{"id":85045,"date":"2025-02-24T21:36:36","date_gmt":"2025-02-25T03:36:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=85045"},"modified":"2025-02-25T15:04:57","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T21:04:57","slug":"can-a-church-divide-itself-into-smaller-groups-and-remain-a-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-church-divide-itself-into-smaller-groups-and-remain-a-church\/","title":{"rendered":"Can a church divide itself into smaller groups and remain a church?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\n

Good day, brother.<\/p>\n

Here’s a case I’d like you to consider,<\/p>\n

A local church agrees to hold gatherings in different locations, not in the current meeting place but in zones based on proximity to one another. There are three zones, where fellowship is held in brothers’ houses on the same day, at the same time, but in different locations.<\/p>\n

Now, in your article “Are small group meetings in place of the Sunday evening assembly or midweek study scriptural?<\/a>“, you stated that:<\/p>\n

“A congregation cannot break itself down into small groups and still be worshipping as a congregation.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How scriptural is it that a local church slates a program, splits itself into three distinct groups, and then, on the Lord’s Day, brings reports on the activities in each zone to the hearing of the whole church?<\/p>\n\t

Answer:<\/h2>\n

There is one part of your question that wasn’t clear to me. How can a report be made to the whole church if the church is not gathered in one place? I suspect what you are saying is that a report is given to the elders who lead the church. However, the elders are not the church. They are members of a church, along with everyone else. As an example, “Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas–Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren<\/em>” (Acts 15:22). Notice that the apostles were not the church, nor were the elders the church. All the members make up the whole church.<\/p>\n

When the Lord’s Supper is partaken, note the terms used for the church entering into worship:<\/p>\n