Ground of Locality and Generality

[Paul Miletus]

Originally Posted by aron

"When a ministry becomes the ground".

I guess that could just about say it all for my experience. One day I looked around me and I realized that Witness Lee's ministry had become the ground of the local church. When I was a new believer I didn't really notice the inherent problem in this because there was so much material, and I barely knew the OT from the NT, so I kept obliviously busy, but eventually it became clear to me that a ministry had superseded Jesus as our source, our way, and our goal.

A local church is preserved from being divided by its ground, not by its condition. The unique ground—the unique oneness of the Body of Christ, plus the unique ground of locality—preserves a church from being divided.

I believe your observation has to do with the "condition" of the local church and not with the proper unique ground. The proper unique ground of the local church is stable and cannot be altered. This is fully illustrated by every recognized city that cannot be just ignored from the map of the world.