BiblicalInsights.net

     At present, I am aware of three congregations among the churches of Christ that have developed a multi-site arrangement for church government.  The first churches to form this type of governmental arrangement were the Highland Oaks church and the Pitman Creek church.  The Highland Oaks church is located in the northern suburbs of Dallas, Texas and the Pitman Creek church is located about 14 miles away, in Plano, Texas.  The merger will result in a congregation that shares a common staff, eldership, treasury and vision, but be located in two different places (see the Christian Chronicle, One Church, Two Locations, by Erik Tryggestad, February 21, 2008).
     Another multi-site church was developed in the fall of 2008 by the Southwest church in Jonesboro, Arkansas.  The minister at the time was Jimmy Adcox who called the congregation a “hybrid, multi-site, church plant.” The church started a separate worship service on the campus of Arkansas State University, a school of about 12,000 students three miles from the church building (Christian Chronicle).
     The third multi-site church is located in Michigan.  The Rochester church of Christ in Rochester Hills, Michigan launched a multi-site arrangement in March, 2008 when they developed a new site at Mohawk Elementary School in Macomb, Michigan.  The new group is under the oversight of the elders at Rochester and share the same staff, mission, and treasury.  Patrick Mead is the current evangelist at Rochester and does double duty between the two locations (check out the web-site for the Rochester church of Christ–www.rochestercoc.org). 
     Several observations concerning this new development among churches of Christ is in order.  First, we must ask before we implement any type of new organizational structure for the church, “Where is the Scriptural authority for doing this?”  In the apostolic age, each congregation was autonomous (self-governing).  Elders and deacons were appointed in each local congregation (Titus 1:5).  The wisdom of this arrangement is seen in that there is not a concentration of power in a few men who rule over many churches.  Also, it prohibits the rapid spread of error by forcing each congregation to test new doctrines by measuring them against the truth before accepting them.  Listen to the testimony of Mosheim as recorded by J. W. Shepherd in The church, The Falling Away, and the Restoration, page 56, “During a great portion of this century (second) all the churches continued to be, as at first, independent of each other, or were connected by no consociations or confederations.  Each church was a kind of small, independent republic, governing itself by its own laws, enacted or at least sanctioned by the people.  But in the process of time it became customary for all the Christian churches within the same province to unite and form a sort of larger society or commonwealth; and in the manner of confederated republics, to hold their conventions at stated times, and there deliberate for the common advantage of the whole confederation.”  These conventions developed into synods and church councils.  The laws agreed upon in these councils were called “canons” or “rules.”  A marked departure from the truth began by changing the organizational structure of the church which led to the change in the source of doctrine for the church.  Churches were now governed by synods and councils and not the Word of God.  In regards to apostasy, there must always be a first step!  Second, we see the audacity and arrogance of men who believe that they have devised a better organizational system for the church than what God has ordained.   Man’s good intentions do not trump obedience to God. This lesson is clearly taught in I Samuel 15:22-23, “Behold to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.”  Saul disobeyed God by keeping sheep alive for sacrifice rather than utterly destroying them as God commanded. Saul was rejected by God because he rejected the Word of God.  Will our church leaders reject the Word of God too!   
     A change in church organization without Scriptural authority to do so is a usurpation of the authority of Almighty God.  It can only lead farther away from the truth.
     (Update: 4/23/2009.  The satellite of the Rochester Church of Christ known as Christ Church: Macomb held its last service Jan. 25, 2009.  It continued to meet on the campus of Rochester College through February and then disbanded).