Paul understood how important the local church was to his Christian life, hence, “…when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples<\/em>” (Acts 9:26). Obviously, Paul saw the necessity and benefit of being a member within the structure of a local church.<\/p>\n A failure to appreciate the benefits of membership in a local church will cause the Christian to live below his potential. Sadder still, it will cause him to lose his soul.<\/p>\n It is impossible for the Christian to fulfill collective responsibility unless he is a faithful member of a local church. The idea that a Christian can be a member at large, never settling down at one congregation, where he would be accountable, is not acceptable conduct for a Christian. This is tantamount to ‘forsaking of the assembly’ and is a failure to support the work of a local church, which equals sin. Yes, disassociating one’s self from active participation in a local church is harmful to your spiritual health.<\/p>\n We often hear Christians lament the lack of growth in local churches. Could it be that lack of growth is symptomatic of the mentality that minimizes the importance of the local church? I believe it does! How can we work together to build up the local church if we believe the local church is not important? We cannot!<\/p>\n I am not saying that we should be a member of a local church that does not respect the authority of God. There have been and are local churches that teach and practice things that are contrary to sound doctrine. To them, the Lord says, “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the work you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent<\/em>” (Revelation 2:5). On the other hand, there are local churches that have set themselves to abiding in the doctrine of Christ (II John 9), it is to such a congregation one should join himself.<\/p>\n Dear Christian, if you have been guilty of devaluing the local church, I encourage you to repent. If you have failed in your responsibilities toward the local church of which you are a member, I encourage you to repent. Repent and get busy working within the framework of the local church.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Glen Young via\u00a0Gospel Power, Vol. 15, No. 25, June 22, 2008. The local church occupies an important position in God’s scheme of things. It is through the local church that Christians execute certain works. These are works that God commands that can only be accomplished as a group in the context of a local…<\/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":[27],"tags":[356,448,544],"class_list":["post-46286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-attendance","tag-church","tag-membership"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":36244,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/cant-christians-meet-on-other-days-of-the-week\/","url_meta":{"origin":46286,"position":0},"title":"Can’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 "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18923,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/christians-without-churches\/","url_meta":{"origin":46286,"position":1},"title":"Christians Without Churches?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 23, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ethan R. Longhenry Over the past few years, a trend has increased among people, especially Americans: the idea that people can be good Christians without being part of a church. Many people will recognize that Jesus is the Messiah and Lord, but yet want nothing to do with any\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/East-Orange-300x169.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":29355,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/denominationalizing-the-work-of-the-lord\/","url_meta":{"origin":46286,"position":2},"title":"Denominationalizing the Work of the Lord","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 3, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jerry F. Bassett Sentry Magazine, March 2003 To denominate is \"to give a name to: designate,\" according to Miriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. This same source defines a religious denomination as \"a religious organization uniting local congregations in a single legal and administrative body -- denominational\" being the adjectival form\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":29926,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/individual-duty-or-local-church-duty\/","url_meta":{"origin":46286,"position":3},"title":"Individual Duty or Local Church Duty?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 9, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Howard Justice During the past half-century, there has been a serious amount of confusion as to how a member of God's family relates to his role in the family of God and how this service involves the local unit known as the local church. It has presented problems in\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":61801,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-autonomy-of-the-local-church-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":46286,"position":4},"title":"The Autonomy of the Local Church (Hamilton)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 9, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One area that sharply distinguishes the Lord\u2019s church from the various denominations is its organization \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The church is the organization through which God\u2019s wisdom is made known - Eph 3:9-11 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is a product of that wisdom and is organized by God. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The head of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":95257,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-it-take-to-start-a-congregation\/","url_meta":{"origin":46286,"position":5},"title":"What does it take to start a congregation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 25, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Greetings, Hope this email finds you well. I have some questions about the organization and definition of a local church. My first question is: What are the necessary requirements for a group of Christians to form or constitute a local church in the biblical sense? I understand that an\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\/46286","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=46286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46286\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}