The church should also have large meetings in a larger place for the whole church to come together. In 1 Corinthians 14:23 Paul speaks of the whole church coming together in one place. Therefore, there should be two kinds of meetings: small meetings in the homes of the believers and large meetings in a larger meeting place. However, these large meetings should not be held often. Holding larger meetings should not be a constant practice. If we practice the large meetings constantly, we shall deaden the situation in the church.
Regarding the church meetings, we need to be balanced and learn to have the two kinds of meetings-meetings from house to house and meetings of the whole church coming together. Just as God’s design of the human body is symmetrical, with two ears, two eyes, two arms, and two legs, so we also should be balanced concerning the two kinds of meetings. On the one hand, we need to meet in the homes; on the other hand, when the need arises, we should hold large meetings in a larger meeting place. But in the larger meeting place, we should not have any definite speaker with all the congregation listening to this speaker. On the contrary, we must meet in the way of mutuality, with all the attendants participating in the building up of the church through their functions. Everyone can and should have something of Christ for the meeting.
Hebrews 10:25 says, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the custom with some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day drawing near.” The Greek word translated “custom” may also be rendered “habit.” We should not have the custom, the habit, of forsaking the assembling together. In Hebrews 10:24 Paul speaks of the believers considering “one another for inciting to love and good works.” This indicates that the church meetings can cause us to consider one another for inciting to love and to exhort one another for good works. This causes us to have spiritual fellowship with the saints to receive the life supply from them. Therefore, we should not forsake the meetings, and so much the more as we know that the Lord will soon come back. Our Christian life is not like the life of a butterfly, which does well on its own; our life is like the sheep’s life, requiring that we flock together and live a meeting life. Consequently, we need to meet. The meetings are crucial to us, and we should not forsake them.
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