You will have noticed our use of the word 'ecclesia' and may well have wondered what it means! Ecclesia was the word favoured by Paul to describe 'church'.

'Ecclesia' was used to describe any regular assembly of citizens that decided matters of welfare; in Christendom, it was simply a gathering of Christians in a local community. Paul identified the Christian ecclesia as distinct from its civic equivalent, being 'in God' . We tend to prefer the word ecclesia not only because it is the word that the Apostle Paul favoured, but also because the word 'church' is now so tainted.

It is impossible to separate our beliefs about 'church' from our understanding about the essence of what it is to be a Christian: if an ecclesia is a gathering of Christians, then what we have to ask what a Christian is. The answer is not as obvious as you might imagine - yet any answer colours just about everything that you say, do, and think - not only about church, but your entire Christian experience.