question\/answer page<\/a> online.<\/p>\nMy question is, where does the Word of God teach that not belonging to a congregation is an unforgivable sin and one will go to hell for not belonging to a congregation?<\/p>\n
I’ve heard Church of Christ preachers speak as though one will go to hell if they not belonging to a congregation. Although they don’t say this directly, the implication is there.<\/p>\n
I live in an area where all the churches teach false doctrine. I’ve contacted for discussion and\/or visited numerous churches in my area and they are either cults (Catholic, Mormon, etc), or they teach “once saved, always saved” (eternal security) resulting in church members being worldly, partaking in sinful activity (living after the flesh) while believing they are still right with the Lord.<\/p>\n
I was a long time member of a particular congregation but they have two lady pastors (along with a male pastor) and after considering the Lord’s instructions concerning qualifications for ministry, the Lord led me to not attend there anymore – not to mention they started teaching “once saved, always saved,” which is false doctrine.<\/p>\n
So, I don’t have a proper church organization to join up with considering instructions in scripture to not associate with those that do not hold to sound doctrine as laid out in God’s written Word.<\/p>\n
I’ve seen nothing in scripture that specifically states that if one does not belonging to a congregation of Christian believers it will cause that person to not be saved.<\/p>\n
So, why do so many Church of Christ preachers speak as though one will go to hell if they not belonging to a congregation?<\/p>\n
Thanks!<\/p>\n\t
Answer:<\/h2>\n
There are several things that need to be cleared up. The churches of Christ are not a denomination. There is no central headquarters on earth telling the various preachers and congregations what they must believe and teach. If you find a common teaching among the various congregations, then you must realize that it is because these Christians found that teaching in the Scriptures.<\/p>\n\n\n
You speak as if you attended a church of Christ with “lady pastors.” Such is not practiced among the churches of Christ because elders (another name for pastors) are to be “husbands of one wife” (I Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:5-6).<\/p>\n
Instead of complaining that preachers are pointing out how God organized the church, if you are having problems locating a congregation in your area, you can just ask if one is near where you live.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Hello, I came across your question\/answer page online. My question is, where does the Word of God teach that not belonging to a congregation is an unforgivable sin and one will go to hell for not belonging to a congregation? I’ve heard Church of Christ preachers speak as though one will go to hell…<\/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":[356,544,58,82],"class_list":["post-36549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-attendance","tag-membership","tag-once-saved-always-saved","tag-womens-roles"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":67110,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-the-churches-of-christ-the-only-correct-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":36549,"position":0},"title":"Are the churches of Christ the only correct church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 19, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi Jeffery, In the article \"Wasn't Babel the city of Eridu?\" you mentioned, \"You will not find any claim that the churches of Christ are the only correct church on this site.\" Do you no longer believe in the one true church? I understand that not every church with\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":31789,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-be-saved-and-in-a-denomination\/","url_meta":{"origin":36549,"position":1},"title":"Can you be saved and in a denomination?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I understand that the word \"church,\" as used in scripture, has two meanings: (1) the universal church - consisting of all redeemed souls that have obeyed the authorized steps of hearing the Word of God, believing (that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and our Savior), repenting (change\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":88265,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-i-need-to-go-to-school-to-preach\/","url_meta":{"origin":36549,"position":2},"title":"Do I need to go to school to preach?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 29, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Mr. Hamilton, I have studied the Bible all my life. I read everything I can. I preached for three weeks a year ago in a local congregation and asked all my elders to attend, and one did. He asked me if I wanted to teach in our congregation. I\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":39621,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-sins-keep-you-from-getting-to-heaven-if-you-are-saved\/","url_meta":{"origin":36549,"position":3},"title":"How can sins keep you from getting to heaven if you are saved?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 6, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I'm confused with the passage I Corinthians 6:9-10. Because if these things send a person to hell, then wouldn't that go against what the churches teach today when they say you just have to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior and you are going to Heaven? Answer:\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":37891,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-scriptural-for-one-congregation-to-invite-another-congregation-for-evangelism\/","url_meta":{"origin":36549,"position":4},"title":"Is it scriptural for one congregation to invite another congregation for evangelism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 12, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Brother, Is it scriptural for one congregation to invite another congregation for evangelism? I look forward to your response. Thanks in anticipation. Answer: I'm puzzled about what exactly is the concern. \"To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles\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":54903,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/isnt-a-baptized-person-a-member-of-the-local-congregation\/","url_meta":{"origin":36549,"position":5},"title":"Isn’t a baptized person a member of the local congregation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 23, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am a bit confused. My understanding has always been that if an individual were visiting us, and they obeyed the gospel while here, I would direct them to a sound church in their area. They would not be a member of the local church here, although they obeyed\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\/36549","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=36549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36549\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}