Over the past few weeks, we have been discussing the New Testament Church. This week, we will continue striving to answer the question—to whom does the church belong? There is something we say that is not entirely Scripturally accurate— “we are going to church.” We must be careful that we do not mislead people by using biblical words in ways that were not intended.

In the Scriptures, the word “church” is translated from the Greek word ekklesia, which means “the called out” and refers to the group of people called out by Christ from darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9-10). When we say, “we are going to church,” we are erroneously attempting to combine the word ekklesia with the Greek word proskyneo, which means worship and defines what we are doing when we gather as the ekklesia (John 4:21-24). A combination of the words ekklesia and proskyned into one word, our modern “church,” is not found in the Scriptures. In attempting to join these two concepts, we devalue both in that neither receives a proper definition. Therefore, the seriousness of both words to our lives is lost; could this be the reason attendance is declining in Christendom?

As the ekklesia, we gather for the purpose of drawing near to God (proskyneo), so we can hold fast our confession without wavering; this allows us to consider one another to stir up love and good works by not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together (Heb. 10:19-25). To simply relegate these two important concepts to the phrase “we are going to church” does not give either the emphasis that the Scriptures place on them. We are not simply “going to church;” we are going to assemble with the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:27-28; Rom. 12:3-5; Eph. 1:22-23, 4:11-16, 5:23) so that in the process of worship/ humbly prostrating ourselves before God (proskyneo), we may edify and encourage one another (Eph. 4:12; Heb 10:24-25; James 4:7-10; 1 Peter 5:5-11).

When we say, “we are going to church,” it becomes easy to make excuses for forsaking the assembly, because our focus is on man and not God. One of the justifications that can come from this is, “I don’t go to church, because there are hypocrites there.” This excuse focuses on the fact that the ekklesia is made up of imperfect people and neglects the fact that its main purpose is to worship God. However, it could be limited if the focus switched from trying to combine proskeyned and ekklesia into the modern word “church” to the proper, biblical perspective of understanding and emphasizing both separately. Falsely uniting the two concepts of ekklesia and proskeyned and calling it “church” allows the erring individual to highlight either God or man as equally important.

When we say, “we are going to church,” we are emphasizing man in worship over God. Whereas, if we highlight God and say, “we are going to worship,” the erring individual’s argument of not going to “church” because there are hypocrites becomes less valid, because the surrounding people are less important. Now, his focus has switched from people (going to church) to God (going to worship) and God should always be our main concern (Matt. 6:33).

Changing our phraseology from “going to church” to “going to worship” could also help change how we perceive the ekklesia. It is easy to forget that the ekklesia does not belong to us and that we do not get to make decisions on how to worship God (Matt. 15:9, 16:18; Acts 20:28). If we continue to think and say, “we are going to church,” it becomes an easy transition to refer to God’s church as “my church” when talking to others. However, if we think and say, “we are going to worship,” our focus is on God and not us, and the importance of His assembly could be cemented in our minds, helping both us and the erring (1 Tim. 4:16). When the focus is taken off mankind an d placed upon God, then it becomes easier to understand to whom the church belongs.

Just something to consider.