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Featured Article

Origin of the Church

The term church originated from Greek meaning "of the lord" and later began to replace the Greek ekklesia and basilica within Christendom, c. AD 300, though it was used by Christians before that time (Acts 20:17).

The Christian concept of a "Church" is used for the Greek ekklesia, ref. Strong's Concordance - 1577, Bauer's, Thayer's, and Moulton's and is introduced by Jesus of Nazereth in the New Testament. Of the 114 occurrences of the term in the New Testament, Three are found in the Gospel accounts, all spoken by Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew: "And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my ekklesia, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it" (Mt 16:18); and "If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the ekklesia; and if he refuses to listen even to the ekklesia, let him be to you as the Gentile and the tax-collector" (Mt 18:17).

The Greek term ekklesia, which literally means a "gathering" or "selection" i.e. "eklectic" in English" or "called out assembly", was a governmental and political term, used to denote a national assembly, congregation, council of common objective (see Ecclesia (ancient Athens), Ecclesia (Church)) or a crowd of people who were assembled. It did not signify a "building".

This concept in Christian terms has its direct antecedent in the Koine Greek translation of the Old Testament (see also Septuagint), where the noun ekklesia has been employed 96 times to denote the congregation of the Children of Israel, which Christians regard as a type of the "Body of Christ", as they also call the Christian Church of Christ.

Some minority traditions of Christianity have maintained that the word translated "church" in scripture most often properly refers to local bodies or assemblies. "Church" is a derivative of the Early Greek word "kupuxkovv", meaning Lord's house, which in English became "church". The Koine word for church is(ecclesia). Before Christian appropriation of the term, it was used to describe purposeful gatherings, including the assemblies of many Greek city states. Christians of this stripe maintain that a centralizing impulse in the church, present from the early days of the church through the rise of Constantine represented a departure from true Christianity. They therefore reject the authority of the Nicene Creed or the Apostles' Creed.

COMES FROM THE GREEK WORK FOR GATHERING, IT MEANS A GROUP OF PEOPLE TOGETHER. NORMALLY MISTAKEN FOR A BUILDING BUT THAT IS JUST A PLACE A PLACE WHERE THE CHURCH MEET.



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