We can "be outwitted by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his plots" (2 Corinthians 2:11). The Holy Spirit warns us that one of his plots is to "distort" (strebloo, twist, wrench) the Scriptures (2 Peter 3:16). A strange and unheard of doctrine has surfaced:

Jesus said, "they shall all be taught of God" (John 6:45). If we take Jesus’ statement alone, without considering other Bible verses, then we have universalism, for he excluded nobody: "all" shall be taught by God. So, if anyone is lost for lack of teaching, it is God’s fault, and Jesus erred in asserting that God would teach "all."

But Jesus’ words are not to be taken alone. God’s plan is not that all taught people will be saved, but that teaching is God’s plan to reach people’s minds, and it is up to them whether or not they respond in loving obedience (Hebrews 5:8-9.

It is strange that anyone would say anything negative about assemblies. They are part of God’s plan, for in assemblies the Lord taught people by Moses (Deuteronomy 31:10-13), by Ezra (Nehemiah 8:1-12), by Jesus (Luke 6:17-18), and by the apostles (Acts 2:6).

The Christians at Colosse were told that when Paul’s teaching (really, God’s teaching, 1 Corinthians 2:13; 14:37) in a letter "had been read" to the Colossian church, that those Christians were to "see that it is also read in the church (ekklesia, assembly) of the Laodiceans," and that they in turn were to "read the letter from Laodicea" (Colossians 4:16).

Similarly, only by a church assembly could Paul’s command to the Thessalonians be carried out: "I charge you by the Lord that the epistle be read unto all the holy brothers" (1 Thessalonians 5:27).

In addition to Bible reading in the church assemblies one reads that preaching also was approved (Acts 20:7). Edification and fellowship were enhanced by such assembly activities, for in them Christians "exhort one another, and build each other up" (Acts 2:42; 1 Thessalonians 1:1; 5:11).

Some one said that every Christian is either an exhorter or he needs to be exhorted, "encouraging in love and good works" (Hebrews 10:24). Every Christian is commanded not to forsake "the assemblying" (Hebrews 10:25).

Christians at Corinth abused the Lord’s Supper, but they were not criticized for coming "together in the same place" to "eat the Lord’s Supper" (1 Corinthians 11:20). Their coming together in an assembly was not only divinely approved, but they were forbidden to eat the Lord’s Supper before all had arrived: "my brothers, when you come together to eat [the Lord’s Supper], wait one for another" (1 Corinthians 11:33).

Similarly, "speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs" (Ephesians 5:19) could not be done privately, but had to be done in an assembly. Such singing to one another is edification and it is fellowship (Acts 2:42; 1 Thessalonians 5:11), but, strictly speaking, it is not worship.

Worship is an individual exercise between a human being and his God, in the privacy of a person’s heart, whether done in private or in the church assembly. There is no such thing as collective worship. Each worshiper in his own heart is showing reverence and praise to his God.

Two kinds of songs are in our song books. Some are to edify fellow Christians, "teaching and admonishing one another, in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs," while other songs are directed to the Lord, "singing with grace in your hearts to God" (Colossians 3:16).

The same two kinds of songs Paul ordered for the Ephesians: (1) some directed to fellow Christians, "speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs," and (2) some directed to God, "singing and plucking the strings of your hearts to the Lord" (Ephesians 5:19, FHV).

As Bible reading and preaching were approved in church assemblies and two kinds of songs, Christians coming together for prayer meetings, Jesus thought was important and effectual:

Some Jerusalem Christians practiced Jesus’ teaching when "many were gathered together, and were praying" in "the home of Mary" (Acts 12:12).

In addition to the three assembly exercises listed above, the Galatian Christians (in Lystra, Iconium, and Derbe), as well as the Corinthian Christians, were commanded to lay aside a money offering "every Sunday" and "put it into the treasury" (1 Corinthians 16:1-2, FHV).

Without the weekly assembly, the collection of money would have had to be made from house to house (1 Corinthians 16:2). But since the churches had a Spirit-directed "custom" (Hebrews 10:25) to come "together in the same place" to "eat the Lord’s Supper" (1 Corinthians 11:20), one is not surprised that the collection was to be taken at the time of the regular assembly.

Accordingly, God wants five things to be done in church assemblies: (1) reading of the Scriptures with or without preaching; (2) singing one to another and to the Lord; (3) united praying; (4) observance of the Lord’s Supper; and (5) taking a collection.

It could be that the one who is espousing this strange anti-assembly doctrine is only thinking about the essence of worship, that it is altogether an individual activity in or outside of the assembly. If that is his thinking, he is right. But the individuality of the worship does not remove the fact that God teaches that worship in the assembly is also individualistic, in one’s own heart, regardless of how many people around him are doing the same thing. Let it be repeated that there is no such thing as collective worship.

The fact that there are five approved activities in assemblies does not minimize the fact that three of those activities may and should be practiced by each Christian outside the assemblies:

(1) prayer: "I think of you on my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night" (Psalm 63:6); "Open my eyes, so that I may behold wondrous things out of your law" (Psalm 119:18); "At midnight I rise to praise you, because of your righteous ordinances" (Psalm 119:62); "Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed" (Luke 5:16);

(2) Bible reading: "Blessed" is the man whose "delight is in the law of Yahweh, and in his law" he meditates "day and night" (Psalm 1:1-2); "How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" (Psalm 119:103); "I have treasured up the words of his mouth more than my necessary food" (Job 23:12);

(3) Singing: "Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise" (James 5:13).

As regards the 4th activity listed above, the observance of the Lord’s Supper, nothing in the Scriptures teach a private partaking. There are some dedicated Christians who, when ill, ask that the emblems be brought to their bedside. Such a beautiful and sincere act of private worship, but scriptural authority for it is lacking. Scripturally, the Lord’s Supper is an assembly action: "when you come together in the same place" (1 Corinthians 11:33).

Similarly, as the Lord’s supper is an assembly activity, so is the collection. This does not forbid special collections, as the Antioch Christians took a collection for a special need in Judea (Acts 11:27-30). Individually, however, Christians always try to have money ready to "share with those in need" (Ephesians 4:28).