What is "church"?

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AlexR

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I am college student.

Once I had a debate with protestant friends.

I said matt 16:18. And I explained church doctrine is not changed for 2000 yrs.
It has the binding and loosing authority.

Then the protestant friend asked me what is church?

I said it is the place where people will gather and worship God.

He said " in Greek it is ecclesia which means body of believers/ call out/ assembly .

Then he asked me how can you separate church and body of believers??. The church and body of believers are same then how can you say your chruch teaches body of believers??. And how can you say it is an building???

I stuck here friends…so please explain me.

I really don’t know that much… I searched many websites but I couldn’t find the answer.
 
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First, you may want to fix your spellcheck…“church” not chruch…

Moving on to your question, a church (lower case c) can refer to the church building. Like a Catholic church, a Methodist church, a Baptist church, etc.

A Church (upper case C) usually refers to the entire body of believers. So, Catholic Church generally means the body of believers. Catholic church means a building we go worship in.

The body of believers of the Catholic Church is further divided into the Church Militant, which means those of us Catholics alive on earth now, the Church Penitent, also called Church Suffering, which means the souls in Purgatory, and the Church Triumphant, which means those in Heaven. Put all three together and it makes up the “Church” as in the full body of believers.

I note that some media like TV, newspaper reporters use the term "the Catholic Church " to mean the Church hierarchy like the bishops, the cardinals, the Pope, his officials at the Vatican, etc. This is a colloquial use but is not correct as the term “Church” includes the whole body of believers as I said, not just the bishops, Pope, persons in leadership positions.

I hope this helps.
 
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AlexR said:
I am college student.

Once I had a debate with protestant friends.

I said matt 16:18. And I explained chruch doctrine is not changed for 2000 yrs.
It has the binding and loosing authority.

Then the protestant friend asked me what is chruch?

I said it is the place where people will gather and worship God.

He said " in Greek it is ecclesia which means body of believers/ call out/ assembly .

Then he asked me how can you separate chruch and body of believers??. The chruch and body of believers are same then how can you say your chruch teaches body of believers??. And how can you say it is an building???

I stuck here friends…so please explain me.

I really don’t know that much… I searched many websites but I couldn’t find the answer.
Click to expand...
Like almost all words in the English language, Church has many meanings and we know the proper meaning of the word by looking at the context.

Here are all the meanings of the word, “church”:
  1. The hierarchy of the Church. Example: The Magisterium.
  2. The body of believers as a whole. Example, the universal Church.
  3. The body of believers in a local area. Example, the Church in Chicago.
  4. The building in which the body of believers gather to worship God. Example: Let’s go to the beautiful Church with the image of the Grotto.
Protestants use the word “church” exclusively to mean the “body of believers”. We use all the meanings of the word. So, when we mean the Church decided this, we mean the Magisterium. And when we say we are going to Church, we mean the Church around the corner.

I hope that helps.
 
The Church is the assembly of the baptized united in one faith and hierarchical communion (ie subject to the authorized pastors) partaking of the Eucharist. It is the means of salvation established by Christ.

We are baptized into the one Body in the one Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13), partake of the one bread as one Body (1 Cor. 10:17), and profess the One Lord, one faith, one Baptism (Eph 4:4-5). Like Noah’s ark, you have to be on board to be saved (as the Bible says, like Noah’s ark in the flood, Baptism now saves (1 Peter 3:20-21), and as I just showed, we are baptized into that one Body–so the ark and the Body have the same significance in this regard).

Furthermore, to have fellowship or communion with Christ, you must have fellowship with those who have fellowship with Him (1 John 1:3). We are forbidden, therefore, from schisms and must be united in belief (1 Cor. 1:10).

Furthermore, while Christ is the head of the Church, He has also willed that the Church be led by men. He put St. Peter in charge of His flock (John 21:15-17)–therefore, to be a member of Christ’s flock is to be a member of the flock tended by Peter and his successors. Bishops are selected by men, but they ultimately receive authority from the Holy Spirit (Acts 20:28).
 
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As others have posted, we are the Church, the Body of Christ. The Church is the people of God. As has already been posted, when Church is capitalized, we are referring to the Catholic Church. Generally when writing about separated brothers and sisters, we tend not to capitalize the denomination to which they may belong.
It is also true that we meet in a building, a place of assembly called a church. The name of the church. such as Gethsemane Baptist Church would be capitalized, a matter of English grammar.
 
