The epistles often give the impression that there was no more than one congregation of Jesus-followers per city at that time, e.g., “To the church of God that is in Corinth….” Or, if more than one congregation met in different parts of a large city, there was such unity among them that an apostle could write a single letter to be shared by all the believers in that city, e.g., “To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints….”

I know that many people will be quick to note that descriptive Biblical texts are not necessarily prescriptive. That’s true, but I believe that the New Testament descriptions intend to present a normative model far more frequently than they get credit for. There are a number of valid reasons to question whether Scripture supports a proliferation of Christian congregations in one locale, especially a multiplication of denominations. The notion of local churches as embassies of the Kingdom of Heaven is one such reason.

Imagine walking through Paris, say, and seeing “The Republican US Embassy.” Then you go just a bit further and see, “The Democrat US Embassy.” Just around the corner you notice several smaller buildings labelled, “The Libertarian US Embassy”, “The Green Party US Embassy”, and “The Constitution Party US Embassy.” You’d get the impression that US must be a pretty divided country if it can’t even present a united front on foreign soil. You’d be justified to feel that the US probably needs to do more to get its own act together before shooting out more semi-overlapping and semi-contradicting ambassadorial factions.

But even setting sectarianism aside, it would also be odd to see a US Embassy on every street corner of Paris if you knew that there were simultaneously zero US Embassies in Vienna. Granted, a nation with a large population like India may have US consulates in five different major cities in addition to the main embassy in New Delhi, while smaller countries like Luxembourg and Singapore just have their one US Embassy each, but in either case we are dealing with numbers you can count on one hand! The priority is to have some representation in every nation that you maintain relations with, rather than seeking a large diplomatic presence among any singular given nation.

Analogies are always imperfect, and I don’t expect this post to win over many folks who weren’t already inclined towards my type of view. Eschatologically postmillennial friends, in particular, have a very different vision for what “your kingdom come” means than the “spreading out” model that I see in the Bible and advocate for. My hope, though, is to at least have provided some fodder for thought experimentation and for further discussion.