War is a complex phenomenon. We have described war as essentially a clash between opposed wills. In reality, each belligerent is not a single, homogeneous will guided by a single intelligence.Instead, each belligerent is a complex system consisting of numerous individual parts. A division comprises regiments, a regiment comprises battalions, and so on all the way down to fire teams which are composed of individual Marines. Each element is part of a larger whole and must cooperate with other elements for the accomplishment of the common goal. At the same time, each has its own mission and must adapt to its own situation. Each must deal with friction, uncertainty, and disorder at its own level, and each may create friction, uncertainty, and disorder for others, friendly as well as enemy.
As a result, war is not governed by the actions or decisions of a single individual in any one place but emerges from the collective behavior of all the individual parts in the system interacting locally in response to local conditions and incomplete information. A military action is not the monolithic execution of a single decision by a single entity but necessarily involves near-countless independent but interrelated decisions and actions being taken simultaneously throughout the organization. Efforts to fully centralize military operations and to exert complete control by a single decision-maker are inconsistent with the intrinsically complex and distributed nature of war.
God's plan A is the local church. There is a capital "C" Church, but it is not governed by any one human institution. Jesus is the Chief Shepherd over His entire Church, but also over each and every individual local lower case "c" church.
Each local church will have its unique difficulties, strengths, challenges, congregants, leadership, etc... They will fall under generally defined parameters which define their inclusion in the "C" Church, but will retain their local features which make ministry in their specific midst defined by the parameters unique to their enrollment.
The war for the world must be fought at the local level. The global battle must be waged in neighborhoods.
"Think globally, act locally." - Douglas Wilson
To love our neighbors in every nation we must love our neighbors on our block. Continents are composed of countries. Countries composed of states or provinces. States composed of counties. Counties composed of cities or towns. The Church cannot succeed unless the church succeeds. However, the church cannot operate outside of the Church and remain a church.
1 Corinthians 11:16
If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God.
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