There are a lot of questions worth asking in life, but few carry more weight than this one: what exactly is the church? What did God actually intend when He planned and established the church? One of the most common misunderstandings is that the church is a place you go. It is not. We are not at church. We are WITH the church. Romans 16:16 says, “Churches of Christ greet you.” This is a perfectly biblical name, but the deeper meaning is about possession and relationship, not only a title. The church belongs to Christ. He is the owner. He is the architect. He is the head. Scripture describes the church as the blood purchased (Acts 20:28), the sanctified (1 Corinthians 1:1-2), the covenant people of God, and the called out (2 Thessalonians 2:14). The Greek word translated as “church” is ecclesia, which means “called out.” When you answer the gospel call through repentance and baptism, you become part of the called out. That is the church.
The church was not something the apostles invented. It was not Plan B or a response to changing culture. The church was in the mind of God before time began. Ephesians 1:9-11 says God was working according to His purpose and plan, and Ephesians 3:10-11 says that through the church the manifold wisdom of God is made known according to His eternal purpose. God purposed it. God planned it. The church is the fulfillment of that eternal plan.
That is why the church does not need to evolve with culture. Technology changes. Methods of communication change. But the message does not change. The King does not change. The pattern does not change. 2 Timothy 1:13 says, “Follow the pattern of sound words that you have heard from me.” The Greek word tupos means pattern or mold, which means it can be replicated. Circumstances might differ, but the pattern produces the same result.
The church is the body of Christ, made up of the saved. Colossians 1:18 says, “He is the head of the body, the church,” and Ephesians 4:4 says, “There is one body.” You do not get saved and then go shopping for a church to join. Acts 2:47 says, “And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” The Lord adds you. When you are saved, you are placed into the body. Jesus loves that body. Ephesians 5 says that Christ “loved the church and gave himself up for her.” If you love Jesus, you should love what He loves.
The church is God’s Plan A for getting the gospel out into the world and keeping the saved saved, and every person in it has a role to play.
So take an honest look at how you view the church. Do you treat it as a place you attend, or as something you are? Do you engage with it as God’s eternal plan, or as a preference you have chosen? The church was planned before time began. It was established by Christ. It is led by Him today. And it is made up of people called out of darkness and into something eternal. That is worth taking seriously.
