Biblical Meaning of Church?

                                    Greetings dear brothers and sisters in Christ!

            In this article, I want to let you know the true meaning of church, a brief history of the Church and the Christian Population all around the world and India.

Biblical Meaning of Church? 

            Many people think that church is a building or a denomination, but this is not a biblical understanding. Church comes from the  Greek word “ekklesia“, which means an assembly of called out people. The root meaning is focused on people. Romans 16:5 says “…Greet the church that is in their house.” 

            The church is the body of Christ, of which he is the head. Ephesians 1:22,23 says “God placed all the things under his feet and appointed him to head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fulfillment of him who fills everything in every way.

             In our body how different organs work for the welfare of the body, similarly, members in the church also should work for the wellbeing of the church and follow the commands of Christ as the organs work on the commands of the head. We are part of the body of Christ, that means we are the church as it is in 1 Corinthians 12:4-12.

            The body of Christ consists of two aspects one is Universal Church and the second is Local Church “for we are all baptized by one Spirit into one body. Whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free-and we are all given the one Spirit to drink”.

            The universal church is all those who have received salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. In Galatians 1:1-2 Paul says “Paul, an apostle… and all the brothers with me, to the churches in Galatia”. Local churches may be a baptist church, Lutheran church, Pentecost church or RCM Church, etc, is not the church, as in the universal church-but rather is a local church, a local body of believers.

            The universal church is comprised of those who belong to Christ and who have trusted him for salvation. These members of the universal church seek fellowship and edification in a local church. Jesus died for us, he loves us we are his people. The church is not an organizational structure, but the people of God.

Brief History of the Church

            The Early Church used to meet in homes according to Acts 2:2, Romans 16;5 under the old covenant priest was the man from the tribe of Levite to serve the Lord and bless the others in the name of the Lord.as it was in Deuteronomy 10:8. Under the new covenant, all believers in Jesus are considered to be priests.It is in 1 Peter 2:5-9,Revelation 1:6.

            We are not supposed to be two classes of Christians. We are all leaders. God appoints certain peoples to be apostles meaning who are sent. God appoints others to be prophets meaning who bring the word of the Lord into situations. God appoints others to be evangelists, who lead peoples to the Christ and appoints to be pastors and teachers to guide Christians spiritually in the word of God. Ephesians 4:11-12,1 Corinthians 12:28.

            In Mathew 20:25-28, Mark 10:42-45 Jesus says that leaders in the church should not dominate others but should be servants to everyone. Jesus also said leaders should not take titles like apostles, prophet, or pastor was not intended to be a title to their job description according to Matthew 23:8-12.

            Paul said that when he went to Jerusalem and gets certain questions settled no regard for reputation among men. As it is in Galatians 2:1-2,6. Even James, Peter, and John were reputed to be pillars in the church. Galatians 2:9 says Paul identified them because they seemed to be lead obviously they never had titles and must have been more in the background than the front, there was no formal organizational structure in the early church.

            About 70 years after Jesus Ignatius a leader in the church Antioch. Introduced a hierarchy of leadership in the church, he base the idea of the Roman system, then leaders had status. People started to compete when there is competition leads to ambition and envy according to Galatians 5:26. We are told to regard others as more important than yourselves. Philippians 2:3.

            After 300 years Jesus ascension Constantine made  Christianity the official religion of the roman empire. Instead of being a persecuted minority Christians became influential. Impressive buildings came next. It was administered by new clause collegium paid professionals centrally controlled through the issue of credentials and titles;

It continues to this day. It is so much apart from the Churchianity, that people accept as no more Rome was no one stop to consider that it is not the model in the new testament. The change has come about hundreds of years of traditions the institutionalized church requires power, influence, and access to an endless stream of income on tax income and trillions of dollars of property. There are a few we have a vested interest in keeping things where they are.

            What needed is not reformation, it is not a reforming of what there shifting few things around. What is needed is the transformation of the creation of a body that looks completely in the image of Jesus with love and reigning, without competition and envy. God is not going to be satisfied until it is accomplished the interference of man imposing man’s ideas of how to build what is essential, the spiritual organism is going to be brought to an end. It is the matter that has to be considered in the light of Psalm 127:1  “Unless the Lord builds the house, the labor in vain who build it”

“Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit. John 12:24.

Watch the video on Biblical church by Paul Washer. 

Statistics on the Christian Population :

        There are approximately 2.4 billion Christians worldwide (about 29% of the world population).
In these, 1.329  billion are Roman Catholic, 260 million are Orthodox, 800 million are Protestant and 12 million belong to non-denominational churches.
The largest Christian population within the world is found within the USA, where there are about 240 million (78% of the population).

Indian Christianity is that the 3rd largest religion after Hindu and Muslim religions, with approximately 28 million followers, constituting 2.3 percent of India’s population (2011 census).[2] According to Indian tradition, the Christian faith was introduced to India by Thomas the Apostle, who supposedly reached the Malabar Coast (Kerala) in 52 AD, although no written work seems to have survived from this period.[3][4][5] According to another tradition Bartholomew the Apostle is credited with simultaneously introducing Christianity along the Konkan Coast.[6] There is a general scholarly consensus that Christian communities were firmly established in the Malabar Coast (Kerala) of India by the 6th century AD,[7] including some communities who used Syriac liturgies.

     —God Bless You—