We used The Holy Bible for references and prayed for guidance along with it. When the preacher approached the Pulpit to deliver his sermon the first words were please open your Bibles too... That was to make sure the church read it themselves rather than take his word for it because he was the preacher. I knew of one preacher who could not read a word. He could quote The Bible Chapter and verse. I knew of another who was blind and could do likewise. Who gave them that ability?
If the preacher was preaching against GOD's Word meaning if for example had preached pro-abortion he would have been removed from his position after the service was over by a special called meeting of deacons and elders. Now that is true accountability within the church. The membership by vote if they were out of line could override them. The individual church had that authority as given in The Bible. We didn't have to wait for a decision from far removed from any realities of this world Vatican or other denominational office had it happened. Some Protestant churches are under a hierarchy where Pastors are sent to them by the lets call it head office. Most however are not and the process of obtaining a pastor can take time if one steps down due to illness etc. A number of preachers are invited to delivers the service and after prayers a vote is taken by the deacons and elders and confirmed by membership vote.
And besides most the issues you mention were not issues until this past century which doesn't justify the volumes and volumes of Dogma written before. Answers for every problem known to man including war and abortion are already in The Bible. No one needed to add to it. All aperson has to do is look and pray for guidance and the answer will come.
As for Nuclear War? IMO if not for Divine Intervention meaning GOD's Will and authority an all out nuclear exchange would have already taken place or a radical Islamic cleric launched such. Mans doing isn't what has prevented it. It's well out of mans hands. There are too many very evil persons out there if GOD were not in control it would have done happened. GOD Presides over the affairs of man.
My preacher the elders, deacons, etc did not place demands on the church members beyond what was stated in The Bible. They didn't need to say here read the catechism or here is a book of rules you need to learn also. It's not necessary.
The preacher we had three actually in a small rural church was a self employed farmer, had a wife & family, and was still more than able to handle all the demands placed upon him. If he was ill or away two ordained preachers were there to step in. It was a Missionary Baptist church membership maybe 200.
I did in my youth attend a much larger church which had a full time on salary preacher who still was married and had a family and he too was more than able to meet the needs of the church. He was called {appointed} by The Elders and Deacons who had the authority to relieve him of his duties had his conduct warranted such. Again there was an associate Pastor as well or a Deacon or Elder could do the church service.
“Abortion is sin.”
I know it is, but it is never once mentioned in scripture. Every Protestant opposed birth control for Biblical reasons for nearly 400 years. Now almost none do, yet the Biblical text hasn’t changed. So what did change?