{"id":23500,"date":"2010-05-12T18:32:00","date_gmt":"2010-05-12T23:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=23500"},"modified":"2020-06-20T18:34:43","modified_gmt":"2020-06-20T23:34:43","slug":"how-can-christians-gather-and-not-be-the-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-christians-gather-and-not-be-the-church\/","title":{"rendered":"How can Christians gather and not be the church?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t<h2>Question:<\/h2>\n<p>We have addressed several people on the subject and I went to the computer and found different ones saying the same thing. My problem was I just couldn&#8217;t figure out how we could not leave the building and still not be assembled.\u00a0 The church is the called out and when we are gathered in one place we become the called out. Where we go now, we do not have a kitchen, but when we have a gospel meeting, we have a pot-luck at the community center. I have a problem with that also but the way you explained how we can come together and still not be the church, I can see where they think they can do that. I still have a problem with that &#8220;coming from a church that had a kitchen,&#8221; so we just don&#8217;t do it at all.<\/p>\n\t<h2>Answer:<\/h2>\n<p>Every gathering is not necessarily a meeting of the church. When a group of protestors gathered, &#8220;<em>Some therefore cried one thing and some another, for the assembly was confused, and most of them did not know why they had come together<\/em>&#8221; (Acts 19:32). Even though the word <em>ekklesia<\/em>, which is typically translated &#8220;church&#8221; is used, this was a &#8220;called out gathering;&#8221; it was not a church.<\/p>\n<p>This is clear in Paul&#8217;s discussions about why worship services needed to be treated as special. Notice the wording:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;<em>you come together<\/em>&#8221; (I Corinthians 11:17)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<em>when you come together as a church<\/em>&#8221; (I Corinthians 11:18)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<em>when you come together in one place<\/em>&#8221; (I Corinthians 11:20)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<em>when you come together to eat<\/em>&#8221; (I Corinthians 11:33)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<em>the whole church comes together in one place<\/em>&#8221; (I Corinthians 14:23)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<em>Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification<\/em>&#8221; (I Corinthians 14:26).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Therefore a church service is:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Christians coming together for the purpose of being a church. There have to be intentions to assemble as a church. Everyone gathering at the Hamiltons for pizza would not constitute a church even if all the members of the congregation came.<\/li>\n<li>Christians coming together at a designated time and in a designated place. It isn&#8217;t a haphazard, casual, or accidental grouping of Christians. Just because it is the first day of the week and some Christians wander in during the afternoon, it doesn&#8217;t mean they are the church.<\/li>\n<li>All Christians in an area being called to come. A ladies&#8217; class isn&#8217;t a meeting of the church. It is a meeting where the whole church is called upon to assemble.<\/li>\n<li>The assembled Christians are performing acts of worship, such as eating the Lord&#8217;s Supper, singing, praying, and teaching.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I don&#8217;t want you to go against your conscience, but I would like you to consider that there is a tendency when encountering error to swing to the opposite extreme. There isn&#8217;t anything wrong with Christians getting together and enjoying each other&#8217;s company (Acts 2:46). When it becomes wrong is when people make it a function of the church to sponsor such gatherings, since it isn&#8217;t a work of the church. &#8220;<em>But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment<\/em>&#8221; (I Corinthians 11:34).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: We have addressed several people on the subject and I went to the computer and found different ones saying the same thing. My problem was I just couldn&#8217;t figure out how we could not leave the building and still not be assembled.\u00a0 The church is the called out and when we are gathered in&hellip;<\/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,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[448,193],"class_list":["post-23500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-church","tag-individual-vs-church"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":20760,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-the-whole-church-makes-decisions-how-is-it-organized\/","url_meta":{"origin":23500,"position":0},"title":"If the whole church makes decisions, how is it organized?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 7, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read\u00a0the reply by Ney Rieber, to the question posed by one that was having a problem reconciling with a congregation that does not have elders. These questions come to mind and I hope you can help answer them when you have time or maybe point me toward a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58913,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-think-committees-are-necessary-when-there-are-no-elders-or-deacons\/","url_meta":{"origin":23500,"position":1},"title":"Do you think committees are necessary when there are no elders or deacons?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 11, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi! Thanks for the enlightening content on your site. I read the answer you gave to a question that was about creating committees to carry out tasks for a congregation. You said it was wrong because when the need arose in the early church, deacons were appointed and elders\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":60912,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-no-special-programs\/","url_meta":{"origin":23500,"position":2},"title":"What! No Special Programs?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 28, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bobby Witherington via\u00a0The Reflector, April 2011 Visitors to our assemblies are sometimes amazed (and maybe disappointed) to learn that this congregation does not have a special youth program. Nor a kitchen. Not even a bus ministry. Do we have something against young people? Or kitchens? Or busses? Not at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55535,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/church-kitchens-and-fellowship-halls\/","url_meta":{"origin":23500,"position":3},"title":"Church Kitchens and Fellowship Halls","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 5, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Riggs Church buildings with kitchens and fellowship halls are quite common today because the social gospel has gained acceptance in the minds of many. In fact, more and more churches of Christ are running headlong in that direction with complete apostasy being the only outcome. Unauthorized There is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33108,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-i-left-the-methodist-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":23500,"position":4},"title":"Why I Left the Methodist Church (Howard)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 8, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond A. Howard Like many, or I might say most, I played church for a number of years. I only went because my friends did or it was the right thing to do. After I married, my wife is probably the reason I went, to begin with (I realized\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36244,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/cant-christians-meet-on-other-days-of-the-week\/","url_meta":{"origin":23500,"position":5},"title":"Can&#8217;t Christians meet on other days of the week?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 29, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In regards to \"Can I attend an InterVarsity Christian Fellowship instead of a church while at college?\" My first question is on \"One departure from the Lord's church that you mention is that they have services on Tuesdays, but the church meets on the first day of the week\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23500","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=23500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23500\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}