Jesus and The Church

What Is the Church?

This week, GAN-Grace Awakening Network is going to examine “the Church”. We invite you to open your heart and examine this subject with us. It may be somewhat different from what we’ve traditionally believed it to be. 

In its truest sense, the Church is not a building, denomination, or institutional system. The Church (ἐκκλησία, ekklesia) is the called-out community—the “body of Christ”, those especially, who have awakened to their union in Christ and live as community and expressions of His life in the world.

The Greek ekklesia means “called out ones,” but from what have we been called out? Not merely from the world—but from illusion. From separation. From the false identity inherited through the fall of the first Adam. The Church is a communion of those who recognize that they are included in Christ’s life, death, resurrection, and ascension.

The Church is the body of Christ, not a body awaiting Him, but the actual expression of His presence on earth.

“Where Christ is, there is the Church.”
— Ignatius of Antioch, c. 110 AD

It is Christ—not buildings, rituals, or clergy—that defines the Church. In fact, Athanasius of Alexandria proclaimed:

“He became what we are that He might make us what He is.”
— St. Athanasius, On the Incarnation

This is the telos of the Church—not conversion, but transfiguration, sons and daughters, awakening to family. We are not talking a membership, but we are saying it is the very nature of  participation in His divine life. The Church we long believed is set up by man, but it is not a human organization striving to reach God; it id the radiant body of those awakened to their union in Him.

What Did Jesus Say About the Church?

Jesus only explicitly used the word Church (ekklesia) twice in the Gospels. Yet in those rare mentions, He revealed something radically different from what many have come to associate with the word.

“And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”
— Matthew 16:18 (NIV)

This was not an announcement of hierarchy, institution, or denominational infrastructure. It was the unveiling of something eternal. Something relational. Something organic and alive.

Jesus did not say, “I will build a religion.” He said, “I will build My ekklesia.”

The word ekklesia in His time referred to an assembly, not a temple or priestly class. It meant a gathering of called ones—often used politically in Greek society to describe those summoned to participate in public life. Jesus redefined it as those who would participate in the Christ life, and He didn’t speak of buildings or programs. He spoke of union.

“On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.”
— John 14:20

This is the Church: those awakened to the mutual indwelling of the Trinity—those who live from that divine communion.

His use of ekklesia came directly after Peter’s confession: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” The Church, then, is built not on doctrine or personality, but on the revelation of Christ as the Living One, and on our inclusion in that Life.

Patristic Echoes

The early Church Fathers echoed this Christ-centered, mystical vision:

“The Church is the world reconciled.”
— St. Augustine

“The Church is Christ, extending Himself into the world.”
— Origen

“He who is joined to the body of Christ is joined to the body of the Church.”
— Maximus the Confessor

These early voices did not speak of the Church as an external hierarchy, a building or a structure, but as the spiritual reality of our inclusion in Christ. To behold the Church is to behold the ongoing incarnation—the mystical body of the One who fills all in all (Ephesians 1:23).

When Did the Church Become an Institution?

The Church as Jesus revealed it was organic, relational, and rooted in the reality of participating in the life of the Trinity—it was not institutional. In the earliest days, believers gathered in homes, shared meals, broke bread, and lived in mutual participation with Christ and one another.

“Every one of you has a hymn, a word, a revelation…”
— 1 Corinthians 14:26

There was no stage. No singular figure delivering a weekly monologue. There was family of community in communion caring for one another in freedom that they shared. It was a co-participation in the life of Christ.

But over time, as Christianity spread through the Roman Empire, the simplicity of ekklesia began to shift. By the 3rd and 4th centuries, especially after the Edict of Milan in 313 AD, Christianity became entangled with empire. When Constantine legalized and favored Christianity, the Church began to mirror Roman political structures. What was once a Spirit-led movement of mutual love and inclusion became increasingly hierarchical, clerical, and institutional.

Buildings began to replace households.
Altars replaced dinner tables.
Priests replaced brothers and sisters.
Spectators replaced participants.

The space was rearranged—Chairs facing a platform, the many watching the one. Authority became centralized and the mystery of communion was gradually reduced to ceremony.

By the time of Gregory the Great (late 6th century), the Church had become deeply aligned with political power, and the model we now think of as “church” was largely in place: a building, a pulpit, a priest or pastor, and a passive audience.

Yet the early Fathers never imagined Church this way.

