What Do You Mean by “Church?”

"Church was great. Let’s go to church. Were you at church? Christ died for the church. The gates of hell will not prevail against the church. The church isn’t the building.” In each of these sentences, “church” can have different meanings, so the term can be confusing to understand.

We often use church as the building where Christians gather. This meaning does not occur in Scripture. I don’t think this is a bad use of the term, so long as we remember that’s not the only meaning. Another way church functions refers to Christians spread out among a region. Luke writes in Acts 9:31, “Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace.” Other times the term refers to a local church: “to the church of God that is in Corinth” (1 Cor 1:2; see also 1 Thess 1:1 and Rev 2:1). Still, another use of church refers to the sum of all Christians everywhere and always. Ephesians specifically contains lots of these references: “gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him who fills all in all” (Eph 1:22–23). The last way church occurs in Scripture refers to the gathered assembly. Paul writes to the Corinthian church, “When you come together as a church” (1 Cor 11:18). Here’s a helpful definition of church that covers all these meanings: the church is the sum of Christians who gather in local places, sometimes in brick-and-mortar buildings.

This definition I use means that the universal church is composed of local churches past, present, and future. That is, participation in the universal church coincides with gathering in the local church. Membership in the universal church is made visible by assembling in the local church. Without the local church, the universal church cannot be seen; without the universal church, the local church becomes a clique. Universal and local always go hand in hand—they protect each other from becoming unbiblical concepts. Let’s go to church (the building), serve the church (CBC), gather as a church (on Sunday morning), love the church (all Christians), and plant churches in the world (other local gatherings).

Pastor Chance Sumner