The Christian education of children, too, was once hardly more than a sideshow, but the day came when a congregation that did not assume full oversight of a church school was thought of as failing in its duty.

The basic unit in the church, of whatever denominational polity, is always the congregation.

As long as the congregation regards the church as `` our '' church, or the minister thinks of it as `` my '' church, just so long the ecumenical movement will make no significant advance.

The entrance to a church has been walled up, so that the congregation, most of which is in the western sector, cannot worship God there anymore.

there was no Martian concept to match it -- unless one took `` church '' and `` worship '' and `` God '' and `` congregation '' and many other words and equated them to the totality of the only world he had known during growing-waiting then forced the concept back into English in that phrase which had been rejected ( by each differently ) by Jubal, by Mahmoud, by Digby.

Ambrose and his congregation barricaded themselves inside the church, and the imperial order was rescinded.

* The offertory money collected from a church congregation during a service, often by such means as a collection plate

In standard Greek usage, the older word " ecclesia " ( ἐκκλησία, ekklesía, literally " assembly ", " congregation ", or the place where such a gathering occurs ) was retained to signify both a specific edifice of Christian worship ( a " church "), and the overall community of the faithful ( the " Church ").

* Closed communion is the practice of restricting the communion to members of a particular church or congregation

Congregationalist polity, often known as congregationalism, is a system of church governance in which every local church congregation is independent, ecclesiastically sovereign, or " autonomous ".

The term " congregationalist polity " describes a form of church governance that is based on the local congregation.

There is no other reference than the local congregation for the " visible church " in Congregationalism.

Rather, the independent congregations are a network with each congregation participating at its own discretion in various means of service and fellowship with other congregations ( see Sponsoring church ( Churches of Christ )).

Elders are generally seen as responsible for the spiritual welfare of the congregation, while deacons are seen as responsible for the non-spiritual needs of the church.

An individual congregation is led by a church council made of the minister along with elders and deacons elected by the congregation.

More than the name separates each church example :" Independent Christian Church " will not accept a woman as a minister when some of the " Disciples of Christ " congregation will.

As a congregational church, each congregation determines the nature of its worship, study, Christian service, and witness to the world.

The General Minister and President ( GMP ) is the designated leader for the General Church, but does not have the administrative authority to direct any of the general church agencies other than “ The Office of General Minister and President .” The GMP has influence that derives from the respect of the church much as the pastor of a local church leads a local congregation.

Even in congregations where Eucharist is offered weekly, there is not a requirement that every church service be a Eucharistic service, nor that all members of a congregation must receive it weekly.

The union was confirmed by Pope Paul V in 1606, at which time the congregation added the name of St. Barnabas to its title, adopted new constitutions, divided its houses into four provinces, two of them, St Clement's and St Pancras's, being in Rome.

Their houses, scattered throughout Lombardy and Venetia, were united into a congregation by St Pius V, under the Rule of St Augustine with a mother-house, residence of the prioress general, at Pavia.

In the early 20th century, the congregation has two houses in the United States: a missionary house and apostolic school at Swanton, Vermont, for the training of young men who wish to study for the priesthood and the religious life ; and a college at Colchester, Vermont, with 12 fathers, 8 scholastics, and 100 pupils.

Yet Religious Sisters can also do this form of ministry, e. g., the Maryknoll Missionary Sisters have small houses of contemplative Sisters, some in mission locations, who pray for the work of the priests, brothers and other Sisters of their Congregation ; the Sister Disciples of the Divine Master are also cloistered Sisters who pray in support of their sister congregation, the Daughters of St. Paul in their media ministry.

In 1387 however, a site was secured at Windesheim, some north of Deventer, and here was established the monastery that became the cradle of the Windesheim congregation of canons regular embracing in course of time nearly one hundred houses, and leading the way in the series of reforms undertaken during the 15th century by all the religious orders in Germany.

Until the middle of the 19th century, only members of the congregation could own houses ; others were required to lease.

In mid-century the rich, temporarily, and the upper middle class more permanently filled the brownstone row houses that filled Murray Hill's streets, the Brick Presbyterian Church followed its congregation ; selling its site facing City Hall Park, it rebuilt in 1857 closer to its congregation, on the smoothed brow of Murray Hill, at Fifth Avenue and 37th Street.

In New York City, Shearith Israel Congregation is the oldest continuous congregation started in 1687 having their first synagogue erected in 1728, and its current building still houses some of the original pieces of that first.

In the metro area of São Paulo, the church shows its faith: there are 500, 000 followers, distributed in 2, 000 branches and a mother-church in the Brás district that houses a 5, 000 member congregation.

