CHURCH 
By Milford Evans
Introduction:
An understanding of the church in the New Testament requires answers to the following four basic questions: What does the word "church" mean? What were the characteristics of the early church life? How was the church organized? How did the early church grow and expand?
What the word "church" means:
American Heritage Dictionary:
church (Chfrch) n. Abbr. c. C. ch. Ch. 1. A building for public, especially Christian
worship. 2. Often Church a. The company of all Christians regarded as a mystic spiritual body. b. A specified Christian denomination: the Presbyterian Church. c. A congregation. 3. Public divine worship in a church; a religious service: goes to church at Christmas and Easter. 4. The clerical profession; clergy. 5. Ecclesiastical power as distinguished from the secular: the separation of church and state. 6. Christian Science " The structure of Truth and Love " (Mary Baker Eddy). v. tr. churched churching churches 1. To conduct a church service for, especially to perform a religious service for (a woman after childbirth). adj. 1. Of or relating to the church; ecclesiastical. [Middle English chirche from Old English cirice ultimately from Medieval Greek kurikon from Late Greek kuriakon (d ma) the Lord's (house) from Greek kuriakos of the lord from kurios lord; See keu …- in Indo-European Roots.]
Holman bible dictionary:
CHURCH Church is the term used in the New Testament most frequently to describe a group of persons professing trust in Jesus Christ, meeting together to worship Him, and seeking to enlist others to become His followers.
Strong’s Concordance:
1577. ekklesia, ek-klay-see'-ah; from a comp. of G1537 and a der. of G2564; a calling out, i.e. (concr.) a popular meeting, espec. a religious congregation (Jewish synagogue, or Chr. community of members on earth or saints in heaven or both):--assembly, church.
The meaning of the term "ekklesia" church:
The use of the Greek term prior to the emergence of the Christian church is important as two types of meaning flow from the history of its usage into the New Testament understanding of church.
First, the Greek term which basically means "called out" was commonly used to indicate an assembly of citizens of a Greek city. The citizens who were quite conscious of their privileged status over against slaves and non citizens were called to the assembly by a herald and dealt in their meetings democratically with matters of common concern and is so used in Acts 19:32,39. When the early Christians understood themselves as constituting a church, no doubt exists that they perceived themselves as called out by God in Jesus Christ for a special purpose and that their status was a privileged one in Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:19).
Second, the Greek term was used more than one hundred times in the Greek translation of the Old Testament in common use in the time of Jesus. The Hebrew term (qahal) meant simply "assembly" and could be used in a variety of ways, referring for example to an assembling of prophets (1 Sam. 19:20), soldiers (Num. 22:4), or the people of God (Deut. 9:10). The use of the term in the Old Testament in referring to the people of God is important for understanding the term "church" in the New Testament. The first Christians were Jews who used the Greek translation of the Old Testament. For them to use a self-designation that was common in the Old Testament for the people of God reveals their understanding of the continuity that links the Old and New Testaments. The early Christians understood themselves as God’s people who He had revealed Himself in the Old Testament (Heb. 1:1-2), as the true children of Israel (Rom. 2:28-29) as Abraham being their father (Rom. 4:1-25), and as the children of the New Covenant prophesied in the Old Testament (Heb. 8:1-13). As a consequence of this broad background of meaning in the Greek and Old Testament worlds, the term "church" is used in the New Testament of a local congregation of called-out Christians, such as the "church of God which is at Corinth"(1 Cor. 1:2), and also of the entire people of God, such as in the affirmation that Christ is "the head over all things to the church, Which is his body" (Eph. 1:22-23).
What church means in the New Testament:
Is further defined by a host of over one hundred other descriptive expressions occurring in relationship to passages where the church is being addressed. Three basic perspectives embrace most of these other descriptions.
First, the church is seen as the body of Christ; and a cluster of images exists in this context as emphasis falls on the head (Eph. 4:15-16), the members (1 Cor. 6:12-20), the body (1 Cor. 12:12-27), or the bride (Eph. 5:22-31).
The church is also seen as God's new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), the new persons (Eph. 2:14-15), fighters against Satan (Eph. 6:10-20), or bearers of light (Eph. 5:7-9).
Thirdly, the church is quite often described as a fellowship of faith with its members described as the saints (1 Cor. 1:2), the faithful (Col. 1:2), the witnesses (John 15:26-27), or the household of God (1 Pet. 4:17).
