{"id":66832,"date":"2024-02-29T21:55:18","date_gmt":"2024-03-01T03:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=66832"},"modified":"2024-02-29T21:55:18","modified_gmt":"2024-03-01T03:55:18","slug":"ten-facts-about-local-congregations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/ten-facts-about-local-congregations\/","title":{"rendered":"Ten Facts About Local Congregations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

by Gardner Hall<\/p>\n

Ten facts about local congregations today: taken from the letters to the seven churches (Revelation 2,3).<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Christ knows their works!<\/li>\n
  2. Most congregations have a mixture of good qualities and weaknesses.<\/li>\n
  3. Christ considers some congregations in bad spiritual shape to be his still.<\/li>\n
  4. Even though we might not be able to conscientiously recommend some congregations (like Sardis and Laodicea), that doesn’t mean we are judging if they are still of Christ. He is the judge of when he removes their candlestick.<\/li>\n
  5. Even good congregations often have some bad apples! (Revelation 2:14-16)<\/li>\n
  6. Even badly flawed congregations often have some good people (Revelation 2:24; 3:4). Salvation is personal!<\/li>\n
  7. All congregations with serious flaws are considered to be in danger despite the good qualities they might have (Revelation 2:5; 2:18; 3:3).<\/li>\n
  8. Congregations we consider impressive and strong often aren’t (Revelation 3:1; 3:17).<\/li>\n
  9. Congregations that we may consider small and unimportant are precious to God (Revelation 3:8-10).<\/li>\n
  10. Christ’s promises are for those individuals who overcome.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    by Gardner Hall Ten facts about local congregations today: taken from the letters to the seven churches (Revelation 2,3). Christ knows their works! Most congregations have a mixture of good qualities and weaknesses. Christ considers some congregations in bad spiritual shape to be his still. Even though we might not be able to conscientiously recommend…<\/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":[27],"tags":[448,102],"class_list":["post-66832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-church","tag-revelation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":61054,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-do-churches-of-christ-differ-so-widely\/","url_meta":{"origin":66832,"position":0},"title":"Why Do “Churches of Christ” Differ so Widely?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 29, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Sewell Hall via\u00a0Biblical Insights, February 2012 A sign reading \"Church of Christ\" in front of a building tells you very little these days. Most any doctrine or practice may be found inside. This is frustrating to many people. Outsiders make fun of the situation, saying, \"You preach unity but\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":36014,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-are-some-churches-using-bassing-in-their-worship\/","url_meta":{"origin":66832,"position":1},"title":"Why are some churches using “bassing” in their worship?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 29, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What is your opinion on one song leader bassing into the microphone (or beatboxing as I call it) while the other lead songs? It seems like a lot of our churches of Christ are starting to feel comfortable with this practice. I thought sing means singing. And if we\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":92017,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-are-you-a-member-of-the-church-of-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":66832,"position":2},"title":"Why Are You a Member of the Church of Christ?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 9, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Vance E. Trefethen via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 18 No. 3, September 1992 A full-page ad for the book \"Why I Am a Member of the Church of Christ\" recently caught my eye, with its bold headline: \"Now Is the Time to Act.\" Much of the message carried in this conservative\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":55614,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/congregational-independence-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":66832,"position":3},"title":"Congregational Independence (Moyer)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 7, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer The Scriptures teach local congregational independence and autonomy. What does this mean? The body of Christ (universal terminology as in one body, Ephesians 4:1-3) is not some interconnected web of congregations; rather, the body is composed of individuals (see I Corinthians 12:12-27). Individual Christians ought to seek\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":94503,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-anti-denominational-denomination\/","url_meta":{"origin":66832,"position":4},"title":"The Anti-Denominational Denomination","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 12, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Floyd Chappelear via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 20 No. 4, December 1994 Jefferson Davis Tant used to finish articles with the line, \"We are drifting.\" He could see in the thirties and forties what would happen in the fifties and sixties. Not by any divine gift of inspiration, of course, but\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":95269,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/congregational-divorces\/","url_meta":{"origin":66832,"position":5},"title":"Congregational Divorces","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 25, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Perry Hall Divorces can get ugly. Husbands and wives can get cutthroat, trying to financially and emotionally consume the other. Anything that is personally untoward to the attorneys can be used as a fair game to play a court game unfairly. Too many divorces can be over trivial issues,\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66832","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=66832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66832\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}