Definition of Church

Most simply most would describe a church as a building used for public Christian worship.

We've come to refer to some of the ideals of church planting movements as an “organic church.” By organic, I don’t mean that it is pesticide free. It’s a matter of churches being alive and vibrant as living organisms. 

The core reality is not how the followers are organized, discipled or helped. The core reality is Jesus Christ being followed, loved and obeyed. Christ alive, forming spiritual families and working with them to fulfill His mission, is the living reality of the organic church. The church really is an embodiment of the risen Jesus. No wonder the Bible refers to the church as the body of Christ.

The first beneficiary of salvation is the Church. Christ won the Church for Himself at the price of His own blood and made the Church His co-worker in the salvation of the world. Indeed, Christ dwells within the Church. She is His Bride. It is He who causes Her to grow. He carries out His mission through Her.

Through Baptism a person dies to sin and is consecrated to God. However, in order that they may be capable of deriving more abundant fruit from this baptismal grace they free themselves from obstacles which might draw them away from the fervor of charity and the perfection of divine worship. By their profession of they are more intimately consecrated to divine service. This consecration will be the more perfect, in as much as the indissoluble bond of the union of Christ and His bride, the Church, is represented by firm and more stable bonds.

We are slowly and surely becoming the reproduction of Jesus Christ. The genuine church today is nothing else but the corporate living of the believers in Christ who are the reproduction and duplication of Christ – it is Jesus living again in His believers. We are imitating Christ in His life by becoming Christ’s reproduction organically. We all are learning to deny ourselves, remaining in Christ’s death, living under the cross, by the power of Christ’s resurrection. When an unbeliever comes in and sees this, he senses that God is among us! 

Many Christians today are discovering that the gospel of the kingdom of God communicates more fully in our culture. It calls us, not only to personal faith in Jesus, but also to be part of His kingdom community and to join him in his work of recreating the world.

Other Christians maintain the central message of Jesus as Savior and Lord, but make sure these terms retain their original, biblical flavor. Jesus as Savior not only saves individuals for life after death, but also is bringing wholeness to people, families, societies, and the whole world. Similarly, Jesus is not only my personal Lord, but also the Lord of the world, the One before whom every knee will one day bow. Thus the good news of Jesus matters, not just to individual souls, but to families, businesses, churches, and even nations.

What's your definition of the word church?

What is church?