by Wayne S. Walker<\/p>\n
“Why do members of the church of Christ assemble together, and why do they assemble at various times?”<\/p>\n
Members of the church of Christ assemble together because this is what is taught in the New Testament. And it is precisely what we find Christians doing in the first century. In Acts 11:26, we read of Barnabas and Saul of Tarsus, “And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians at Antioch<\/em>.” This was not just a one-time thing but went on for a year. Thus, we have an approved apostolic example of the church assembling regularly.<\/p>\n In Hebrews 10:24-25, we read, “And let us consider one another 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.” Since we are told not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, this necessarily implies that there must be an assembling of ourselves together not to forsake. The passage explains some of the reasons for this assembling, which are to consider one another, to stimulate to love and good works, and to exhort one another.<\/p>\n One time specified for Christians to assemble is on the first day of the week. We read in Acts 20.7, “Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight<\/em>.” One purpose for this assembly on the first day of the week was to break bread or observe the Lord’s supper (cf. I Corinthians 11:23-26). The only time that we read of in the New Testament when the church met to observe the Lord’s supper or give of their means into the church’s treasury was on the first day of the week (cf. I Corinthians 16:1-2).<\/p>\n In Acts 2:46-47, we read, “So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved<\/em>.” The church at Jerusalem saw fit to assemble every day, at least for a time.<\/p>\n Therefore, by this approved apostolic example, we know that the church is authorized to assemble at other times besides the first day of the week. While the Lord’s supper and collection are limited to the first day of the week, other acts of worship, such as singing, praying, and studying the Bible, are not limited. Thus, each local church is free to set other times when members are supposed to assemble for praise and edification under the oversight of those men who are chosen to see that the flock is fed properly (Acts 20:28, I Peter 5:1-2). When we thus assemble, we can worship our God, encourage one another, and be built up in the faith.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Wayne S. Walker Question: “Why do members of the church of Christ assemble together, and why do they assemble at various times?” Answer: Members of the church of Christ assemble together because this is what is taught in the New Testament. And it is precisely what we find Christians doing in the first century.…<\/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":[356],"class_list":["post-69245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-attendance"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":46511,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/fellowship-halls-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":69245,"position":0},"title":"Fellowship Halls (Longhenry)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 15, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ethan R. Longhenry It has become popular among many religious organizations and denominational churches to build and maintain a facility as part of their property which is used to facilitate the sharing of meals. Sometimes such facilities are considered a \"multipurpose area\" that might be used for meals, meetings,\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":94703,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-lords-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":69245,"position":1},"title":"The Lord’s Day","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 20, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Marvin L. Weir The devil never sleeps or fails to take advantage of any situation he can exploit. COVID-19 may turn out to be something Satan uses to lead brethren astray. Some brethren have not attended church services in over a year. Is there a special day the church\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":55882,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-a-congregation-have-authority-for-a-midweek-service\/","url_meta":{"origin":69245,"position":2},"title":"Does a Congregation have Authority for a Midweek Service?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 16, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Wayne S. Walker While I do not think that I have ever actually known anyone who has taught this, I have heard that there have been brethren who argued that a local congregation is authorized to assemble only on the first day of the week and therefore it is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/11\/emptyChairs.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":89452,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-often-should-christians-observe-the-lords-supper\/","url_meta":{"origin":69245,"position":3},"title":"How Often Should Christians Observe the Lord’s Supper?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 16, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Mike Willis The Lord's Supper was instituted by Jesus Christ on the night of His betrayal and was designed to bring to our remembrance His beloved sacrifice for sin. Knowing that he would soon depart this world, Jesus commanded his disciples to take unleavened bread and fruit of the\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":23500,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-christians-gather-and-not-be-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":69245,"position":4},"title":"How can Christians gather and not be the church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 12, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We have addressed several people on the subject and I went to the computer and found different ones saying the same thing. My problem was I just couldn't figure out how we could not leave the building and still not be assembled.\u00a0 The church is the called out and\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":2658,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-church-consist-of-just-one-person\/","url_meta":{"origin":69245,"position":5},"title":"Can a church consist of just one person?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 17, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can a church consist of just one person? Answer: A church is an entity separate and distinguishable from a single individual Christian. This can be seen in the separation of responsibility seen in\u00a0I Timothy 5:16, \"If any believing man or woman has widows, let them relieve them, and do\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\/69245","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=69245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69245\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}But why does the New Testament teach that the church should assemble?<\/h3>\n
But why do members of the church of Christ assemble at various times?<\/h3>\n
But since this assembly is specified on the first day of the week, why do church members assemble at other times, such as midweek services, special classes, and nightly gospel meetings?<\/h3>\n