What is the church?.. What is the Church of God?<\/p>\n
This is a question that confuses many people, with the common assumption being that the church is a building. However, that is not the true meaning of the church. The word “church” comes from the Greek word Ekklesia, meaning \u201cthe called out.\u201d During the New Testament era, any gathering of Christians (i.e., those who were called) was referred to as a church. And such a gathering could consist of just two or more people, according to the words of Jesus Christ Himself, who said in:<\/p>\n
Matthew 18:20
\u201cFor where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, it was understood that wherever believers in Christ gathered\u2014whether in a home, in a temple, in a synagogue, or anywhere else in His name, regardless of the surrounding environment\u2014then that was already a church.<\/p>\n
Galatians 1:13
\u201cFor you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Do you see? That sentence doesn\u2019t refer to a church as a building, but rather \u201cChristians.\u201d Paul is the one who persecuted and harmed them. So, what is the church? It is a gathering of people who are called (or in simpler terms, Christians).<\/p>\n
Therefore, in short, any non-Christian gathering\u2014that is, one that does not acknowledge Christ as the head of that gathering\u2014no matter how big it is, no matter how many crosses the building may have, no matter how orderly it is, it is not a biblical church. It is like a body without a head\u2014it is dead. Likewise, any gathering without Christ cannot be a church.<\/p>\n
Ephesians 1:20-23
\u201c[God] exerted [his mighty strength] when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,
21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,
23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.\u201d<\/p>\n
AMEN.<\/p>\n