What Did Jesus Mean by "Church?"

What is the church really? When Jesus used the word "church," what did He mean? Would it surprise you to learn that Jesus did not invent the word church? When He used it, He didn't need to define it because it was a common word everyone knew. In Greek, the word was "ekklesia," meaning an official gathering for an official purpose. The word ekklesia had nothing to do with religion.

So, when the Pharisees and Sadducees gathered to discuss how to destroy Jesus, that would be the "how to destroy Jesus" church (or ekklesia). And if the Roman soldiers gathered together to discuss better methods of crucifixion, that would be the "better methods of crucifixion" church (ekklesia). Does that make sense?

Acts 19:32, 39, & 41 are the only places in the Bible where "ekklesia" is properly translated as "assembly." That is because the word ekklesia is used here to describe the people who assembled for a riot in Ephesus.

William Tyndale (who translated the Bible into English) refused to translate the word "ekklesia" as "church" because he felt it conveyed the wrong meaning. He preferred "congregation" to NOT give people the impression that the ekklesia of Jesus had anything to do with a religious gathering in a religious auditorium presided over by religious professionals.

Once, I was in an area in the south of Kenya called the Masai Mara, training people in first-century discipleship. The group I was training was about 75% women, and it didn't take long for me to realize that most of these women could not read or write. Since people who can't read and write are usually very good at memorization, I decided to alter the training. I asked these ladies if they had memorized their favorite Bible stories and passages, and they had.

Then, I taught them the Discovery Bible Study (DBS) process and had them memorize it. This process is used as the seed for church planting in Disciple-Making Movements. I told them to go out and find other women in the Masai area, share their favorite Bible stories with them, and then discuss those stories using the DBS process.

So, these ladies began gathering other women, sharing Bible stories, and encouraging each other to adjust how they lived to align with what God requires. Within just a few weeks, the ladies had started fourteen New Testament churches. Most of us would call them illiterate, yet they could still expand the Kingdom of Jesus by simply sharing the Word of God that they had memorized!

For many years in my own life, I asked the Lord what "church" meant to Him. Then one day, I felt like He answered me right out of the pages of the Bible. I was reading Matthew 16:18, which says,

"And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." (NKJV)

I was blown away! I had read that verse many times but never really saw what it said.

First, Jesus is not saying He will build His ekklesia (church) on Peter because if you read this in the original Greek, Jesus is actually making a play on words here. Peter had just said, "You are the CHRIST (Messiah), the son of the living God." That foundational truth is most likely the "rock" Jesus was referring to in this verse. Because when He calls Peter a rock, He uses the word petros. This word refers to a small stone, like the kind of rock David used in his sling when he killed Goliath. But then, Jesus uses a different Greek word for the rock upon which He will build his church. He uses the word petra, which is the word for a massive rock like a mountain, foundation stone, or bedrock.

Jesus was literally saying that Peter was a small stone (one that Jesus could move wherever and whenever He wanted) but that the rock He was to build HIS fellowship (ekklesia) upon is as solid and immovable as bedrock! And that bedrock is the fact that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of the living God!

The second half of this verse contains a ton of information. Think about those words: "The gates of hell will not prevail against it." Some translations say, "will not overcome it" or "will not withstand it." I find it interesting that Jesus even brings hell into the conversation at all. Maybe Jesus did this because of where He was standing when He spoke about building His ekklesia. Jesus and His disciples had traveled to the city of Caesarea Phillippi, considered by the local pagans to contain the "Gate to Hell" (the underworld).

Caesarea Philippi, which stood in a lush area near the foot of Mount Hermon, was a city dominated by immoral activities and pagan worship. Caesarea Philippi stood only twenty-five miles from the religious communities of Galilee. But the city's religious practices were vastly different from those of the nearby Jewish towns.

In Old Testament times, the northeastern area of Israel became a center for Baal worship. In the nearby city of Dan, Israelite king Jeroboam built the high place that angered God and eventually led the Israelites to worship false gods. Eventually, worship of the baals was replaced with worship of Greek fertility gods.

The pagans of Jesus' day commonly believed that their fertility gods lived in the underworld during the winter and returned to Earth each spring. They saw water as a symbol of the underworld and thought that their gods traveled to and from that world through caves. They believed that their city was literally at the gates of the underworld, the gates of hell. In order to entice the return of their god, Pan, each year, the people of Caesarea Philippi engaged in horrible deeds, including prostitution and sexual interaction between humans and goats.

When Jesus brought his disciples to the area, they must have been shocked. Caesarea Philippi was like a red-light district in their world and devout Jews would have avoided any contact with the despicable acts committed there. It was a city of people eagerly knocking on the doors of hell.

Jesus presented a clear challenge with his words at Caesarea Philippi: He didn't want his followers hiding from evil. He wanted them to storm the gates of hell.

Standing near the pagan temples of Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asked his disciples "Who do you say that I am?" Peter boldly replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." The disciples were probably stirred by the contrast between Jesus, the true and living God, and the false hopes of the pagans who trusted in "dead" gods.

Jesus continued, "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it." (Matthew 16:13-20)

At this moment and in this setting, Jesus chooses to emphasize the conflict between His ekklesia and the defenses of hell. Suddenly His ekklesia (fellowship/church) is at odds with hell. Let me ask, in this passage, who is attacking whom? Who is actually on the attack and who is protecting themselves?

When I ask that question in a training session, people usually tell me that hell is attacking the church. But is that what it says? People tend to say that because they've heard that their whole lives in church or Sunday school, but is that what the passage really says?

