This 1877 statement was partly a response to a doctrinal dispute 1873-1877 between congregations in Britain.

Those results suggested a nearly equal balance between liberal and conservative congregations.

Thus there are many variations and differences between local congregations.

Another result of the shooting has been a reaching out between white and black congregations.

Because churches of Christ are autonomous with no central governing body, doctrine may vary between congregations.

Thus the Church no longer draws the historical distinction between religious "orders" and "congregations".

But the relationship between the amount of giving and smaller congregations turns out to be slight and inconsistent.

Relationships between church-sharing congregations run the gamut from extremely close to purely business.

But while it was in force, it could only hurt relations between religious congregations and their neighbors.

Its purpose is the promotion of interfaith harmony between religious and spiritual congregations the world over.