when two or three are gathered in God's name... He is there with them Church is God's house.... His Spriit lives within us..... A group of even two or three who gather for the purpose of learning about God i believe would classify as church I can understand the reason though... Im assuming that this would mean that you are baptist or at least the authorities you spoke of were hardcore baptists.... I went to a baptist school (even though I disagree with them on many things) and they were very into rules and thought that eveything had to go by a set of rules in order to be right.... I believe that may be the reason for that.... sure, it is probably better to actually go to church, but, if you disagree with the focus of the teachings of that church, it is better to study with just a few others and a youth pastor instead of being turned off by a preacher and not listen to something important.... God speaks to us all the time... even in small groups