What should a Christian do if he/she lives in an area where there is no church to attend?

A seasonable exhortation! And while it becomes “the custom” of some to ignore it, it is increasingly to mark true believers as the day of the coming of Christ draws near. The injunction is to “complete assembling” of ourselves together. The word (episunagōgē) is once used elsewhere in regard to our complete assembling together to Christ in the air at His coming again (2 Thess. 2:1). Not one of the saints will fail to be at that glorious assembling together, but we are to be on that line NOW. The children of God should gather together, we should seek to get all together wherever we may be locally found. Not only the scattering work of the wolf (John 10:12), but the pursuits of these “last days” militate against our being all found often together. Nevertheless the Word points us in that direction, “encouraging one another,” and so much “the more” as we see the day approaching.

400 The "day" spoken of here is not the catching up of the church, but the appearing. The more the day approaches, the greater the difficulty of assembling ourselves; but the exhortation is to be found assembling as plain evident Christians. It is not said to hear a sermon, but assembling ourselves. The way of God's working is not only to make Christians, but to gather together in one the children of God scattered abroad. This is not to be fulfilled in the millennium. There will be different nations then, though they will come up to worship; and in the Old Testament times there was one particular nation, but no gathering together in one - it applies now. Church authority is not what is meant. It is not faith, but assembling ourselves together-is faith. Not of man's will, but Christ's, who, through His death, has a church or assembly that is not of the world, and that is manifested by our assembling together.

We see no scripture fobidding such an act, assuming the circumstances are exceptional and unavoidable. Where there is positive inability for a period to have fellowship with other saints, the presence of the Lord may be counte upon to be in the midst of "the two"according to Matt. 18:20.

If, then, I can meet with any whom the grace of God has already led into the path of obedience, my place is with them. If I stand aloof from these I shall be as truly disobedient as in my old position. It becomes me, therefore, to inquire whether there be any such, and, if found, to take my place among them. If I can hear of none, then I must stand alone with God, till He shall show them to me. Some one must be the first, but God will add.

Priez, et le Seigneur vous montrera d’autres croyants qui veulent le reconnaître comme Seigneur. Réunissez-vous avec eux simplement en désirant, avec son secours, garder et pratiquer ce que la Bible enseigne. Cela ne veut pas dire qu’il faut chercher à former une nouvelle Eglise, car Dieu a formé l’Eglise (ou: Assemblée) il y a déjà bien longtemps, et cela est tout à fait suffisant. Aujourd’hui, nous avons simplement à reconnaître ce que lui a fait.

What is to be done? The word declares to us that where two or three are gathered to the name of Jesus, He will be in their midst. (Matt. 18:20) This is what we have done. There were only four of us to do it at the first; not, I hope, in a spirit of pride or presumption, but deeply grieved at seeing the state of that which surrounded us, praying for all Christians, and recognising all those who possessed the Spirit of God, every true Christian wherever he might be found ecclesiastically, as members of the body of Christ. We were not thinking of anything else, dear sir, than of satisfying the need of our souls according to the word of God, and we had no thought that the thing would have gone any further. We have thus found the promised presence of the Lord. Salvation through Christ has been preached, when there was gift to do so. The same needs caused others to follow the same road, and thus the work has extended in a way of which we had not the remotest idea. It commenced in Dublin, to spread in the British Isles, in France, where a great number of persons, open unbelievers, were converted: in Switzerland, where the work on the Continent had commenced, in Germany, in Holland, in Denmark, where it is commencing, in Sweden, where a great religious movement is going on at this moment. The path we follow has spread to a considerable extent in the British Colonies, and more recently in the United States, in Asia, in Africa, and elsewhere. The Spirit of God acts and produces needs of soul to which the religious systems offer no answer.

In a certain small country town a number of people had been truly converted to God and rejoiced in the present assurance of His salvation. These, with some others who had tested their ecclesiastical connections by the Scriptures and had resolved to abandon everything that was contrary thereto, decided that they would do as the Christians at Troas did. As disciples of Christ they would, every first day of the week, come together to break bread, whether anyone was there to preach to them, as Paul did, or not.

So we may see that it is not necessary to have a Gospel Hall, or a Meeting Room, or a "preacher", or "minister", or "evangelist", or "clergyman", in order to eat the Lord's supper. Two or three, only, if gathered unto the Lord's Name, may eat it in a private house. Christ in the midst is what matters, not holy buildings, or persons ordained by men.

Supposing, then, two or three come to the point that they cannot acknowledge a human church, any more than a human salvation; are they to sit still, dishonouring God and ruining their conscience by persisting in known evil; or are they not in faith to meet in the Lord's name? By all means let them come together, following the word and trusting the Spirit of God. They will find trial, but true liberty and the Holy Ghost working in their midst. He is given to abide with them for ever; let them believe it and not fail to count upon it. They may be very weak, but the Holy Ghost is not weak. On coming together, perhaps there is no one to speak at length, with profit, to them; but the assembly of God does not come together for sermons. Much or little speaking, their object is to do the will of God, to remember Christ, to act scripturally on the faith of God's aim and glory in His Church. If there were twenty thousand Christians round about, but meeting on human principles, what believer can maintain that these two or three would not enjoy the special presence of God among them in a way the others could not? The more we have the sense of the ruin of the Church, the fuller our confidence that God's principles always remain intact and as obligatory now as on the day of Pentecost; the more happy the soul in the Lord, the more it will be drawn out in love to all saints. May it be ours thus by grace to "grow up unto him in all things, who is the head, even Christ!" This does not depend on the number of communicants, nor on the forms and means of ministerial power, but far more on our own souls being with God, and doing His will, not only in individual service and life, but also as His assembly, which ought to come together according to His word.

The church is in ruin today, but two or three gathered to the Name of the Lord can enjoy the blessedness of the assembly in function. Such will not claim to be the assembly, or even to represent the assembly, but as gathered to Christ's Name they can be assured of His presence, and can worship as gathered to remember the Lord. If there is praise and worship for the Father and the Son there will also be something to edify and encourage the saints. There may be little in the way of gift, but where there is dependence on the Spirit of God there will be something from the Lord for the help and blessing of those who act in the light of His word.