The Assembly of the Smallgroup Church
By John Hendrix
I would like to tell you about a wonderful group of Christians that make up a church that meets in the remote town of Smallgroup, North Dakota. The Smallgroup church consists of only six members: brother and sister Smith, brother and sister Jones and brother and sister Other. All six are strong Christians determined to obey God in all things. The church meets in the Smith's home on Sunday morning. At this time they sing praise to God (Col 3:16), hear a sermon that one of the brothers has prepared (Acts 20:7), offer prayers to the one true God (Acts 12:5), take up a collection for the church's work (1 Cor 16:1-2) and remember Jesus with the Lord's Supper (1 Cor 11:23-26).
These six Christians are well aware of the commandments of God concerning the worship of the church. They know that the apostle Paul criticized the church at Corinth for substituting a common (ordinary) meal for the Lord's Supper (1 Cor 11:20-22). They know that Paul gave specific instructions to the church to worship "decently and in order" (1 Cor 14:40), allowing no more than one to speak at a time (v 26-33) and never allowing a woman to speak (v 34-35).
Once during a Bible class, brother Other wanted them to examine their conduct in the light of these commands to make sure that the Smallgroup church was being obedient to God. That is just the way these people are. Never satisfied with "the way they've always done it," they often challenge themselves to verify that they are doing what is right.
Brother Smith enthusiastically chimed in, "This is a good topic. Specifically, I'd like to know how to define exactly what 'come together in the church' means. [Paul's words in 1 Cor 11:18.] Is every gathering of the six members here an assembly?"
Brother Jones commented, "But the six of us here--who, right now, constitute the entire Smallgroup church--get together for all kinds of reasons. We meet on Sunday morning for worship. We meet on Wednesday night for a Bible class. We also often get together on Friday or Saturday evening at one of our houses, a restaurant, or some other place."
You see, the members of the Smallgroup church are actually very fond of each other. That is how it should be, of course (Rom 12:10). Would that we could say that about every church.
"That's true," said brother Other, "and, for instance, our women speak in our Bible class as well as at the restaurant. We also ate an 'ordinary' meal here at brother Smith's last Sunday noon after worship services. Was that wrong in light of 1 Cor 11:20-34?"
Everyone was quiet for a moment. "That wasn't the worship service," brother Smith finally said.
"But what is the worship service according to the Bible?" asked sister Jones. "I think we are right back to the original question."
"That's a good point," said sister Other. "I've wondered about this for some time. The expression 'worship service' is not really used in the Bible. I'm not saying it's necessarily a bad expression, but it can be confusing. Certainly we worship on Sunday morning: praying, singing and taking the Lord's Supper. But aren't we worshipping at Red Lobster when we offer a prayer before the meal? Aren't we worshipping in our Bible classes when we open with a prayer and close with a prayer?"
By now some of you dear readers may think this group of Christians are "nitpicking" or "splitting hairs" and generally wasting time. I do not agree. They want to obey God. God gave some clear commands in 1 Corinthians. In 1 Cor 14:37 Paul reminded them that these were God's commands. The members of the Smallgroup church do not think that their difficulty in defining the assembly allows them to ignore God's commands. That would be like saying, "I'm not sure if this is an idol, so I guess I can bow down before it." When we are unsure, we need to study to get sure.
Besides, if I had nits in my hair I would pick them out.
Just now brother Smith had a flash of insight, "Wait a minute. Let me go get something." He left the room and soon returned with some cards they had printed up and often handed out to people in the community. Among other things, the card said, "The Smallgroup church assembles at 9 A.M. Sunday for worship and at 7 PM Wednesday for Bible study. Please come and visit!"
"Am I wrong," said brother Smith, "or do these cards not say when our assembly as a church is? All of us may get together for a meal at Red Lobster, but that is obviously not the type of gathering Paul was talking about. Yes, we are all there and we worship God when we offer thanks for our meal, but we gathered to eat, not to worship. On Sunday morning, this same group gathers to worship, not to eat or entertain ourselves."
The conversation continued, but I am running out of space. Perhaps we can learn from their studying. There must be "an assembly of the church" because God, through Paul, gave specific instructions about the conduct of that assembly. The members of the church may get together for various reasons, but when the church gathers to do the things Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 11, 12 and 14--what we generally call "the worship service"--the commands of 1 Corinthians 14 apply.
Perhaps we will get to hear more from the Smallgroup church later on.