The word “church” represents many things to many people. Any religious organization that seeks to affiliate itself with Christ is usually referred to as a church of one kind or another. Some people think of a church as a cathedral or building that is marked by the usual religious trappings such as a steeple or a cross. Others use it as an adjective to describe anything connected with religion. The word church is a common word in the New Testament that refers to three forms of the same organism. A careful study of these three scriptural usages of the word “church” is in order. The word itself translates the Greek word “ekklesia” and means “a calling out” or an “assembly”. Just as the word “baptize” means to immerse regardless of the element, so “church” means a calling out regardless of the sense in which that takes place. First, it is an elementary but commonly overlooked fact that the word does not have anything to do with a building or meeting place of any kind. It is a misnomer to speak of a tangible structure as a church. Though the scriptures teach that God dwells in His church (Eph 2:22), the apostle also said “God…dwelleth not in temples made with hands” (Acts 17:24). By definition and application, the word always refers to an animate organism. That entity is manifested in three ways in the word of God and we should be careful to recognize all three but not extend the term any farther. The church can refer to the saved universally (Matt 16:18, Heb 12:23, Gal 1:13), a local congregation of believers (2 Cor 1:1, 1 Thess 1:1, Col 4:15) and the assembly of such a congregation (1 Cor 11:18, 1 Cor 14:34). Since the third is a variation of the second, we will primarily focus our attention on the difference between the church universally and locally.