“How then should we meet? First, if we would meet properly, our meeting must be related to the church, and our meeting must belong to the church. Our meeting must be standing with the church and be a part of the church. The purpose of our meeting must be to execute the decision of the church.

…If you read the book of Acts, you will see that whatever decision was made by this one group of elders was taken by all the believers, because they were all one church. Acts 8:1 says, “The church which was in Jerusalem.” Why do I stress this matter so much? Because it is so basic to the matter of meeting. The first thing we must care for in the matter of meeting is that our meeting must be a part of the local church. We must meet by taking the stand of the church and by carrying out what the church intends to do. We may have scores of home meetings. I would like to see in the city of Los Angeles more than one hundred home meetings, yet all one church under one eldership. In the city of Taipei, on the island of Taiwan, there is an actual example of this at the present time. In that city there is one church, the church in Taipei, with thousands of believers and more than sixty home meetings, yet all under one eldership. All those home meetings are not isolated and independent meetings; they are in full relationship one to another and to the one church there. The first thing we must care for in regard to our meetings is that we meet in this way. By being related to the local church, we are right. This is a basic matter.

…This matter has very much to do with the oneness of the Body. If a few brothers meet here and there in the Lord’s name without caring for the church, the Body of Christ is divided. We must all meet with a proper and positive relationship to the local church. Then our meeting will not be a divisive meeting; it will be a meeting that stands with the church and executes the church’s will. We cannot begin any meeting carelessly. We cannot start any meeting without taking care of the church. Whenever we begin to meet, we must meet for the church: either we meet as the church or as a part of the church. That means that we are absolutely one with the church and that there can be no divisions. It is in this way that our meetings will be kept in the church in oneness. The Lord be merciful to us.”

(From How to Meet, chapter 1: “On the Position of the Church”)