6. How can there be consistency without a central governing body
A criticism of this type of thinking is that there can't be any consistency between congregations without the oversight of a governing body regulating what's taught and practiced. From a human perspective that makes sense. Disconnected groups scattered around the world will wind up doing things differently without strict guidance and monitoring. That would be true if two things didn't exist. The first is the revealed word of God that in spite of numerous criticisms about translations, teaches a singular doctrine that describes what is to be taught, by whom and how things are to be done. The second thing is that when we become a Christian we express our faith by confessing the name of Christ. That confession is a statement of belief but it's also an endorsement of our acceptance of his authority. Christ's authority lies in the scriptures that were revealed to the writers by the Holy Spirit. The word was given to the Holy Spirit by Christ, and Christ received it from God (John 17.8).
An act of faith is to accept the word of God as it stands realizing that we have a need to come to an understanding of what it teaches, not edit the word to fit what we think needs to be done or taught. Christ stated, "If ye love me, keep my commandments". (John 14.15). He told his disciples "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you..." (Matt 28.19-2). As we read the New Testament we find there are examples of how the church did things and what they taught. When a number of individuals gather to form a local congregation, have accepted the New Testament in faith, and are committed to following this as closely as they can, what takes form is a reproduction of the church of the New Testament.
I have an example that I like to use to illustrate this point. The Nestlé Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe is I believe the most popular and famous in the world. I used to make those cookies so much that I had the recipe memorized. Now, consider that we issue a challenge where we give say 100 people that recipe and we tell them to make cookies without any deviation from the actual recipe. So they have to use the same ingredients and bake the cookies in the same way. No matter where these folks are when we get them all together and compare the results, we'll find that the cookies are going to be identical. Over the years this is exactly what has taken place at pot-luck dinners, parties and bake sales in a variety of locations. We can also tell when someone didn't stick to the recipe and began to alter the ingredients because the cookies will have a different look, texture or appearance.
We can understand that, but when it comes to the church and being consistent with the instruction manual, or recipe as found in the New Testament some find it hard to believe that different groups can achieve the same results on their own. But, we have a precedent that exists in the scriptures that's used as an example. Moses, was given instructions for making the Tabernacle and all the items used in worship with a strict directive to follow the pattern that was revealed (Ex 25.4). The writer of Hebrews brings this out in the comparison between the worship under the Law and the new law given in the New Testament. "Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount." (Heb 8.5).
When the scriptural pattern is followed what we see is a reproduction of the New Testament church as it was in the first century. Between groups we'll see a similarity in worship, a sameness in doctrine and a consistency in application of scripture guiding the work of the local body. What we'll find is that it's not impossible to do this as all it takes is a commitment to the word of God and a determination to follow the pattern that exists. When that attitude prevails there's harmony between local groups as they all work under the headship of Christ led by the scriptures and oversight of spiritually mature elders, preachers and teachers who are dedicated to preserving the pattern in the scriptures.