G’day Minister,<\/p>\n
I just wanted, on impulse, to pay my respects and say what a fantastic premise you operate as a ‘church’.<\/p>\n
No frills, no nonsense, no pretensions – instead, just good old fashioned and solid focus on Scripture. I am most impressed, as I’m sure the Lord must be as well. And, yes, you are bang-on in saying today’s modernity needs exactly what you provide.<\/p>\n
My church is made up of just me in my room with my Bibles. I am not reclusive by any stretch, but my time with God is very personal. I reckon I get more revelations from my ‘church’ than spending a month of Sundays at the Vatican or some ostentatious Cathedral.<\/p>\n
Anyway – love your work from afar.<\/p>\n\t
I’m glad you are finding the website useful in your studies.<\/p>\n
The word “church” is a collective noun, both in the Greek and in English. A collective noun is a singular word that represents a plurality, just as “herd” represents a group of livestock. In Greek, the word is ekklesia<\/i>, which literally means “the called out” or an assembly. It is not exclusively used for a religious body. When a mob stirred on the streets of Ephesus, it was called an ekklesia<\/i> (Acts 19:32). Because of this word, we understand that a church cannot be an individual. One cow doesn’t give a farmer a herd; one person having a tantrum doesn’t create a rioting mob, and one Christian cannot assemble as a church.<\/p>\n
Local brethren are in fellowship (a sharing). They come together or assemble as a church (I Corinthians 11:18). They share in the partaking of the Lord’s Supper. “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, though many<\/b>, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread<\/i>” (I Corinthians 10:16-17). The church benefits from having different people, with different talents, working together for a common purpose. “For in fact the body is not one member but many<\/i>” (I Corinthians 12:14).<\/p>\n
When we sing, it is to teach and admonish each other. “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God<\/em>” (Colossians 3:16). Singing by yourself doesn’t fulfill this command.<\/p>\n Consider this, if a church was composed of just one person and that person sinned, how would the “church of one” withdraw from the sinner as commanded in I Corinthians 5:1-5? How can an individual cease to fellowship himself? The answer is that he cannot. A single person cannot constitute a church.<\/p>\n I’m glad you are spending time studying your Bible but don’t fool yourself into believing that you are a part of a church when you are by yourself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: G’day Minister, I just wanted, on impulse, to pay my respects and say what a fantastic premise you operate as a ‘church’. No frills, no nonsense, no pretensions – instead, just good old fashioned and solid focus on Scripture. I am most impressed, as I’m sure the Lord must be as well. And, yes,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[356,448],"class_list":["post-10433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-attendance","tag-church"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2658,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-church-consist-of-just-one-person\/","url_meta":{"origin":10433,"position":0},"title":"Can a church consist of just one person?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 17, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can a church consist of just one person? Answer: A church is an entity separate and distinguishable from a single individual Christian. This can be seen in the separation of responsibility seen in\u00a0I Timothy 5:16, \"If any believing man or woman has widows, let them relieve them, and do\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24117,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-antecedent-of-it-church-or-rock-in-matthew-1619\/","url_meta":{"origin":10433,"position":1},"title":"Is the antecedent of “it” “church” or “rock” in Matthew 16:19?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 22, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: A little help, please.\u00a0 Where Matthew records; \"....and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.\"\u00a0 What is the \"it\" referring to?\u00a0 I have heard some say it was the \"church.\"\u00a0 Others, that it was the \"rock,\" Christ. According to your studies of the Greek definition, what is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53256,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-we-know-there-was-a-church-in-troas\/","url_meta":{"origin":10433,"position":2},"title":"How do we know there was a church in Troas?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 30, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I've always held the position that Acts 20:7 states \"when the disciples came together to break bread.\" But in my recent study, I've realized the Greek is actually Strong's 1473, \u03b7\u03bc\u03c9\u03bd - \"we.\" How is it, then, concluded that there was a church at Troas? I am not aware\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":94178,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-church-of-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":10433,"position":3},"title":"The Church of Christ","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 22, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Joe R. Price via The Spirit's Sword The expression \"church of Christ\" is a descriptive term of possession. The word church is a collective noun (like \"flock\" or \"family\"). The church is composed of saved people (Christians, the \"called out\" ones, Acts 2:41, 47). \"Church of Christ\" is used\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":64317,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-dont-go-to-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":10433,"position":4},"title":"I Don’t Go to Church","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 30, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dan Chaney \"I'm a Christian, I just don't go to church.\" Maybe you've been burned by religious people. Maybe you have social setting anxiety. Maybe you just prefer other recreational activities on Sunday. Individual motivations really aren't the focus of this post. \"I'm a Christian but I don't go\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42480,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-correct-way-of-saying-a-particular-congregation-the-la-vista-church-of-christ-or-the-church-of-christ-at-la-vista\/","url_meta":{"origin":10433,"position":5},"title":"What is the correct way of saying a particular congregation: the La Vista Church of Christ or the church of Christ at La Vista?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 5, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What is the correct way of saying a particular congregation: the La Vista Church of Christ or the church of Christ at La Vista? Some contend the latter should be used. They argue that the former emphasizes place rather than the church. They use as an illustration as to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10433\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}