{"id":227,"date":"2019-07-04T11:49:16","date_gmt":"2019-07-04T01:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/?p=227"},"modified":"2019-07-04T11:51:32","modified_gmt":"2019-07-04T01:51:32","slug":"church-what-does-the-word-mean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disciplingasyougo.com\/?p=227","title":{"rendered":"Church: What does the word mean?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If I were to survey 100 Christians and ask them to describe the term \u201cchurch\u201d, that description would still include a building, what we do on Sunday morning (or some other time), an organisation or a more cultural interpretation; whatever that might be in the context. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New Testament\nword that is translated church is ekklesia<\/em>\nwhich means \u2018out from<\/em>\nand to\u2019 <\/em>and originally\nmeant assembly, a gathering of people united by common identity and purpose. In\nthe time of Jesus ekklesia<\/em> was used in a variety of ways. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was one of the Greek words used for what\nwe today translate as synagogue. In Acts 19:32,39,41, ekkl\u0113s\u00eda<\/em> is used\nfor the crowd and for the town council: a civil assembly in Ephesus. For Paul, ekkl\u0113s\u00eda<\/em>\nhad overtones of a family. The context in which it appears must always supply\nthe specific reason one is called out or assembled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the third century when Constantine\nlegalized Christianity, ekklesia<\/em> gradually ceased to be a movement and\nbecame more institutional. Eventually a German word, kirche<\/em> (from the Greek word kuriakos<\/em>), was substituted for ekklesia<\/em>. \u2018Kyriakos\u2019<\/em>, which\noriginally meant \u2018belonging to the lord<\/em>\u2019\nusually designates ownership and was often used for buildings or structures<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1522,\nWilliam Tyndale began translating the Greek New Testament into English. He\ntranslated the Greek word ekklesia<\/em> as\n\u201cassembly\u201d or \u201cgathering\u201d attempting to set the record straight. Tyndale lost\nhis battle over this term, and others; along with his life. Ekklesia<\/em> which is used in the scriptures\nmore that 100 times was replaced by the word \u201cchurch\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tragically\nthe Germanic notion has endured to today and when we talk about church the\nimmediate and nearly universal response is to associate it with a building, a\nstructure, a location or an address. What does all this mean for those of us\ncalled to lead and shape the twenty-first-century ekklesia<\/em> of God? It means we need to look around our kirches<\/em> and ask some unsettling\nquestions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n