There is no doubt that there was exerted from Jerusalem a general care over the surrounding churches.  Some of the disciples who were scattered from Jerusalem at the time of persecution, went as far as Cyprus and Antioch, preaching the word, and many believed and turned to the Lord.  “Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem:  and they sent forth Barnabas that he should go as far as Antioch” (Acts 11:  19-22).  Barnabas went to Antioch and there found such a splendid work that he departed at once for Tarsus seeking Saul, and together they returned to Antioch and preached for a whole year.

[Sidenote:  Operative centers]

While this principle of general superintendence of infant churches originated with the apostles themselves, it was extended to others who were not of the first apostles.  Barnabas and Saul were successful at Antioch and there established the first Christian community outside the confines of Judaism, as the result of which Antioch became the seat of Gentile Christianity.  Shortly afterwards “certain prophets and teachers” in the church at Antioch, men who were not of the original apostles, were directed by the Holy Ghost to send forth Barnabas and Saul on their first missionary journey, and they went forth establishing local churches and afterwards setting them in order by ordaining elders, after which these ministers returned to Antioch, gathered the church together, and gave them a report of their work.  Antioch was, therefore, an operative center.

At a later time Paul established the truth in Ephesus, the chief city of Proconsular Asia.  As might naturally be expected from the strategic position and political importance of that city, Ephesus also became an operative center for Christianity, “so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks” (Acts 19:10).  Thessalonica in Macedonia and Corinth in Achaia are other examples of the kind.

[Sidenote:  Regional units]

The work of the church naturally fell into these geographical units; therefore the word “church” is sometimes used as a collective term designating a body of regional congregations.  The church “throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria” (Acts 9:31), “the seven churches which are in Asia” (Rev. 1:11), “the churches of Macedonia” (2 Cor. 8:1), “the churches of Galatia” (1 Cor. 16:1).

We must bear in mind, however, that this regional concept of the church was not an integral part of fundamental apostolic church government, but was merely incidental, the result of geographical location.  In fundamental analysis distinctions are always drawn between things that are different, not between things of the same kind.  These regional churches were not different kinds of churches; they were not bound together in separate groups by an external organization which placed a wall between them and other congregations of the saints.  There was no authority here for the national-church theory nor for the sectarian church idea.  Geographical separation there was, but not denominationalism.