Can a church divide itself into smaller groups and remain a church?
Question:
Good day, brother.
Here's a case I'd like you to consider,
A local church agrees to hold gatherings in different locations, not in the current meeting place but in zones based on proximity to one another. There are three zones, where fellowship is held in brothers' houses on the same day, at the same time, but in different locations.
Now, in your article "Are small group meetings in place of the Sunday evening assembly or midweek study scriptural?", you stated that:
"A congregation cannot break itself down into small groups and still be worshipping as a congregation."
How scriptural is it that a local church slates a program, splits itself into three distinct groups, and then, on the Lord's Day, brings reports on the activities in each zone to the hearing of the whole church?
Answer:
There is one part of your question that wasn't clear to me. How can a report be made to the whole church if the church is not gathered in one place? I suspect what you are saying is that a report is given to the elders who lead the church. However, the elders are not the church. They are members of a church, along with everyone else. As an example, "Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas--Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren" (Acts 15:22). Notice that the apostles were not the church, nor were the elders the church. All the members make up the whole church.
When the Lord's Supper is partaken, note the terms used for the church entering into worship:
- "when you are assembled" (I Corinthians 5:4)
- "you come together" (I Corinthians 11:17)
- "when you come together as a church" (I Corinthians 11:18)
- "when you meet together" (I Corinthians 11:20). The NKJV says, "when you come together in one place"
- "when you come together to eat" (I Corinthians 11:33)
- "the whole church assembles together" (I Corinthians 14:23)
- "When you assemble" (I Corinthians 14:26)
When worship occurs in three different locations simultaneously, you have three churches, not one. What you have is an eldership trying to oversee multiple congregations. This is no different than what happened to the early church after the first century, which eventually led to the creation of the Catholic and Orthodox churches. See:
Question:
Well, concerning the report aspect: the program is held within the week, on the last Friday of each month. It is not a Lord's Day gathering. The report of activities, such as the number of brethren who gathered in each zone, those who were not present, etc., are read out when the church gathers on the Lord's Day.
Our local church has no elders, just some key or leading brethren.
Now, here's my plight:
Based on my knowledge of the Scriptures, I called the church's attention to this action of dividing the local church as it is. This week, after the worship on the Lord's Day, Titus 3:10 was read out, and the church concluded that if I did not renounce my stance on this issue, I'd already been served the first warning.
I was given little time (until the end of the coming month) to decide. I'm seeking your opinion because I'm only trying to call our attention to what the Scripture says. Yet rather than letting me see my error, as they say, I'm labelled a heretic who's due for disfellowship.
Aside from this divided house fellowship, I am punctual at all church meetings. But I'm the one who's thought worthy of being disfellowshipped, while some brothers and sisters intentionally absent themselves, come late, and the church is complacent.
I only want us to examine what the Bible has said. What is my fault?
Answer:
I would not assume that you are at fault. You have a group that doesn't want to lose control over this local church. Any disagreement is quickly squashed so that the remaining people won't think of raising any objections. This is why nothing is said to those who don't attend regularly. They aren't seen as a "threat" to the church leaders because they go along with whatever is decided.
Cleaning up this mess would be difficult because those in power will twist anything you say. Finding a faithful church that is not connected to this group or starting a church may be easier.
Response:
Thank you very much, Jeffrey.
