What Is Church?
The word church renders the Greek 'ekklesia', 'the assembly of those called out', and in the New Testament it describes people, not a building. Jesus uses the word after Peter's confession of faith: 'on this rock I will build my assembly' (the word rendered 'church'). The church is born visibly at Pentecost with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and the first community's life is summed up in four elements: the apostles' teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer. The New Testament describes the church in rich images: it is the body of Christ — many members, one head; the family of God; the temple in which the Spirit dwells. The word covers both the communities in individual cities and all believers together. The church's task is to worship, to build up its members and to bear witness to the gospel. The New Testament does not idealize the church; most of the letters are written to troubled communities. Even so, the church is the community of which Jesus says 'the gates of Hades will not prevail against it', and it lives in hope.