The word “church” is used in three senses within the New Testament to refer to the divine institution that Jesus established and over which he is the head. There is the universal sense (Ephesians 5:25; Colossians 1:18), the congregational sense (1 Corinthians 1:2; Galatians 1:1) and the assembly of a local congregation (1 Corinthians 11:18; 14:4-5). First Corinthians chapters 11 and 14 essentially provide a biblical definition of the worship assembly of the church.
The assembly is described as a coming together: “come together” (1 Corinthians 11:17), “come together in the church” (1 Corinthians 11:18) and “come together therefore into one place” (1 Corinthians 11:20). First Corinthians 14:23 summarizes the definition of the worship assembly thus: “the whole church be come together into one place.”
Hence, the worship assembly is when the whole church assembles together in one place at the same time. Doubtless, there are other occasions on which the whole church might come together in one place at the same time for purposes other than to worship God (e.g., fellowship meal, bridal shower or wedding, church work, a public event, etc.).
A worship assembly involves the purpose of worshipping God, the entire church (as much as can be noting that some cannot always be present and others absent themselves without justification), coming together, at one place and at the same time. Therefore, the biblical definition of a worship assembly does not support parallel assemblies of the same congregation. In addition, gatherings of church members for which the purpose of gathering is not to worship God do not constitute the assembly of 1 Corinthians 11 and 14.
