So, Just What IS “the Church”? 

Let’s see what the New Testament calls “church”. 

The Greek word that is translated into English as “church” is ekklesia.  

This is the ONLY word ever used in the New Testament for “church”, whether singular or plural. Therefore, if we investigate the meaning of this word, then we should have a pretty good idea of what God intended. 

ekklesia Strong’s 1577
a calling out 

“This word stresses a group of people called out for a special purpose. It designated the new society of which Y’shua/Jesus was the founder, being as it was a society knit together by the closest spiritual bonds and all together independent of space. Ekklesia from ek “out of” and klesia “a calling” (root kaleo “to call”); to the whole company of the redeemed throughout the present era (His body), and in the singular number, to a company consisting of professed believers.” 

Therefore, the “church” ekklesia is NOT a building! It is PEOPLE who have made Y’shua/Jesus their Saviour.  

It is possible to “have church” without a building, without a choir, without a speaker. When two or more are gathered in His name, He is in our midst (See Matthew 18:20).  

So, when you gather with believing friends for a cup of coffee and fellowship, when you share what you are learning in the Word, rejoice and pray for each other, or to share one another’s burdens, you are BEING “the church”! THIS is what God meant by ekklesia and this is what our Saviour modeled by discipling those men who followed Him. 

Is anything wrong with gathering and listening to someone speak about the Word of God? No, there isn’t; in fact, we recommend it. But Scripture does not give preachers a license to beat people over the head with the demand of church attendance since Scripture never calls the building “the church”. 

That being said, we are still commanded not to forego fellowship with one another. For more information, see Forsake Not the Assembly 

Believers, study the Word, fellowship with other believers, pray for each other, rejoice with each other, bear one another’s burdens and in so doing, you are indeed being “the church”.