Assemble is an element of the second of the five primary disciplines of our Basileian way of life – journey, assemble, listen, govern and serve. In parallel fashion, “assemble” is also an element in the second movement of the Liturgy by which worshipers assemble as the Church according to their equally valuable but different delegated roles in the community. The day called “the day of the assembly” (Deut. 9:10; 10:4; 18:16) marked the end of the consecration period after Israel was delivered from Egypt and the beginning of her existence as a holy nation. For it was on this day that the Lord formally forged “the congregation in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38) into a holy nation. The people of God in both the Old and New Covenant eras commemorate this “day of the assembly” every year exactly fifty days after the Sabbath of Passover week (Lev. 23:4-7, 15-16). It is called the “Feast of Weeks” in the Old Testament (Deut. 16:10) and the “Day of Pentecost” (literally meaning “Fiftieth Day”) in the New Testament (Acts 2:1). Just as the “mixed multitude” (Ex. 12:38) that came out of Egypt were made a holy nation on “the day of the assembly,” so after Jesus' resurrection, the “multitude” from “every nation under heaven” gathered in Jerusalem at Pentecost received the Holy Spirit and were baptized (Acts 2:39, 41). From this we understand that the Lord assembles or congregates His people to hear His voice so that they may respond in covenantal obedience in order to be made into a holy nation. The word ekklesia is used in the Septuagint (i.e., the Greek translation of the Old Testament by seventy Jewish scholars in the third century BC) to translate the Hebrew word qahal, which means “congregation” or “assembly.” Qahal is derived from qol, which means voice. God's people are a holy nation constantly being summoned by the voice of God to assemble before Him. To be a member of the people of God is to be called to assemble with the whole covenant community before the Lord. This was the preeminent and permanent feature of Israel’s identity as the covenant community of God, and so it is with the people of God in the New Covenant era.
Also see Delegated Authority, and Primary Disciplines.