What is the Church?

“His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility” (Eph 2:15b-16).

When Christ said he’d build his “church” in Matt 16:18, the Greek word used, ekklesia, means “called out ones. “It was also used of an assembly; so the idea is that the church is a special assembly of people called out from the world to become part of God’s family”¹ and “set apart for a holy task.”² The English word “church” derives from the Greek kyriakon which “refers to those who are possessed or owned by the kyrios, or Lord.”²

The thing is, before Christ created his Church, God already had an assembly, a holy people — the Jews. In Jewish thought, all the world was divided into two peoples — Jews and everyone else, called Gentiles. Christ’s Church was to take from the Jews and from the Gentiles to make a new people, a people now called Christians.

When the Apostles’ Creed says, “I believe ... in the holy catholic Church”, it is not saying that we are all Roman Catholics. “Catholic” means universal. (Yes, that means “Roman Catholic” is a bit of an oxymoron.) The creed is saying there is one universal assembly, one people, set apart to God.

Everyone who is called to Jesus is called to be part of that assembly. John Stott calls unchurched Christians a “grotesque anomaly” and says, “The New Testament knows nothing of such a person. For the church lies at the very center of the eternal purpose of God. It is not a divine afterthought. ... Indeed, Christ died for us not only ‘to redeem us from all wickedness’ but also to ‘purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good’ (Titus 2:14).”³

But not everyone who attends church is part of the Church. There will always be church members who are not true believers, and there are a few true believers who for good reason cannot be part of a church. Historically we have referred to the “visible Church” (those who appear to be Christians) and the “invisible Church” (those who actually are).

What is the difference between the Church and a church? There is one holy Church, but it meets in many places at many times in local expressions called churches. So is every gathering of Christians a church? No. There are parachurch organizations created for charity or missions. There are gatherings of believers to study the scriptures or fellowship. These aren’t churches.

A church must, first of all, be trying to follow Christ as laid out in the scriptures. If a group is no more bound to the scriptures than they are to the writings of Thoreau or Emerson, they are not following Christ. Which means not every group that claims to be a church truly is one.

Second, even if they are Christians, they must be trying to be a church. This includes baptism and celebrating the Lord’s Supper. “So, functionally, a church is a group of Christians who believe and proclaim the Bible, and intend to function as a church.”⁴

Why did Christ create his Church? We are part of his work to establish the kingdom of God. “[O]ur job is to help establish the rule of God in the hearts of people and bring the values and priorities of God’s kingdom to bear on every aspect of our culture.”¹ We are here to represent God to the people around us and to try to bring them into his kingdom. This is something the forces of darkness do not want. They will oppose us at every turn. But Christ has promised, the gates of hell will not prevail against us (Matt 16:18).


1 Tony Evans, Theology You Can Count On
2 RC Sproul, Everyone's a Theologian
3 John RW Stott, The Living Church: Convictions of a Lifelong Pastor
4 Rick Cornish, 5 Minute Theologian

Image via Pexels


Part of Christianity 101