Don’t ya love it when both are right:grin:

FROM FATHER JOHN A HARDON’S CATHOLIC DICTIONARY

QUOTE "

CHURCH. The faithful of the whole world. This broad definition can be understood in various senses all derived from the Scriptures, notably as the community of believers, the kingdom of God, and the Mystical Body of Christ.

As the community of believers, the Church is the assembly (ekklesia) of all who believe in Jesus Christ; or the fellowship (koinonia) of all who are bound together by their common love for the Savior. As the kingdom (basileia), it is the fulfillment of the ancient prophecies about the reign of the Messiah. And as the Mystical Body it is the communion of all those made holy by the grace of Christ. He is their invisible head and they are his visible members. These include the faithful on earth, those in purgatory who are not yet fully purified, and the saints in heaven.

Since the Council of Trent, the Catholic Church has been defined as a union of human beings who are united by the profession of the same Christian faith, and by participation of and in the same sacraments under the direction of their lawful pastors, especially of the one representative of Christ on earth, the Bishop of Rome. Each element in this definition is meant to exclude all others from actual and vital membership in the Catholic Church, namely apostates and heretics who do not profess the same Christian faith, non-Christians who do not receive the same sacraments, and schismatics who are not submissive to the Church’s lawful pastors under the Bishop of Rome.

At the Second Vatican Council this concept of the Church was recognized as the objective reality that identifies the fullness of the Roman Catholic Church. But it was qualified subjectively so as to somehow include all who are baptized and profess their faith in Jesus Christ. They are the People of God, whom he has chosen to be his own and on whom he bestows the special graces of his providence. (Etym. Greek kyriakon, church; from kyriakos, belonging to the Lord.)END QUOTES

God Bless you
Patrick
 
Can I answer him like this?
Code: 
      Yes church is body of believers but we should go deep in it. What do you mean by body of believer?
The man who believe in Christ . How do you became body of believer? Through some guide( elders/ priest/pastors) to explain about the teaching. The guide must also be a body of believer.
God made apostles as body of believers and commended them to make body of believers. Whether the apostles teaching could vary each other to the gentiles? No definitely not because they knew the true teaching of Christ.
The gentiles and a new born baby are same. If I say simply to the gentiles that Jesus is the true God believe in him. They won’t believe. So I must teach them about miracles, baptism, salvation, commandments, parable taught by Christ. So here the body of believer must teach the body to become body of believer.
So that only we are going to body of believer/ chruch to taught(magisterium)by them to become body of believers.
Not all body of believers are same. Let I believe in Christ as GOD so I became body of believer but I didn’t believe in Trinity. Let another person also believe in Christ as GOD but didn’t believe in baptism. So here the teaching of the body of believer varies so the body of believers who following it also varies. So that only there are 40,000 body of believers ( chruch) differing each other. So that only we are naming Catholic chruch who believe in Catholic teaching , Baptist chruch who believe in Baptist teaching etc…
Finally the catholic church teaching means magisterium/ chruch / body of believers teaching to the body or strengthening the body of believers.
The teaching of the body of believers /magisterium( Catholic doctrines) is safeguarded for 2000 yrs.
Christ said one folks and the chruch is universal. Which means one body of believers.So in Mathew 16:18 Christ chosen/built his body of believers (one and not 40,000 because they should not vary)on Peter.

Whether it is OK ?
 
IThe Bible says the disciples should be the light of the world so others may see, in unison of perfect mind with no divisions

Does that sound like an invisible body of different denominations ?

The Bible says the church is the pillar and foundation of truth

The Bible says when your brother sins against you and won’t listen take it to the church

Where is this place you take it to? An invisible body? An individual believer’s house?

No

The Bible goes on to describe Jesus giving teaching authority to the eleven apostles, who laid hands on others they appointed to teach. When there were unsettled questions, the apostles led a council to settle the issue.

The Bible even referenced the office of bishop and laying on hands of the priesthood

Then, when we read first and second century history, we see a church characterized by apostolic succession and led by bishops who administered the Eucharist, centered in Rome via Peter and Paul

Invisible body? Hogwash
 
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