Traveling Down the Theological Trail: Ekklesia

Ekklesia is a word that I think about quite often, and I saw a post on Facebook this morning where this word was used. So the “lightbulb” went on in my head, and I thought this would be a great time to travel down the theological trail and teach a little bit on Ekklesia.

Ekklesia is a Koine(common) Greek word that was spoken during Bible times. The simple definition is, “The called out ones.” In Scriptural usage, Ekklesia also means, “a group of believers with a shared identity and purpose not a religious building.”

So the question arises, what is our shared identity or purpose as we are part of the church? It has to begin and end with Jesus Christ!!!

For example, Ephesians 1:19-23 says, “¹⁹ and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might ²⁰ that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, ²¹ far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. ²² And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,²³ which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”

This passage tells us (among many great Scriptural truths) that Christ is head over all the Church. He is our identity.

We will look at the many other ways that we identify with Jesus Christ in future blogs, however, for this edition, we will ask another question, what is our purpose of being the Ekklesia?

The answer has to always begin with The Great Commission as outlined in Matthew 28:19-20, “¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

So is our purpose as the Ekklesia, with Christ as our Head of The Body of Christ outreach, evangelism, and spiritual growth? If we say it is, then why does the Ekklesia fail in these endeavors? Part of being the Ekklesia is not the same as a membership to a social club or country club! We are called to all serve in the Church. How do we do this?

1. Help to grow the Church- seems obvious but not so much in actual practice. We are all to do our part:

   Picking up a piece of crumpled paper off the floor instead of walking past it. I recently did that in the hallway, but I noticed that there were many people who chose to pass by and ignore what was on the floor. What if the visitors present saw that? They may assume we are sloppy and don’t care about things on the floor.

2. After church dinners, I have noticed some of our people leave their plates and cups on the table and simply leave. This attitude of leave it to someone else to do is the antithesis of what the Bible teaches us about agape love. If everyone took just five minutes to help clean up, the same people would not be burdened to spend time cleaning up. Help us serve each other!

3. Do you want to grow spiritually? Then attend small groups! Let me share that I chose to sit in a small group class of only 6 sessions to learn and so far, I can say that I have learned some valuable spiritual application and lessons so far. If I can learn then any one of you can learn too! Help yourself to grow spiritually!

4. Our outreach events are precisely that, Outreach!!! For example, the Coffeehouse is not an event to primarily entertain and feed us and be a great place for fellowship. Of course those things do happen, but the number one reason we do this is for outreach! Do we invite our friends and family to this? Does the musician you know that lives next door get an invitation? You see we are seeking ways to get people who may not feel comfortable (or may be hurt from past events in another church) to step into a church. These events are set up to be easy ways to reach out to the community! There some outreach opportunities coming up in June, July, and August, and we need our church family to get behind these events. We invite you all to help out!

We are comfortable saying we are the island of misfit toys, however, we have been brought together by the Lord to grow and to be joined together in agape love to be an Ekklesia with deep bonds to serve, grow, and find more people in our community who want to journey with us! We are family! We are Ekklesia!

Until Next Time Walk in His Grace and Love!!!