Look at it again. It says, "the gates of hell will not withstand it." "It" is the ekklesia of Jesus. "It" is the followers of Jesus. "It" is supposed to be you and me!

How many people use a gate as their weapon of choice to fight a battle? How many militaries worldwide teach their soldiers to fight battles with a gate as their offensive weapon? None do. It's simply not done. And that is because gates are used for defense and protection. They are NEVER used for offense or for attack!

So if the powers of hell were attacking the ekklesia (fellowship) of Jesus, then this verse should say, "the gates of the church will be stronger than the attack of hell." But that's NOT what it says. On the contrary, it says that hell's gates (defenses) will be weaker and fall to the assault of the ekklesia (fellowship, gathering of obedient followers, church) of Jesus.

Therefore, this verse does NOT say that hell is attacking the ekklesia (church) of Jesus! IT ACTUALLY SAYS THE GATHERING OF JESUS' FOLLOWERS IS ATTACKING AND OVERPOWERING THE DEFENSES OF HELL ITSELF! Is that how you view Jesus' church?

As Ray Vander Laan from "That the World May Know" says: "Gates are defensive structures... By saying that the gates of hell would not overcome, Jesus suggested that those gates were going to be attacked. Standing as they were at a literal 'Gate of Hades,' the disciples may have been overwhelmed by Jesus' challenge. They had studied under their rabbi for several years, and now he was commissioning them to a huge task: to attack evil, and to build the church on the very places that were most filled with moral corruption. Jesus presented a clear challenge with his words at Caesarea Philippi: He didn't want his followers hiding from evil: He wanted them to storm the gates of hell."

Did you get that? When Jesus gave this teaching, He was literally standing in a city that contained a cave that the local pagans thought was "the gate to hell." Jesus says that His ekklesia (fellowship, church) will be attacking and overpowering the defenses of hell.

Why would we want to do that? Why would the fellowship of Jesus' followers want to attack the gates of hell?

My guess is that you lock your gate or your doors at night. And why do you do that? To protect yourself and your possessions, right? So, if someone attacks your home and overpowers your gate or locked doors, what is their motivation? They either want to do you harm, or they want to steal your possessions, right?

Therefore, the ekklesia (church) of Jesus is not so much about religious meetings in religious buildings presided over by religious professionals. And it's not about listening to religious speeches for an hour a week. Instead, it IS about operating as a force that attacks and overpowers the defenses of hell to take lost souls from the devil and bring them to eternal life through a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.

I don't think it's too strong a statement to say that any organization or group of people that claims to be the church of Jesus but is not attacking the gates of hell and taking souls from the devil is NOT Jesus' church, no matter what they say they are.

A few years ago, a couple of our trained disciple makers in East Africa approached a group of about 30 female sex workers to share the gospel with them. These women had about eighteen children among them, so the group was about 48 people in all. They all lived in the same rented room, a large hall that was used as their living space. Our disciple makers tried to share the gospel with them but were turned away. The women said they were learning to practice witchcraft and were not interested in hearing the gospel.

Now, in that part of Africa, customers don't always pay prostitutes for their services. So the motivation for a prostitute to learn witchcraft is to put a curse on clients who don't pay. In this part of Africa, witchcraft is widespread, and almost everyone believes in it. Most people there have seen witchcraft's real and powerful effects firsthand.

Upon being rejected, the disciple makers went away and asked God what to do. They felt like the Lord told them to go back. So they went back and were rejected a second time. They went away and prayed again.

Again, they felt like the Lord told them to go back. So they went a third time and were, you guessed it, rejected again. So they went away and prayed a third time, and felt like the Lord told them to go back a fourth time!

How many of us would go back four times? But, desiring to be obedient to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, they went back, and this time rather than rejecting them, the prostitutes said, "Okay, tell us your message." It was as if they were saying, "If you won't go away without telling us your message, tell us your message and then go away."

So the disciple makers shared the gospel with the prostitutes. And the prostitutes were convicted of their sin and need for salvation through Jesus Christ! They realized that the power offered to them through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit was greater than any power they could ever gain through witchcraft. So they discussed it amongst themselves, and as a group, they all surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ on the same day.

That's when the disciple makers messaged me. They were so excited about all these women who had come to Christ, and they wanted to receive some assistance in helping them find new lines of work. I told them that we would work to find new jobs but that they should NOT all quit prostitution on the same day because that would mean 48 people suddenly wouldn't have any income and couldn't pay their rent or buy food. If I'm honest, my faith was too small and I was concerned that these women and children would starve while we were trying to find them new jobs from half a world away.

He did that in a wonderful way!

You see, in Disciple-Making Movements, people are taught to read the word of God and put it into practice in their own lives. So, these new sisters in Christ were still working as prostitutes while also reading the Bible together. They came across the passage that says, "Honor God with your body" (1 Corinthians 6:20). They discussed it amongst themselves and decided to trust Jesus. They determined that it was not honoring to God to continue working as prostitutes. So they quit! All 30 of them left prostitution on the same day!

As you can imagine, this was a significant concern for me and the disciple-makers who led them to Christ. But God (I love that phrase), in His wisdom, had arranged all of the details and put the pieces into place long before the women, the disciple-makers, or I even knew what would transpire. God "just so happened" to have provided me with a friend in that very same city who specialized in urban development. The Lord also gathered the body of Christ around this need. Many people gave as they were prompted by the Lord. The women were interviewed to determine their skills and interests. Within just a few weeks, these ladies were working as hairdressers, cooks, selling fruit and vegetables, clothes, etc. They also immediately began discipling the other prostitutes of that area to Christ! Praise the Lord!