Is Worshipping At Home or Just With Family A Biblical Replacement For The Assembly With The Saints at the Local Assembly?
- John Exum
- Sep 26
- 7 min read
The confusion over the necessity of corporate worship in the gathered assembly of the church has been steadily growing in the modern West. Individualism, consumerism, and a pragmatic spirit all encourage the belief that one’s personal spiritual experience is sufficient apart from the body. Now, survey data confirms that this confusion is becoming mainstream. The 2025 Lifeway State of Theology study reported that 30 percent of Americans agreed that worship at home or alone is a biblical replacement for the church’s assembly, while 33 percent said they somewhat agreed. Taken together, nearly two thirds of Americans lean toward the belief that private worship and family devotion may replace the assembly of the saints.
Even more telling are the generational and regional differences. Those aged 50–64 were most likely to disagree with the statement, at 32 percent, while only 20 percent of those aged 18–34 disagreed and 25 percent of those 65 and older. Those who attend services once or twice a month or more were far more likely to reject the idea (42 percent) than those who seldom attend (15 percent). The numbers suggest that the more often one actually participates in the assembly, the more clearly one sees that it is not replaceable. Conversely, the less one participates, the more one rationalizes neglect. This is exactly what the inspired writer of Hebrews warned against in Hebrews 10:25, when he admonished believers not to forsake the assembly “as is the habit of some.”
The very essence of the church demands gathering. The word ekklesia, used in the New Testament to describe the church, literally means an assembly or a called-out gathering. To claim that worshipping alone at home or only within one’s household is sufficient is to empty the word of its meaning. It is to redefine the church as merely a scattered collection of individuals, rather than the visible body Christ established. The New Testament nowhere depicts the church as an invisible spiritual entity without form or structure. It presents the church as actual congregations in real places, Jerusalem, Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi, assembling regularly for worship, instruction, fellowship, and discipline.
Consider the description of the church in Acts 2:42–47. Those who were baptized on Pentecost immediately devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayers. They were “together” and had all things in common. Day by day they continued “with one mind in the temple” and broke bread “from house to house.” The picture is unmistakable. The church was not an abstract spiritual idea. It was a community visibly gathered. Even when smaller gatherings in homes occurred, they were not intended to replace the larger assembly of the body but to supplement it. The life of the church was corporate, not merely individual.
The Lord Himself established specific acts of worship to be carried out in the gathered church. The Lord’s Supper is the clearest example. In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul repeatedly ties the Supper to the coming together of the church. “When you come together as a church” (v. 18). “When you come together in one place” (v. 20). “When you come together to eat, wait for one another” (v. 33). The Supper is not a private act that can be taken in isolation. It is a memorial meal that embodies the unity of the body. To partake privately, apart from the assembly, is to miss its very purpose.
Singing also requires assembly. Ephesians 5:19 commands believers to address “one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” Colossians 3:16 similarly instructs the church to teach and admonish “one another” in song. These are reciprocal commands. They assume a gathered body where believers hear, encourage, and instruct one another in song. Singing in one’s home is good, but it cannot replace the congregational act commanded by God.
The same is true of preaching. Paul charged Timothy to “preach the word” (2 Timothy 4:2) in the context of the assembled church (cf. 1 Timothy 4:13). The public reading of Scripture, exhortation, and teaching were entrusted to the gathered people of God. The Spirit gave gifts to the church, apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers, for the building up of the body (Ephesians 4:11–12). That building up occurs in the assembly, not in isolation. Private study cannot replicate the Spirit’s design for the proclamation of the Word in the gathered body.
The danger of substituting private worship for the assembly is not only disobedience to God’s explicit commands but also loss of the blessings God intends to give through the church. Hebrews 10:24–25 connects assembling together with the stimulation of love and good works and with encouragement as the day of judgment approaches. These blessings cannot be obtained by oneself. The church is called to bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2), to exhort one another daily (Hebrews 3:13), and to stir one another up. None of these can be fulfilled if each believer simply remains at home.
The generational data from the Lifeway study is especially concerning. Only one in five young adults (18–34) disagreed with the idea that private worship can replace the assembly. This reveals a serious drift among younger generations toward individualistic spirituality. The rise of technology, online worship streams, and an increasingly detached culture all contribute to this trend. If younger Christians increasingly accept that the assembly is optional, the church in the future will face severe decline. Congregations will weaken, accountability will vanish, and biblical worship will be neglected. Older generations must see this danger and take responsibility to teach, model, and insist on the necessity of the assembly for their children and grandchildren.
