Why the NT church gathered

Peterson…examines afresh just why the NT church gathers, and he concludes that the focus is on mutual edification, not on worship.

Under the terms of the new covenant, worship goes on all the time, including when the people of god gather together. But mutual edification does not go on all the time; it is what takes place when Christians gather together. Edification is the best summary of what occurs in corporate singing, confession, public prayer, the ministry of the Word, and so forth. . . .Peterson, of course, allows that when the people of God gather together corporately, they are still worshipping. What he insists is that the distinctive element of their corporate meetings is not worship but edification.

~ Don Carson, Worship by the Book, referring to David Peterson’s Engaging with God, 1992.