What is a Church?

Church Basics
What is a Church?
Sunday, April 26, 2026

Series Introduction
In 1 Corinthians 3 Paul describes the church as a building, God’s building.
He says that the foundation of the building has been laid, which is Jesus
Christ. Now, as the church is being built on the foundation of Christ, Paul
gives this charge – Let each one take care how he builds on it (1 Cor. 3:10).

While Paul was writing to the church at Corinth, today we continue
participating in this work of building the church, and we should hear Paul’s
charge for ourselves and take care how we build.

Over the next several months we are going to take one Sunday a month to
consider topics related to the church. The aim of this series is to help us
think carefully about what the church is and how it should function. The
hope is that this series will help us to love the church more deeply and
steward it more faithfully.

Introduction
What is a church? We regularly use the word church in different ways.
Sometimes we refer to a building as a church. It’s also common for us to
say, we are going to church, not necessarily referring to a building, but to
an event. We might think of church as joining with other people for singing,
praying, and preaching.
While there’s nothing wrong with using the word church to refer to a
building or a gathering, it’s important for us to think carefully about what
the Bible means when it refers to a church.
With that said, if we are going to understand what a church is, we must
first understand what the church is. In the Bible there is a distinction
between a church and the church, and understanding the difference will
help us answer the question, what is a church?

What is the church? The church in its fullness (The universal church)
• The assembly of all Christians of all time (The heavenly assembly)
In Hebrews 12 the writer is speaking to Christians about who we are as
followers of Christ. He describes us belonging to a great assembly that
is enrolled in heaven. This assembly (Greek Ekklesia, often translated
as church) consists of all those who belong to God in Christ from all of
history. It’s the group that is referred to in Revelation as coming from
every tribe and language and people and nation. It’s what we refer to in
the Apostle’s Creed as the universal church, also sometimes called the
invisible church.

• How do we join this heavenly assembly? – In Ephesians 2 we have a
phrase that is similar to what we see in Hebrews 12:23. In Ephesians
2:6 Paul tells us that those who are made alive with Christ by grace
through faith are seated with Him in heavenly places. The way we join
the heavenly assembly, or gain a place with Christ in the heavenly
places is by the receiving the salvation that Jesus purchased through
His death and resurrection. It is received by grace through faith.

What is a church? The church made visible (The local church)
• Churches as earthly assemblies – While Hebrews 12 speaks of a
heavenly assembly (Ekklesia), the New Testament also refers often to
earthly assemblies (Ekklesia) where the people of God who belong to
the heavenly assembly, join together on earth. These assemblies are
referred to not simply as part of the church, but as individual or local
churches (i.e., Acts 14:21-23; Romans 16:5,16, 23; Colossians 4:15-16).
• Churches as embassies – Pastor Jonathan Leeman uses the
illustration of local churches as embassies. Just as a United States
embassy located in a foreign nation represents and speaks on behalf of
the United States in that place, local churches – when they are faithful –
represent Christ and His church in the place where they are.

What makes an assembly a church?
• The distinguishing marks of a church – In the New Testament there
are several things are consistently found in local churches and together
they provide a kind criteria or definition for what a local church is.
Here are some things to consider as marks or elements of a church.
• Regular gathering – Again, the literal meaning of Ekklesia is assembly.
A local church is, in its most basic form, a regular gathering of
Christians (Hebrews 10:24-25).
• Right Gospel – True churches are marked by the fact that they preach
the true saving Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11).
• Recognized membership – In the New Testament churches are more
than an assembled crowd, they are a defined congregation. It’s clear
that the church knows who belongs to the church and who does not
belong to the church (Acts 2:44-47; 4:32).
• Rehearsing the ordinances – There are two ordinances given to the
church, baptism and the Lord’s supper. A church should practice both
ordinances as a means of affirming one another’s faith in Christ.
• Recognized leadership – There are two offices given to the church,
pastors/elders and deacons. Pastors are called to teach and shepherd
the church while deacons care for the church through service.