Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching<\/em>” (Hebrews 10:23-25). It is not that they are not Christians or are in sin. It is not a sin to attend another congregation.<\/p>\nWithdrawing is to remove the contact from someone who is in sin, in part to prevent the spread of that sin to other members of the church (I Corinthians 5:6-7). Yet, in this case, no sin is taking place. It might be called rude to change congregations and not let others know about your decision, but that would be the extent of it.<\/p>\n
A simple letter stating that since they haven’t joined the saints in worship and work for several months and that you have heard that they are now attending another congregation, the letter is acknowledging that they are no longer considered members at this congregation. The letter is not required, but it sometimes helps to make things clear.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: I read brother Hamilton’s article on\u00a0Cross Congregational Fellowship\u00a0with keen interest and have this question: Can fellowship be withdrawn from members who have absented themselves from their local congregation for months, but who have gone to another congregation to worship without first advising their local congregation that they will be worshipping elsewhere? Answer: Anyone not…<\/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":[356,254],"class_list":["post-42384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-attendance","tag-withdrawal"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":66857,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-one-congregation-withdraw-from-another-congregation\/","url_meta":{"origin":42384,"position":0},"title":"Can one congregation withdraw from another congregation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 2, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can a church withdraw from Christians who are not members of the local congregation? 1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Mark those who cause division and hindrances -\u00a0Romans 16:17 2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Philippians 3:17\u00a0- Mark those who are good examples 3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Galatians 5:15\u00a0- Don't bite and devour each other. C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Can a church withdraw from another church? Hey Brother Hamilton!\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":26819,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-congregation-restore-a-person-who-was-disfellowshipped-by-another-congregation\/","url_meta":{"origin":42384,"position":1},"title":"Can a congregation restore a person who was disfellowshipped by another congregation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 5, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can a congregation restore a person who was disfellowshipped by another congregation? Answer: Members of a congregation withdraw their fellowship of someone in their midst who is living a sinful life. See\u00a0Withdraw Yourselves for details. Membership in a congregation and the fellowship that ensues is done on a local\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":25239,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/must-a-person-formally-place-membership-with-a-local-church-before-they-participate-in-the-work\/","url_meta":{"origin":42384,"position":2},"title":"Must a person formally place membership with a local church before they participate in the work?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What are your thoughts regarding \"placing membership\" with a local congregation?\u00a0 I understand the biblical authority for someone working under the oversight of the elders of a congregation.\u00a0 If someone has been attending a congregation regularly for a period of time, can it be assumed they wish to work\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":15915,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-visiting-christian-lead-a-congregation-in-song\/","url_meta":{"origin":42384,"position":3},"title":"Can a visiting Christian lead a congregation in song?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 24, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have been attending a local church for several months. During that time I began to stand up, come forward, and lead a song at the invitation of the congregation. Every first Wednesday of the month all men are invited to lead one song during services. I began the\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":40864,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-is-it-permissible-to-change-congregations-locally\/","url_meta":{"origin":42384,"position":4},"title":"When is it permissible to change congregations locally?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 18, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Brother, I'll get right to the point with my question, and then some brief context. When is it permissible scripturally for a member and or their family to switch local congregations? The context We live in a town with several [perceived] biblically sound congregations, of which my family\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":42384,"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\/42384","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=42384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42384\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}