Christian Congregations
This is the most obvious form of ekklesia, for the distinction between welldoers and wrongdoers is clearest in relation to reverence. In itself it is also the least controversial, but what is less well understood is the need for vigilance against infiltration.
Even in an unspoiled world a stance-assertion would need to evolve with language. In a spoiled world it also needs to evolve as a defense against infiltration. When Christian congregations make adjustments to deal with infiltration it is known as reformation.
A stance-assertion should be short, but if it is too short it may risk confusion. The earliest Christian stance-assertion was very short: just "Jesus is Christ" or "Jesus is Lord". The New Covenant Book describes some who seemed to accept it but interpreted it in ways so foreign to its original sense as to amount to "a different gospel" (Galatians 1:6). The earliest Christian writers made additions to that creed so as to exclude such errors.
"Follow the pattern of sound words . . . Guard the truth that has been entrusted to you"
Paul of Tarsus (probably), 2nd Timothy 1:13. (This does not mean, Go on repeating the same old slogans. It means, Understand the underlying sense and clarify that sense whenever it is threatened.)
If you find yourself at odds with others in a Christian congregation, the cause of the problem must be either confused understanding (possibly on both sides) or wrongful attitude. The mark of a welldoer is, not to have all the right understandings, but to be open to learn from one with a better understanding. First try to reach agreement through discussion. The congregation may initially react with hostility, but persist amicably, and if the problem is merely confusion this will succeed, for Christ always guides his people into a common stance-assertion. If not, warn the congregation that to cling to their error after the matter has been explained to them is to defy God. Such warnings can take verbal, written or acted form. Use whichever form seems most effective; the Bible contains examples of them all, though the acted ones are always explained in words eventually. If warning does not prevail you can only assume that the resistance springs from defiance against God. At this point it is no longer proper to remain within that congregation. Separate from them, and join (or establish) a congregation that upholds a better stance-assertion. Whichever congregation keeps any meeting-place, and whether you are a majority or a minority (even a minority of one), are insignificant; the godly remnant inherits any legitimacy that the congregation once had, while that congregation loses all legitimacy.