The Greek word for “church” in the New Testament is ekklesia (pronounced ek-lay-see-ah), as in Acts 11:26, when “for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church (ekklesia).”
Ekklesia was in use, however, long before the Christian church came into existence. It described the citizens of a city being called together by the local council to a public place to deliberate legal, political and business matters relevant to their city. In other words, an ekklesia was a wide open communal discussion on very practical matters. It was not a religious word at all, and yet this word was used for (and by) the church.
Why? Well, the two root words of ekklesia – ek meaning “out of,” and the verb kaleo meaning “to call” – nicely fit the description of Christians being called out of the world. And being called out to meet together in a public place also fitted in nicely with meeting together as Christians.
But there was more to ekklesia than that, because in its original and familiar Greek meaning it described people in a community being summoned from their homes to assemble in a public place for – note – open discussion and debate on important and relevant issues.
And it wasn’t just discussion and debate among the leaders either; it included everyone in the community. Which is what we find the church doing in Acts 15. A “sharp dispute and debate” had arisen over whether Gentiles should be circumcised” (verses 2-3), so the church assembled together, heard the evidence, after which “the whole church” (verse 22) agreed on what to do.
This was ekklesia in its full Greek sense in action. It includes lots of open discussion on relevant issues covering a wide range of different opinions and perspectives, and coming to conclusions that satisfy all involved.
Compare that to churches today, where denominational tradition and denominational hierarchy rather heavily decide what’s what, with little to no input asked for from the members. I doubt the Bereans in Acts 17, however, would have put up with that. When Paul and Silas arrived in Berea with their interpretation of the Old Testament scriptures, the Bereans “with great eagerness examined the scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true” (verse 11). They were all for open discussion and debate to get to the truth of Scripture they could all happily agree with.
In ekklesia, then, the early Christians found a word that reflected what we as Christians are called out of the world for. It’s to meet together to learn, discuss and debate what Scripture says and how it applies to us personally in the world we find ourselves in.
Buck To Basics 