Editor’s note: Rick Harrington is senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Haverhill, Mass., and a leader of the Baptist Convention of New England’s Multiplication Center. The following is an excerpt from his recent book, “Churching: Rediscovering the Centrality of the Local Church in the Christian Life.”
I had arrived in Nepal less than 24 hours before. That was an experience. Coming off the plane, the airport was packed with jostling people speaking a language I could not understand. Hustlers were eager to take advantage of foreigners, quickly carrying my bags without asking and then demanding a tip. Thoughts entered my mind about whether I had just made a serious mistake traveling halfway around the world to the foothills of the Himalayas. I felt like a speck that would get lost in this ocean of people and never be found again.
This all changed when I met Titus and Benjamin. The moment I met these Christian Nepalis a switch flipped in my heart. We hugged and chatted, then laughed and told stories, without fully understanding one another. It was as if we were back in New England hanging out on my own porch.
But when I first arrived, I was sleep deprived and jet lagged, energized only by adrenaline. I had been invited to preach in Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital city. We met in the shadow of a large Hindu temple a mere block away. The meeting space was about the size of a large storage unit and looked like one, as I recall. The room was stuffed with people, no AC, and little ventilation. There were no seats, except the plastic lawn chairs in the very back row where they allowed their honored guests to sit. Everyone else sat crisscrossed on the floor.
The worship was loud and lively. The prayers were vibrant, even if I could not understand them. I preached on the parable of the prodigal son, from Luke 15:11-32, through a translator. To my surprise, two young women responded to the pastor’s call to trust in Jesus Christ. It certainly was not due to my rhetorical flourish! I later asked my guide what would happen next for the girls. He said the pastor would meet with them and require them to dispose of all other “gods” in their home. He would then begin to disciple them.
What is the ‘church’?
You are not the church. I realize this statement goes against the modern spirit of Christianity in much of the Western world. Church signs, banners and coffee mugs proliferate with the slogan “You are the church.” Yet, it is a saying that would puzzle most Christians throughout church history – certainly the first-century followers of The Way (see Acts 9:2; 19:9, 12; 24:14, 22).
The Greek word behind the English “church” is ecclesia. Its essential meaning is an assembly. As the definitive lexicon of the Greek New Testament translates it, an “assembly, gathering, or congregation.” The word ecclesia had a preexistent meaning before it was applied to the early Christians, though. The term “was in common usage for several hundred years before the Christian era and was used to refer to an assembly of persons constituted by well-defined membership.”
What we might call civic or work conferences today would have no problem identifying their gathering as ecclesia. The word is used in the New Testament to describe such gatherings (see Acts 19:32; 39–40).
This is not to say there was no Scriptural precedent for using ecclesia to refer to Christian assemblies. In the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, it was used to refer to the assembly of Israel (e.g., Deuteronomy 4:10; Judges 20:2). The gathering of the people of God in ancient Israel gave the New Testament writers the perfect word to describe Christians as they gathered throughout the Roman Empire.
Theologians often speak of the Church universal. This is a description of all Christians throughout the world and sometimes including those already in glory (that is, the Church triumphant). The Church universal, as opposed to the church local, will one day gather as one united entity at the end of history, with representatives from every tongue, tribe and nation.
From what you hear from today’s chatter, one would think the Church universal is the primary use of ecclesia in the New Testament and every so often a reference is made to the local get-together. The truth is the exact opposite. While we await that glorious end-time multitude, our primary ecclesia today is a local gathering.
This is incontestably the majority use of the word in the Greek New Testament. Ecclesia is primarily used not as an eschatological (end-times) entity, but as an actual gathering of Christian believers in a particular geographical locale. Whether a church is in Jerusalem or Rome, Corinth or Crete, Antioch or Athens, Christians gathered with God’s people locally.
No one individual can say, “I am the church,” as the very word connotes an assembly. I can say I am part of a church. Even better, I can say, along with a church family on Sunday morning, “We are the church.” You and I, individually, are not the church nor should we want to be. We need others. I am a believer, a follower of Jesus Christ, a child of God, even, but church is something I cannot be without my fellow Christians.
Related posts:
Calvinism ~ Southern Baptist Perspectives 
‘But seriously folks’: Humor’s role in pulpit assessed 
FIRST-PERSON: Doctrinal fidelity without methodological conformity The Bible — Effective! God the Holy Spirit ~ His Deity and Personhood The Church ~ A Bride, A Building, A Body The Church ~ Considering Congregational Polity 
FIRST-PERSON: One day closer
