Does a Christian have to be at his home congregation every Sunday?
Question:
Dear brother in Christ:
I greet you cordially. Thanks for the studies I have found on your website, I have been able to translate them into Spanish and they have served both me and the churches that I visit in my area. I have served as a preacher of the gospel for a few years, and when I have doubts or cannot find a way to explain a subject, I ask.
In one of the churches in my area, a problem is arising. I hope you can help me understand so I can help this church. The churches in this region do not have elders; therefore, work programs are the responsibility of the men's meetings. These men agreed that church members should not travel, unless it is Monday through Friday, because on Saturdays they have Bible study and on Sunday they have Bible study and then worship. They quote texts like Matthew 6:33 where it says that we should seek the kingdom and its righteousness. So, they say that the first thing a Christian should have in mind is church services and that is why he cannot travel or go on vacation. They say that the only reason to travel is to preach the gospel as Paul and his companions did because we do not find teaching in the Bible to show us that Christians traveled for pleasure or business.
Brother, I hope if you have a study about this that you can send it to me or comments to help this church. I know that many of its members are going to have problems because they have family in other places and will have to travel to visit them or because of illnesses, but there are also brothers who want to travel to get a rest from their work.
In what I think, it is in the women who cannot be in the meetings of men to give their opinion in this agreement. How are they going to travel? Isn't this an imposition on the church?
Brother, I hope you can help me with this matter. I study a lot, but only with the studies I find on the internet, I am happy because, thanks to you, I have learned many of the Scriptures.
Thank you, brother, for your attention and for reading my letter.
Answer:
Since the New Testament deals with the spread of the gospel, it is not surprising that most of the people discussed in its pages are preachers of the gospel, but to draw a conclusion that only preachers can travel is a false conclusion.
After the church began, persecution drove the Christians to scatter across Judea and Samaria (Acts 8:1). While all were not preachers, those who ended up in other areas did teach the gospel where they ended up moving (Acts 8:4).
Paul ran across Aquila and Priscilla in Corinth. They were tentmakers who had been ordered to leave Rome by the government (Acts 18:1-3). Later we find the same couple in Ephesus. They had traveled there with Paul (Acts 18:18-19). There they ran across Apollos and taught him the truth (Acts 18:24-26). However, we aren't told why they traveled. And about a year later, we learn they are back in Rome (Romans 16:3). Near the end of Paul's life, they are back in Ephesus (II Timothy 4:19)
Cornelius was a Roman centurion (Acts 10:1). As a soldier, he would be required to travel wherever the government sent him.
James talks about business plans. "Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that" (James 4:13-16). James did not say it was wrong to travel for business. He only warned that our plans must keep in mind that God is ultimately in control.
Titus was told to give help to the lawyer Zenas and Apollos as they traveled through Crete (Titus 3:13). Again, we are not told why they were traveling that direction.
Paul talks about meeting in Ephesus brethren from Corinth (I Corinthians 16:17-18). Why they were there is not mentioned, only that they refreshed Paul when they got together.
Nor is it wrong to take breaks to get away from all the bustle of life. "The apostles gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught. And He said to them, 'Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.' (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.) They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves" (Mark 6:30-32).
The church is important (Matthew 6:33) and we should not forsake assemblies (Hebrews 10:23-25), but this doesn't mean we cannot visit other congregations while we are traveling. I believe the mistake here is claiming that a Christian must only attend his home congregation all the time. The urging to practice hospitality (a love of strangers) in I Peter 4:9 and Hebrews 13:2 implies that we are entertaining guests who are traveling and that would include traveling Christians.
What you are dealing with are brethren who are adding rules where God has not made rules.
