Discipleship Dimensions:
What is the Church? (Part 2)
(Read Part 1 of “What is the Church”)
The second response to the question is that the Church is the local church. The local church is the assembly of believers in Jesus at any one place at one time. The local church is thus the visible expression of the universal Church referred to above. The New Testament refers to a local assembly as an ecclesia when referring to a specific church as, for example, to the church at Thessolonica (I Thess. 1:1) or the church at whatever place (I Cor. 4:17). The word used for a group of churches is the plural form of ecclesia as, for example, when Paul refers to the churches of Judea (Gal. 1:22).
It is the ecclesia that is referred to in the common answer, “The church is place I go to worship God.” noted at the start of this issue. However, remember that the ecclesia is not the place, it is the people who are gathered or assembled at the place that is the local church. As such, the building could be burned down or taken away through foreclosure, but the church would still exist in the form of the people, as it is the people who are the church.
Altogether, a believer becomes a member of the universal church upon believing in Jesus Christ, and it is the expectation is that a believer will join in fellowship with a local church or assembly. (Heb. 10:25) It is in and through the local church that a believer can exercise his or her spiritual gifts (Eph. 4:11), experience koinonia, which means close, intimate fellowship one with another (I Thess. 4:18), and be built up in the faith (Eph. 4:15 & 16; Heb. 10:24). It is in and through the local church that a believer can be a part of the visible expression of Christ to the world (Matt. 5:14-16; Eph. 5:8-10; I Peter 2:12).
So, what is the church? It is at the same time all believers everywhere for all time, and local assemblies of believers gathering in one place at one time. It is the people of God who worship and serve Him, and who are the visible expression of and the witness to His Kingdom before the watching world.
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