On Independent Churches 
Dr. Robert M. Thompson
Pastor, Corinth Reformed Church, Hickory, NC
President, Faithful and Welcoming Churches
"All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53:6)
As Isaiah says, it is human nature for each one of us to go "his own way." Most of us start with the assumption that we are right in our thinking (if not, we would change our minds) and right in our living (if not, we have a perfectly good excuse). Our American system of religious freedom, not that I'm knocking it, allows us to associate in clusters (churches) made up of those who agree with us.
As a result, we not only go our own way, but we reinforce our views of what is right and our excuses for our behavior by associating only with those who think and act like we do. If we are challenged to think differently, we "go our own way."
People who don't like what a local church teaches or does go their own way and find a different church -- or maybe stay home all together.
Churches that don't like what a denomination says or does go their own way and find a different denomination or fellowship -- or disassociate with other churches entirely.
Denominations that don't like what the church has agreed upon across the years and around the world go their own way and create their own theology.
By contrast, I believe if two individuals or two groups disagree, one or both need to learn from the other. That cannot happen if they go their own way.
An independent church has decided that it needs no accountability to anyone outside its own leadership or congregation. Every other denomination is sufficiently wrong that this church cannot join in a relationship of mutual submission, correction, and accountability. None of the thousands of denominations already in existence is close enough to the truth to be in partnership. At its extreme, this view results in a Heaven's Gate, Jim Jones, or David Koresh fiasco. Less extreme results are ubiquitous.
Please understand. Much good has been done by independent churches. Many spiritual giants of the past left their religious heritage, or were forced out -- sometimes individually and sometimes as a group. Most found new associations precisely because of the danger of the independent mindset. Some independent churches thrive for a generation or more. But even if the current generation of church leaders is faithful and wise, an independent church always runs the risk that future generations will stray from orthodoxy, or become overly rigid and authoritative, or develop extremely unhealthy patterns of corporate behavior -- precisely because there is no connection and no sense of accountability.
Individual Christians need to be accountable to a local body, churches need to be accountable to some kind of denomination, and denominations need to be accountable to ancient Christian consensus about what is true and right. When instead we "go our own way," we threaten the integrity of our faith and the legacy we pass on to those who follow.
Of course, in immeasurable ways, we all go our own way all day every day. So thank God for the end of that verse -- "the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." Otherwise, we are all doomed.
