Christian Relaunch

"Church"

The English word "church" is problematic. It has been used in various senses, but the accusation that we Relaunchers "neglect the church" may arise from confusion between the following senses.

(#1) Renewed mankind (Greek ekklesia). The earliest Christian writers teach that reborn souls constitute ekklesia (what Paul of Tarsus calls "Christ's body") in all their activities. This site says much about this.

"To the ekklesia in Corinth, [that is], to those sanctified in Christ."

1 Cor 1:2. (Here ekklesia is given its full scope.)

(#2) Reborns gathered. The New Covenant Book only mentions this a few times. It uses no special word to distinguish such gatherings from other manifestations of ekklesia, but the context shows the distinction. Such gatherings play a major role in reborn life, but this includes industrial enterprise, university or artistic association; all these, if pursued by God's friends and kept pure from his foes, are ekklesia, and none of them has the sole right to be called ekklesia.

"It is better, when assembled [in ekklesia] to speak ..." (followed by advice on what is most helpful in that setting, which differs from what is most suitable on other occassions)

1 Cor 14:19. (There is no suggestion that there is no ekklesia between meetings. The new humanity is always ekklesia, as the previous quotation shows.)

(#3) Reborns gathered to express reverence. The New Covenant Book never mentions this, as there was no such differentiation at that early stage; every gathering was multi-purpose. The reverence group is only one field of activity among others; an important one I think, but ideas about it should not be elevated into basic beliefs.

(#4) An edifice in which to gather. There is no word for this in the New Covenant Book, because the ekklesia met in folks' houses, not in special gathering places. Whether or not to have dedicated buildings I regard as a matter of mere expediency, certainly not of basic belief.

Etymology. The word church comes from the Greek stem kuriak ("of the lord") which was used by early Christians of objects and practices that they regarded as pertaining to Christ. Thus "the lord's house", "the lord's day" (what we call Sunday) or "the lord's prayer" might be called kuriak. Presumably they used this word because there was no corresponding word in the New Covenant Book, overlooking or disregarding the very good reason for that void, namely that healthy human development recognises folk, not things, as holy. In this matter at least, their practice after conversion remained pagan rather than reborn. For the lord's folk, however, there was a word, ekklesia, and this remained in use. But by the time the Bible began to be rendered in English, the practice had arisen of also calling the lord's people "church". Wycliffe wisely rendered ekklesia as "assembly" but Tyndale (author of the first printed English Bible) used "church", as did subsequent translators including King James's men.