It is striking that those who attend regularly are the most likely to disagree with the replacement view. This confirms that participation shapes conviction. When believers regularly gather, hear the Word preached, partake of the Supper, and share in congregational life, they come to understand experientially why the assembly is irreplaceable. When believers neglect the assembly, they drift toward rationalizing their absence, convincing themselves that home worship is sufficient. The heart justifies what the body practices. This is precisely why the Spirit warns not to forsake the assembly, because forsaking inevitably breeds false reasoning.
At this point, however, a necessary clarification must be made. There are some who cannot attend the assembly due to sickness, infirmity, or circumstance beyond their control. The elderly shut-in, the believer bedridden by chronic illness, the parent caring for a sick child, the one whose health crises prevent leaving the home—these are not forsaking the assembly willfully. They are providentially hindered. God knows their situation and does not count them guilty for what they cannot do. Their hearts long to be with the saints, even though their bodies prevent it. The church should honor, love, and minister to them with tenderness. In many cases, members of the congregation can bring encouragement, teaching, prayer, and even the elements of the Lord’s Supper under the oversight of the elders to such brothers and sisters. What must be condemned is not the inability of the weak, but the unwillingness of the able. Scripture distinguishes between forsaking and being hindered. Forsaking is willful neglect; hindrance is providential restraint. God, who judges the heart, knows the difference.
It must be emphasized again that private worship or devotion is not wrong. On the contrary, it is commanded. Prayers, family devotions, and personal study are vital to a healthy Christian life. But they were never designed to replace the church. They are individual duties that complement corporate worship. The error lies not in private devotion itself, but in elevating it to a substitute for the assembly. Scripture teaches both private devotion and public worship, but never one in place of the other.
The church is described as the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27). A body cannot function if its members are separated and scattered. It must gather to be whole. The church is described as the household of God (1 Timothy 3:15). A household is not a collection of individuals who never come together. It is a family that lives, eats, and fellowships together. The church is described as the temple of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:21–22). A temple is not a random scattering of stones but a structure built together into a dwelling place for God. Each metaphor demands visible assembly. The loss of the gathered assembly has practical consequences as well. Without the assembly, there is no accountability. Shepherds cannot oversee a flock that refuses to gather. Discipline cannot be carried out if believers remain in isolation. Fellowship cannot be known if Christians never meet. The ordinances cannot be observed properly. Evangelism is hindered, because the visible witness of the church gathered is a testimony to the world. Private worship may preserve some elements of personal faith, but it dismantles the corporate witness God intends His church to display. The seriousness of the issue cannot be overstated. To neglect the assembly is to disobey God’s command. To elevate home worship as a substitute is to redefine the church according to human convenience rather than divine revelation. The danger is not only personal but generational. If current trends continue, younger generations will grow increasingly detached from the church, and the faith once delivered to the saints will be privatized into a religion of the self. That is not biblical Christianity. That is not the faith revealed in Scripture.
God has always called His people into visible assembly. In the wilderness, Israel was summoned to the tabernacle. In Jerusalem, the people gathered at the temple. In the New Testament, the saints assembled on the first day of the week to break bread (Acts 20:7). The final vision of the redeemed is of a great multitude gathered before the throne (Revelation 7:9–10). The trajectory of Scripture is unmistakable. God’s people gather. They do not remain isolated. For this reason, Christians must reject the notion that worshipping at home or just with family is a biblical replacement for the assembly with the saints. It may be tempting in our culture of convenience. It may feel spiritual. It may even be emotionally satisfying. But it is not what God has commanded. The assembly is essential, irreplaceable, and non-negotiable. To forsake it is to sin. To redefine it is to rebel. To embrace it is to obey Christ, to build up the body, and to glorify God.
The 2025 Lifeway study exposes a tragic confusion in our time, but it also gives hope. It shows that those who regularly gather are most likely to see the truth. The task of the church is clear. We must teach, model, and insist on the necessity of the assembly. We must urge younger believers to reject individualism and embrace the body. We must call those drifting into neglect back to obedience. And we must never forget that Christ is present among His gathered people in a unique way!