The Adventures of Starmonia

When we consider a church, we typically think of a building that looks somewhat like the picture above: a tall, pointed steeple, beautiful designs, broad wooden pews on the inside and a pulpit where the preacher stands as he teaches the doctrines of the Bible.

But what exactly is a church?

A church is not a building. It is the body of believers that have been unified in Christ and have trusted Him for salvation. This body is also called the universal church. The word church originates from the Greek word ekklesia meaning “an assembly” or “called-out ones.”

So how did the building and the body get confused?

The confusion around the word church issues from an adaptation between its original Greek meaning and its modern English usage. The New Testament uses the Greek word ekklesia to construe communities of believers—stressing people, not buildings or institutions.  However, the English word church evolved from Old English cirice, derived from the Greek kuriakon (“Lord’s house”), which later came to mean a physical building or a formal religious organization. 

This shift led to semantic confusion: today, church often refers to a physical building or creed—concepts not essential to the initial meaning of ekklesia. Early translators like William Tyndale favored “congregation” to mirror the biblical sense, but the King James Version (1611) chose “church” deliberately, expanding institutional identity.  

However, the word church refers to the body of Christ, also called the Bride of Christ or the People of God. We should not get the body and the building confused.

Those in the church (body of Christ) who have trusted in Christ will one day be united together in Heaven to praise and worship the Lord for eternity. That’s certainly better than a physical building, isn’t it?