This proclamation was highly inappropriate at the time because of the negotiations for the Spanish marriage / In February 1624 he received an order from the English privy council to refrain from more extreme measures than preventing the erection of religious houses and the congregation of unlawful assemblies.

Ricardo Watti Urquidi, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tepic, Mexico, is in charge of the Vatican's oversight of the Legionaries in Mexico and Central America, where the congregation has 44 houses, 250 priests, and 115-120 seminarians ;

Charles J. Chaput, Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, is in charge of the Vatican's oversight of the Legionaries in the United States and Canada, where the congregation has 24 houses, 130 priests, and 260 seminarians ;

: Built in 1837, this stately, white church houses the dignified, formal liturgy and music of the local Anglican congregation, one of the main Protestant denominations in the area.

A Methodist congregation was established in Froxfield by 1834, when two houses in the village were licenced for Wesleyan Methodist worship.

There is one church, located at 80 George Henry Boulevard, which houses the St. Matthew the Apostle, Oriole Anglican Church of Canada congregation.

Established near Pisa in 1377, this congregation established nearly fifty houses, of which only two survive, one in Rome and one in Viterbo, Italy.

The congregation of Fiesole was established in 1406: they had forty houses but in 1668 they were united with those of Pisa.

In Kensington, Saint Salomea Church, a vestige of European immigrants, now houses the Salem Baptist congregation.

* 1876 Under the generalate of Father Amedeus Stockman until 1922 the congregation developed remarkably: the number of brothers rose from 274 to 1062 ; 26 houses were founded in Belgium and 17 in America and in Africa where the brothers arrived in 1911 ; the congregation is recognized of Pontifical Right en 1899 ;

The congregation is similar to others of eremetical origin, in that their houses are not raised to the status of an abbey, which would entangle the monasteries more strongly in the affairs of the world.

The congregation, though, is led by an Abbot General, the only abbot it has, who supervises all the houses of the congregation.

But his rancor did not cease, and presently, on March 13, when he preached a sermon on the text, `` And Ben-hadad Was Drunk '', he told his congregation how disappointed he was in Mr. Lewis, how he regretted having had him in his house, and how he should have been warned by the fact that the novelist was drunk all the time that he was working on the book.

He was reading from the Talmud with a group of men from his congregation.

A Catholic priest recently recounted how in the chapel of a large city university, following Anglican evensong, at which there was a congregation of twelve, he celebrated Mass before more than a hundred.

It is unknown if there was any music accompanying the verses ; it may have simply been chanted by the congregation.

Rashi comments on this verse that " The entire people will be so imbued with the spirit of sanctity that God's Presence will rest upon them collectively, as if the congregation itself was the Ark of the Covenant.

On a Sabbath in September, 1304, the letter was to be read before the congregation, when Jacob Machir Don Profiat Tibbon, the renowned astronomical and mathematical writer, entered his protest against such unlawful interference by the Barcelona rabbis, and a schism ensued.

The Italian congregation at Zürich was composed principally of refugees from Locarno.

Birka was also important as the site of the first known Christian congregation in Sweden, founded in 831 by Saint Ansgar.

Meanwhile, under the direction of Benedict XIV ( pope 1740 – 1758 ), a special congregation collected much material for an official revision, but nothing was published.

Pius X was probably influenced by earlier attempts to eliminate repetition in the psalter, most notably the liturgy of the Benedictine congregation of St. Maur.

); while its final element, the Prayer of Oblation, ( with its reference to an offering of a ' Sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving '), was transferred, much changed, to a position after the priest and congregation had received Communion, and was made optional with an alternative prayer of thanksgiving provided.

The Peace, at which in the early Church the congregation had exchanged a greeting, was removed altogether.

The instruction to the congregation to kneel at the Communion was retained ; but the accompanying Black Rubric denying any " real and essential presence " of Christ's flesh and blood, was removed.

Their major objections ( exceptions ) were: firstly, that it was improper for the lay congregation to take any vocal part in prayer ( as in the Litany or Lord's Prayer ), other than to say " Amen "; secondly, that no set prayer should exclude the option of an extempore alternative from the Minister ; thirdly, that the Minister should have the option to omit part of the set liturgy at his discretion ; fourthly, that short Collects should be replaced by longer prayers and exhortations ; and fifthly, that all surviving " Catholic " ceremonial should be removed.

The introduction, " Let us pray for the whole state of Christ's Church militant here in earth " remained unaltered and only a thanksgiving for those " departed this life in thy faith and fear " was inserted to introduce the petition that the congregation might be " given grace so to follow their good examples that with them we may be partakers of thy heavenly kingdom ".

It was decided, during development, that the use of the services therein would be decided on by each given congregation, so as to avoid as much conflict as possible with traditionalists.