Yes, I need more than that. The Jewish apostles, at the command of, and with the express authority of, the Holy One of Israel, shepherded real local churches/assemblies that shared the same doctrine and had unity of fellowship. Your answer is that the true church is not really anywhere one could identify, nor are you willing to publicly claim your local church is the true church. Catholics, by definition, publicly maintain a claim of apostolic succession. Who else, besides the Eastern Orthodox, does that ?
Your requirements exceed the Scriptural provisions...sorry.
"The Jewish apostles, at the command of, and with the express authority of, the Holy One of Israel, shepherded real local churches/assemblies that shared the same doctrine and had unity of fellowship. Your answer is that the true church is not really anywhere one could identify,"
Now read this remark of yours very slowly. Notice..."real local churches/assemblies that shared the same doctrine..." Notice, notice plural. There is no ONE organization which is "true". You seem to want one central headquarters of the AUTHORIZED gathering of believers. But, you noticed that there were many of them, all unaffiliated with others, with varying degrees of cooperation (Note the Galatians had wandered off the trail, the Corinthians believed in too much "unity" and accepted incest, etc.) Get it?
"Your answer is that the true church is not really anywhere one could identify, nor are you willing to publicly claim your local church is the true church."
As I said before, there is no "one true" gathering (there is no such word as "church" in the Scripture). But, I am willing to publicly state that it seems very likely to me that there are real believers in our assembly. I am not in a position to judge hearts and pound my fist on the table...are you?
You seem to claim the Eastern Orthodox group is the only one on target, but this simply your presumption. Please show us where they are granted this place in Scripture. I find that gatherings which comport to the message delivered by the apostles in the Scriptures are those that are considered good places to fellowship.
And, as far as the Roman apostolic succession claim...please. It is full of holes and whores (not an exaggeration). Rome's doctrines disqualify it from consideration.
Lutherans.
Of course, we define apostolic succession as those who teach the same thing that the Apostles (and by definition, Jesus) taught. And if a church doesn't teach what Jesus teaches, then it's not part of the big-C Church.
So once again, it comes around to 'what DID Jesus really teach?'
*Also, takes another shot for another argument about what the 'true church' really is.*