“I’m going to church.”
“Church starts at 11am.”
“I belong to this church.”

When we hear the word “church” most of us think of a place, a building, a worship service, a community, or a fellowship (think: membership).

But, when Jesus established the church, he didn’t have any of those things in mind. In fact, when Jesus founded the church he didn’t even use the word “church.” He used a completely different word because he intended the church to be something completely different than what you and I typically think of when we hear the word “church.”

What word did Jesus use? Matthew 16:9 says Jesus used the Greek word ekklesia. I must make it clear that Jesus could not have used the word “church” even if he wanted to because the word “church” did not exist in his day. On the other hand, there were any number of other words available to Jesus that he also did not choose. So what does ekklesia mean?

It does not mean “temple.” Jesus could have used that word, but he didn’t. Back in Jesus’ day, the Temple was a specific location in Jerusalem.

I can only surmise that Jesus did not want his people to think of the church as a temple or limited to a place or building.

Ekklesia does not mean “synagogue.”

Jesus could have used that word, meaning a local congregation, but he didn’t. It seems Jesus did not think of his church as a local congregation or even a network of synagogues planted across the world spreading the good news.

Ekklesia does not mean a “worship service” or a “community” or a “fellowship.” Once again, he could have used specific words to describe any of those things. But he didn’t. Apparently, he didn’t want his followers to understand his church in any of those ways.

I believe Jesus used the word ekklesia because he did not think of his church as a place, a building, a worship service, a community or a fellowship.

In truth, Jesus didn’t give any instructions or guidelines on establishing, organizing, growing, and multiplying locations, buildings, worship services, communities, and fellowships. He could have. Just look at the Old Testament and how much GOD cared about the design and construction of the Tabernacle and the Temple. Pretty detailed, right? And yet Jesus does not give even one little instruction or guideline on how to create the church as you and I typically understand it.

Jesus did not think of his church as a place, a building, a worship service, a community or a fellowship. And neither must we.

It is time to rethink church.