However, this policy is in no way binding on individual congregations which are free to make their own decisions regarding social issues such as homosexuality.

By the end of the reporting period, the Government had registered 63 religious organizations, including individual congregations within the same denomination.

For the most part, Lutheran schools are operated by individual congregations.

In individual religious congregations or synagogues, the spiritual leader is generally the rabbi.

Since its origins, it has grown to include many networks of churches, with individual congregations to be found throughout the world.

As of Thursday, the fund has received $4.7 million from foundations, denominations, individual congregations and individuals.

Eventually, as Christendom grew, bishops no longer directly served individual congregations.

The United Church now allows individual congregations to decide whether or not to perform these marriages.

These churches comprise about 5,062,074 members in over 40,000 individual congregations worldwide.

Eventually, as the Church grew, individual congregations no longer were served directly by a bishop.