What is the church?
It sounds like an obvious question until you ask people and receive numerous answers.
Some definitions sound scholarly by referring to the Greek text of the New Testament (ekklesia) and often rendering the single word erroneously as a prepositional compound of two Greek words, ek (out of) and kaleo (to call), signifying “called out ones.” Never mind that the Greek term actually means the opposite— “called together ones,” as signifying an assembly coming together.
Some correctly note that the church is not the building but the people. But then we go ahead and tell people we are going to church, meaning we are going to a service in the building. Don’t even get me started about how we fold our hands together and tell children, “This is the church, and this is the steeple…”
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