Major characteristics of the life of the church:
The preeminent characteristic of the church in the New Testament is devotion to Jesus Christ as the son of God, Lord and savior. He established the church under His authority (Matt. 16:13-20) and created the foundation for its existence in His redeeming death and demonstration of God's power in His resurrection. Christ's position as the Lord evoked, sustained, and governed the major characteristics of the life of the church in the way members were admitted, treated one another, witnessed to His power, worshiped, and lived in hope of His return.
Persons were admitted to the local congregation only upon their placing their trust in Jesus Christ as Savior, after repenting from the sin of rebellion to God, that they did by not keeping the law of God or going against there conscience which is a law to them.(Acts 2:37-42,Rom 2:12-15), openly confessing this (Rom. 10:9-13), and being baptized (Acts 10:44-48). Baptism by full immersion in water was performed because Christ had commanded it (Matt. 28:18-20) and was itself a dramatic symbolic picturing of the burial and resurrection of Christ (Rom. 6:3-4). Joining the church made one a fully participating member in it. When Christ accepted the person, the congregation did also, even though the members might be aware of weaknesses (Rom. 14:1-4).
The way in which members of the church were called on to treat one another was modeled by what God had done in Christ for the church. They were to forgive one another (Col. 3:12-14) and to love one another (Eph. 5:1-2; 1 John 3:16) because God had done this for all of them in Christ. This foundation for Christian fellowship gave an to its requirements that reflected on each church member's relationship with God (1 John 2:7-11).
Members of the church were called on to demonstrate the power of Christ's redemption in their own lives by exemplary conduct, embracing every area of life (Rom. 12:1-13:7; Col. 3:12-4:1). The overcoming of sins in the lives of Christians was a witness to the redeeming power of Christ in action in the community (Gal. 5:22-26), and the sins to which the communities were prone were clearly identified and challenged (Gal. 5:19-21). The Christians were expected to adopt a new life style that was appropriate to their commitment to Christ (Eph. 4:17-24).
Worship:
The worship of the early church demonstrated the lordship of Christ, not only in the fact that He was extolled and praised but also in the fact that worship demonstrated the obligation of Christians to love and to nurture one another (1 Cor. 11:17-22; 14:1-5). In distinction from worship as it was practiced in the pagan cults of Greece and Rome, Christian worship not only stressed the relation of a person to the Deity but went beyond this to stress that worship should edify and strengthen the Christians present (1 Cor. 14:26) and should challenge pagans to accept Christ (1 Cor. 14:20-25). Christian worship was often enthusiastic and usually involved all Christians present as participants (1 Cor. 14:26). This openness both inspired creativity and opened the way for excesses which were curbed by specific suggestions (1 Cor. 14:6-14,26-38; 1 Tim. 2:1-10) and by the rule that what was done should be appropriate to those committed to a God of peace (1 Cor. 14:33).
All of these characteristics of the life of the church existed in the context of an urgency created by the awareness that Christ was going to return (1 Thess. 1:9-10). Christ's return would bring judgment to the unbelievers (1 Thess. 5:1-10) and thus made witnessing to them an urgent concern. How central this belief was to the early church is illustrated by the fact that the Lord's Supper, which they observed at His command was seen as proclaiming "the Lord's death till he come (1 Cor. 11:26).
The return of Christ was to result in glorious joy and the transformation of the Christians--a hope that sustained them in difficult times (2 Thess. 1:5-12).
The organization of the early churches:
Was not governed by a rigid plan that each church had to follow. The guiding principle was that the church was the body of Christ, the family of God with a mission to accomplish, and the church felt free to respond to the leading of the Holy Spirit in developing a family structure that would contribute to its fulfilling its responsibilities (Rom. 12:4-8; 1 Cor. 12:4-11,28-31,14:22-40; Eph. 4:11-16,Tim. 2:1-15).
A striking feature of the organization of the early churches is that every member of the church was seen as having a gift for service which was to be used cooperatively for the benefit of all (Rom. 12:1-8; 1 Pet. 4:10-11). Paul used the imagery of the human body to illustrate this unique feature of the church's life, stressing that every Christian has a necessary function and a responsibility to function with an awareness of his or her share in the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12-31).
In the context of this strong belief that every member has a ministry, certain persons were called by God to fulfill specific tasks in relation to the functioning of the church such as apostles, bishops, elders, and deacons. As these offices are examined, it is important to remember that the organization of the early churches was not necessarily the same in every locality. A large church would need more organizational structure than a small one, and the presence of an apostle or his designated representative would cause the other leaders in a given church to be seen in a different light. In addition to these variables, the church was in a period of rapid growth; and as it responded to the needs of ministry, roles or offices, such as the appointment of the seven in Acts 6:1-7, were created to enable the church to fulfill its ministry in Christ.