is that whenever we come together we touch, enjoy, experience, and / or are enlightened by the Lord. The practices, including the ways we pray, sing, read the Bible, exhort one another, etc. are merely the means to reach the goal. The goal is always something real of the Lord. We are willing to be flexible in our practices and often make changes to them so that our meetings do not degenerate into merely going through the motions of something everyone was already used to.

We have a little saying to remind ourselves not to be too concerned about outward things like practices. It is, "Variety, not uniformity; unity in variety". Thus, if you visited a number of churches, you would find that each is a little different according to the needs of the saints and the capacity of leadership. It is not that we try to be unique, rather we seek to learn from other churches. But we also consider that it is much better if each local church is seeking the Lord directly concerning its progress than for all to rely on some kind of central leadership. Of course, a significant part of seeking the Lord is the fellowship with other local churches, but that is to help find the Lord's leading, not to replace it.

[ Questions and Answers] [Home]