I want to make a statement that may raise some eyebrows and cause some fingers to wag. It may shock some and aggravate others. Here it is: I don’t go to church. My family doesn’t go to church. We don’t go to church.
Summon the responses. Light up social media. A Christian blogger and pastor has denounced going to church. Another man drops from the ranks.
Before anyone accuses me of deconstructing or going liberal allow me to clarify.
We don’t go to church because church is not a place.
The church is a group of people called out by God and redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Greek word translated “church” is ekklesia and can be translated “assembly.” It is a word for a group of people.
The Bible uses “church” (ekklesia) in two major ways. At times “church” refers to the universal Church (Matthew 16:18; Ephesians 5:25).1 The universal Church is the entire number of God’s called-out people around the world and across the centuries. This is often referred to as the invisible Church because we cannot see the full number of this group. This entire group will not meet all together until we are all gathered with the Lord on that final Day. The Church is all of God’s called-out people around the world and across the centuries. We are the people of God whom he has called out from sin, Satan, and the world to belong to himself. We are the people that God has redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:7-8).
The second and most common way that the New Testament uses the word ekklesia is to refer to local churches. Some examples of this are in Romans 16:5, 1 Corinthians 11:18, Philemon 1-2, James 5:14, and Revelation 2-3. A local church is a group of believers in the Lord Jesus living in one geographic area who are committed to the Word of God, to partnering together, to praying together, and to observing the ordinances together (Acts 2:42). In order to do all this the church must gather together and is commanded to do so (Hebrews 10:25).
The church is a group of people, not a place. So, we don’t go to church, we gather with the church.
A person could accuse me of splitting hairs. I can hear the argument, “It’s just a matter of semantics.”
I would say that this is more than a hair to split. The meaning of words and the way we use them is incredibly important (that’s what semantics is all about). To say, “We are going to church,” changes the meaning of the church. It redefines the church as a building, a property, or a venue. It prioritizes buildings and locations over the people Christ died to redeem. This is in error. God has not called out a particular building or property; he has called a people for himself (Hosea 1:10, 2:23; Romans 9:25; 1 Peter 2:10). Christ did not die for a building; Christ died for a group of people whom he has claimed as his Bride (Ephesians 5:25).
There are local churches in closed countries meeting in boats, in the woods, in basements, and in other hidden places. They are still local churches. Their meeting place makes no difference. In the United States there are local churches meeting in buildings with steeples, in storefronts, multi-million dollar complexes, in homes, and other places. I have heard of one local church family that meets in a barn. The place makes no difference. The people meeting in those places, if they are truly believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, are the church.
Church is not a place, although the church has to have a place to meet. Church is not an event, although the church needs to have set times to meet. Church is not a building, although its nice to meet in a building to escape less than ideal weather conditions. The Church is the whole group of God’s people around the globe and across the ages. A local church is a localized group of God’s people committed to the Lord, his Gospel, and one another. The church is the group of people that gather; it is not the place in which they gather.
So, I say again, “We don’t go to church.” We regularly gather with the church. If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, this is God’s design and command for you as well (Hebrews 10:25).
Notes:
1. The way the universal Church and local church are distinguished in writing is with capital and lowercase “c.” The universal Church is often written as “Church”, while the local church is written as “church.”
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