“Where there is love, there is the Church.”
— St. Ignatius of Antioch

“The true Church is known not by buildings but by the Spirit.”
— Origen

The early saints envisioned a Church that transcended walls—a living temple of people in whom Christ dwells. And while the institutional Church emerged through history, the true Church—the body of Christ—is not defined by our architecture or liturgy, but by our lives lived in the truest form of sonship in Christ Jesus.

Understanding Hebrews 10:25 – “Do Not Forsake the Assembling”

What about the verse often quoted to enforce church attendance is Hebrews 10:25:

“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another…” (NKJV)

But this verse is not a legalistic mandate to attend weekly services in a modern church building. Although if you are doing this, and bearing much fruit, this is not a bad thing. But this verse in context was a pastoral encouragement written to a persecuted Jewish-Christian community tempted to fall back into the sacrificial temple system and forsake their newfound faith in Christ. The surrounding verses are vital:

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering… and let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works…” (Hebrews 10:23–24)

The “assembling” here (Greek: episynagōgē) does not refer to our modern day ideas of local formal church services. It refers to the gathering together of the body of Christ in mutual encouragement, love, and shared life in the Spirit—especially as many were facing isolation, opposition, and doubt.

If you are being command to attend a scheduled meeting out of obligation, instead of enjoying family with others, this is not a legal demand; but a relational plea. Don’t isolate yourself when community in Christ is what sustains you. In the context of the New Testament finished work, you are free from the law—while it’s wisdom to gather in community for the building up of the body of Christ.

In the early church, they weren’t being told to “go to church.” Because they were the Church. And in times of pressure, we are to be reminded: stay connected in the Spirit, keep affirming the hope you’ve come to know, and encourage one another in the reality that Christ dwells within.

What Does Authentic Church Look Like Today?

If the Church is not a building, not a weekly event, and not a religious institution, or legal demand—then what is it?

Authentic Church today looks radically different than what most of us have been taught in modern evangelicalism. It is not defined by pews and pulpits, but by people—by awakened hearts living loved and identified in Christ alone. Possessing the fruit of the Spirit: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. —Galatians 5:22-23 (BLB)

The Church is the revealing of His children and ongoing incarnation of Christ in the world.

This means the Church is present wherever He is revealed and His love flows, wherever communion is shared, wherever Christ is the center—not just in word, but in deed and present reality. It’s not limited to our buildings or denominations but gathering every day in community. Authentic Church can look like a dinner table, a conversation between friends, shared silence in nature, or acts of radical grace in everyday life.

Early patristics affirmed this expansive, mystical understanding. Gregory of Nyssa wrote, “The Church is the world in the process of transfiguration.” The kingdom reality we will live—in a world being reconciled and renewed through the finished work of Christ.

In this light, how do you know you have arrived at the true Church? We look at the fruit of it, When the reality of your experience is marked not by programs, legalistic functions or personalities, but by conversations and actions that promote:

• Union with God through Christ
• Mutual love and shared life
• A focus on grace, not legalism, demand and guilt
• The recognition of every human as an image-bearer
• Inclusion, healing, and spiritual transformation
• A culture of giving freely, one to another

As Paul declared in 1 Corinthians 10:17, “For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.” The Church is a living temple made of people, not bricks—founded on Christ, filled with the Spirit, and expressing the love of the Father.

Today, as we rediscover the heartbeat of the true Church, we are being invited back—not to man’s traditions or pillared institutions, but to who we are in Christ, our divine union expressed in beloved community. The Church of Jesus Christ is rising again—not in personalities and piety, but in His love.

GAN-Grace Awakening Network Recommendations:

• So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore An Unexpected Journey Authors-Wayne Jacobsen & Dave Coleman [Available ⇒   HERE]

We also think you’ll love this episode of: 

Rethinking God with Tacos and host Jason Clark &  “A Conversation with Ian Simkins: The Table”

Sources for this Feature Article:

• Origen, Homilies on Luke
• Athanasius, On the Incarnation
• Gregory of Nyssa, The Life of Moses
• Ignatius of Antioch, Letters to the Ephesians & Smyrneans (Read HERE: https://files.romanroadsstatic.com/materials/romans/early-christianity/IgnatiusV1-0.pdf)
• Maximus the Confessor, Mystagogia
• St. Augustine, City of God
• The Holy Scriptures (John 14, Matthew 16, 1 Corinthians 10, Ephesians 1)