Is It Scriptural For The Saints To Assemble In Their Homes?

Is It Scriptural For The Saints To Assemble In Their Homes?

During the COVID-19 pandemic the churches have been forced to make hard decisions about how to conduct worship services. We want to keep our members safe, we want to be obedient to the governing authorities, but we have to be obedient to God above all. Some congregations have decided to stop meeting and have told their members to assemble in their homes. This has resulted in objections that there is no scriptural authority to stop assembling in our building and start worshiping at home. Let’s lay out the facts before we discuss what we should do.

1. The church assembles on the first day of the week to observe the Lord’s Supper (Acts 20:7).
2. The church in the New Testament assembled in homes to worship God (Rom. 16:5; Philemon 2).
3. The church is commanded to obey the governing authorities (Rom. 13:1-4).

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic our governing authorities have ordered us to not assemble in groups of more than 10 people (at least where I am). They are ordering this for our good, not to persecute us. Can we obey them and still assemble to observe communion? Yes, we can assemble in our homes just as the church in the New Testament did.

Is there scriptural authority for a congregation to stop meeting and start meeting somewhere else? Who has the authority to start a congregation? Christians do. They agree to come together and start a congregation. That is how my congregation started. Can a congregation stop assembling? Yes, I know of three congregations that stopped meeting because they decided they had too few members. The members that were left went to other churches. And some congregations have conflict and they decide to break into at least two new churches. The authority to band together and disband comes from the practical matter that Christians agree to meet together to worship God, and sometimes they agree to stop meeting together to worship God.

There are brothers and sisters in my congregation that I am very worried about. This illness could kill them and I do not want to be the reason they get sick. Our government has ordered us to stop gathering in groups of more than 10 people to protect people who are in danger from this virus. The scriptures command us to be obedient to our government and the scriptures have provided us with multiple examples of how to assemble to worship and commune in our homes. Rather than letting our pride provoke us to rebellion against the God appointed authorities we should be grateful that God has given us a simple and biblical solution to this problem.

RAJ