{"id":67742,"date":"2024-04-21T16:28:23","date_gmt":"2024-04-21T21:28:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=67742"},"modified":"2024-04-21T16:28:23","modified_gmt":"2024-04-21T21:28:23","slug":"what-if-we-cant-always-find-a-congregation-to-worship-with","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-if-we-cant-always-find-a-congregation-to-worship-with\/","title":{"rendered":"What if we can&#8217;t always find a congregation to worship with?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<h2>Question:<\/h2>\n<p>Hello<\/p>\n<p>My son plays travel baseball, and we travel almost every weekend. However, we do find a congregation in the town we are in.\u00a0If it conflicts, we do Zoom.\u00a0Is this an issue?<\/p>\n<p>I get a lot of flack from the congregation I attend.<\/p>\n\t<h2>Answer:<\/h2>\n<p>Personally, I&#8217;m of the mind that the worship of God comes first, especially over games. What will your son remember when he is grown? &#8220;<em>Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it<\/em>&#8221; (Proverbs 22:6).<\/p>\n<p>I understand people want to feel connected to their brethren, even when ill or prevented from attending. However, watching a service remotely does not meet the requirement that the church is to gather together in one place to offer worship to God (I Corinthians 11:17-18,20; 14:23,26). Have I watched services when I was ill? Yes. Do I think that I was assembling with the saints? No.<\/p>\n<p>The core problem is that the assemblies are not solely about what you receive from the services. It is about what you give to others when you are together.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;<em>Speaking <strong>to one another<\/strong> in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord<\/em>&#8221; (Ephesians 5:19).<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<em>Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate <strong>one another<\/strong> to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging <strong>one another<\/strong>; and all the more as you see the day drawing near<\/em>&#8221; (Hebrews 10:23-25).<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<em>And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ<\/em>&#8221; (Ephesians 4:11-12).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>None of these commands can be fulfilled remotely.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: Hello My son plays travel baseball, and we travel almost every weekend. However, we do find a congregation in the town we are in.\u00a0If it conflicts, we do Zoom.\u00a0Is this an issue? I get a lot of flack from the congregation I attend. Answer: Personally, I&#8217;m of the mind that the worship of God&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_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[356],"class_list":["post-67742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-attendance"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":69287,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-non-christian-serve-in-worship\/","url_meta":{"origin":67742,"position":0},"title":"Can a non-Christian serve in worship?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 14, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a great deal of respect for your website and the articles on it. However, I don't agree 100% with everything. I have worshipped in congregations that have and don't have a fellowship hall; neither bothers me. The congregation installed elders and deacons, which has caused some problems.\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":14864,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-i-go-where-i-cant-worship-for-several-months\/","url_meta":{"origin":67742,"position":1},"title":"Should I go where I can&#8217;t worship for several months?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 7, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello! I was curious about your thoughts regarding worship while traveling abroad. I was accepted to study abroad in Valencia, Spain, for one semester (four months). But I can't find a congregation near Valencia. The one I contacted in the city only has services in Tagalog and the nearest\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":9684,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-there-are-no-sound-churches-in-my-area-should-i-worship-with-a-liberal-one\/","url_meta":{"origin":67742,"position":2},"title":"If there are no sound churches in my area, should I worship with a liberal one?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 7, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am disabled and would like to attend an anti-church but there are none nearby and I was wondering if it would be okay to take communion at a liberal church instead of missing communion with the Lord? Answer: All Christians are required to partake of the communion and\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":43401,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-congregation-is-so-caught-up-in-meals-and-activities-that-they-have-lost-sight-of-teaching\/","url_meta":{"origin":67742,"position":3},"title":"My congregation is so caught up in meals and activities that they have lost sight of teaching","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 23, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I have been a member of the church of Christ for almost 20 years. I now have my own family and have been highly discouraged to continue attending the congregation in our hometown. Lately, I have been noticing so many changes in the church. Many local congregations, as\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":7060,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-should-i-leave-a-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":67742,"position":4},"title":"When should I leave a church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 15, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am looking for guidance on where I should worship in general and more specifically: If there are multiple sound congregations nearby, must I worship with the most local? Am I free (in God's eyes) to change which local congregations I worship with as I please? When must I\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":58051,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/we-feel-disconnected-from-our-congregation\/","url_meta":{"origin":67742,"position":5},"title":"We feel disconnected from our congregation","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 19, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello Mr. Hamilton, Thanks for all your help. A few years ago I first wrote to you about a liberal preacher coming into our congregation and we eventually had to leave. The preacher was eventually dismissed. But we searched out and are attending a sound congregation but do not\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67742","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=67742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67742\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}