Most of the time when we use the term church today, we simply mean a place where people can go to find encouragement, teaching and fellowship. However, while those things are good, when we limit ourselves to them, we have reduced the word from its intended meaning. So what is the true definition of the church?

Well, it’s not a social club. It’s not a place to come, get entertained and leave feeling good. It’s not even just a place to find motivation. Nor is it an outpost for an official political party.

To be a part of the church of Jesus Christ, as Jesus defined it, is to be a part of a spiritual legislative body tasked to enact heaven’s viewpoint in hell’s society. In the midst of a place of war and conflict, God has deposited an ekklesia: a group of people who have been called out to bring the governance of God into the relevant application and practice of mankind.

The church is a community of individuals spiritually linked together with the purpose of reflecting and legislating the values of the kingdom of God. Notice, it’s all about individual pieces coming together to create something larger and more powerful.

This is why unity is so important to the body. Jesus didn’t say He would build a black church, a white church, a hispanic church, a Baptist church or a nondenominational church. He simply said He would build His church.

What ways have people wrongly defined the church?

Scripture Readings:

- Matthew 16:18-19

- Ephesians 2:19-22

- 1 Corinthians 12:20