God's Wisdom Shown In Local Autonomy
We can easily see the wisdom of God manifested in the autonomy of the local church.
If all the congregations were joined by some sort of "inter-congregational alliance" or "organizational federation," the dangers of apostasy would be greatly increased. If one congregation in the "alliance" should turn to apostasy, there would be a distinct danger of every other congregation in the "alliance" becoming affected. Or if one group of elders were given the right to oversee many congregations, and they should go into apostasy, every congregation under their oversight would likely be led into the same apostasy. But when each congregation is an independent and autonomous body this is not true. One congregation or one group of elders may go into apostasy without affecting all of the others. Any congregation, of course, through false teaching, may be led into apostasy, but we should recognize and respect the greater degree of safety that is found in the autonomy and independence of the local church. God arranged it that way. Let us strive to keep it that way. Man's "brotherhood projects" are not an improvement upon the divine system of operation.
www.watchmanmag.com/0406/040603.htm