What Does The Bible Say About Church?

Why Church Has Never Been About Buildings

What is the church? Is it a building you go to on a Sunday? A livestream you tune into from your sofa? An institution with rules and rotas? Or is it something far more radical — something that has been growing and multiplying for two thousand years, often without a building in sight?

In this episode, John Harding — a church leader whose entire adult life has been devoted to the church — explores what the Bible actually says about this thing that he describes as both "a right pain in the you-know-what" and "the most worthy thing to pour a life into."

A New Word for an Ancient Idea

The first mention of the word "church" in the Bible comes from Jesus himself, in Matthew 16:18: "I will build my church." The Greek word he uses is ecclesia — meaning an assembly of people, a gathering, a community. It comes from the verb kaleo (to call) and the prefix ek (out). The called-out ones.

John explains that Jesus was doing something clever. He used a new word to redefine an old concept — a brilliant organisational leadership technique. The idea of God's people gathering together was ancient, stretching right back through the synagogues and temples of Israel. But Jesus was redefining it in a radically new way.

"The whole story of Scripture follows this pattern," John says. "Eve is taken out of the side of Adam. Israel is taken out of the nations of the earth. The church is called out from among the peoples of the earth to be this distinct people belonging to God."

The Curtain That Tore

To understand the shift, John takes us to the moment of Jesus's death. In the inner sanctuary of the temple — the Holy of Holies — there hung an enormous curtain designed to keep ordinary people out of God's presence. It had two cherubim engraved on it, representing the angels placed at the gates of Eden to keep sinful humans from God's presence.

When Jesus died on the cross, that curtain was torn in two, from top to bottom.

"Was it to let ordinary people into the holy place of God's presence?" John asks. "No. It was to symbolise that God had left the building."

God would no longer dwell in special buildings built by human hands. He would dwell in a new kind of temple — people. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 3:16: "Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple?" And Peter says each of us has become "like living stones, built together into a living temple."

"We are the church," John says. "We don't go to church. The people of God become the church when we receive Jesus."

One Church, Many Expressions

John draws an important distinction between the universal church and local churches. The universal church is all believers — past, present, and future — mystically woven together into one spiritual body.

He paints a vivid picture. Imagine the throne room of heaven. Jesus is seated on the throne, surrounded by a great uncountable multitude of worshippers — men, women, and children from every tribe, group, and nation. The martyrs are there. Those who have gone before are there. And here is the mind-bending part: you and I are there right now.

"I can't quite get my head around that," John admits, "but it's what the Bible says. Ephesians 2:6 tells us that we have been raised up with Jesus and we are seated there with him in heavenly places."

That gathering around the throne is the church. The one church. And every local church — whether it meets in a cathedral, a living room, or a YouTube livestream — is meant to be an echo of that heavenly reality here on earth.

"A group of believers gathered with King Jesus at the centre, in encounter and in surrender," John says. "That simple. That pure. That uncomplicated."

How the Church Actually Grew

For the first 300 years of Christianity, believers gathered without special buildings. They met in homes, fields, and beaches. Their gatherings were often illegal. If the authorities found them, they were arrested, imprisoned, or killed.

And yet, within 300 years, the church had spread across the known world.

John points to modern parallels. The fastest-growing church in the world today is reportedly in Iran, where small groups of believers meet in threes and fours in people's homes, multiplying as new believers join. The Chinese underground church has been operating the same way for decades. Despite the Communist Party's attempts to shut down unregistered groups, it is now estimated that over 68 million Christians gather this way in China — making it potentially the largest Christian community in the world.

"Church has never been about church buildings," John says. "That's why when Jesus said 'I will build my church,' he was deliberately using a different word to redefine an ancient concept."

What COVID Revealed

Then came 2020. Lockdown. Church buildings forced to close. And something unexpected happened.

"Church buildings were closed," John says, "but the church became more alive and more vibrant and more open than it had been for many years."

Christians innovated. They found new ways to gather, to worship, to serve, to pray. Everything that makes church church — worship, community, teaching, giving, prayer, healing — could work online.

John admits that before lockdown, he was not sure about online church. He thought physical gatherings would always be better. But COVID proved that "all the things that make church church here on earth could work online."

Crowd Church itself is an expression of this. A group of people gathering with Jesus at the centre, encountering him and learning to surrender their lives more fully to him. A shadow of that heavenly gathering, echoed here on earth.

Going to Church Does Not Make You a Christian

John does not hold back. "Going to church makes you no more a Christian than going to McDonald's makes you a hamburger, or sitting in a garage makes you a car."

You can attend a church building every Sunday, sit through a ninety-minute service, and have no intention of allowing God's word to call you into a more surrendered life. Being physically present does not automatically make it better church than gathering virtually.

But equally, being part of the church demands something of us. We need to be committed to community — to belong, to serve, to know others and be known. Whether that happens in a building or online, the invitation is the same.

The Church Is Worth It

John is clear-eyed about the church's imperfections. It has harmed people. It has been a source of great pain. It is, as he describes it, both his biggest joy and his biggest frustration.

"But honestly," he says, "I can't think of anything more worthy of pouring my life into than the church."

The church is God's idea. It is the object of Jesus's affection. It is broken and beautiful. And it is being built, right now, by Jesus himself — in homes in Iran, in underground gatherings in China, in online communities like Crowd Church, and wherever two or three are gathered with him at the centre.

What might it look like for you to be part of the church — not just attend it?