You Are the Church — Or You’re Not

I Need to Get Back to Church…” – But What Do We Really Mean?


“I haven’t been to church in a while.”
“I’m trying to go more regularly.”
“I used to go, but I fell off.”
“Which church do you belong to?”

These are the kinds of things we often hear. They sound familiar. Comfortable. Even spiritual.

But beneath the surface, these statements reveal something deeper — and far more concerning:
We’ve reduced the Church to a building, a program, a place we “go to” or “leave” — not what God actually says it is.

In this post, we’re not just rethinking our language.
We’re returning to Scripture to rediscover what the Church truly is — and who we truly are.

The Church Is Not a Building — It’s the People of God

Let’s make one thing absolutely clear:
The Church is not a building. It never has been. It never will be.

Nowhere in the Bible does God define the Church as a structure made of bricks and glass.
Yet today, people talk about “church” the same way they talk about gyms or grocery stores:
A place you go, a place you leave, a service you attend, a building you walk into once a week.

But that is not Biblical.

What Is the Church, According to the Bible?

1. The Church is the Body of Christ — Made of People, Not Walls

“Now you are the body of Christ, and individually members of it.”
— 1 Corinthians 12:27

The Church is made up of born-again believers — men, women, and children who have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9).

It is not a location, but a living, breathing body of people across nations, languages, and generations — all united in one Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:13).

2. The Church is the Household of God — Not a Denomination, Not a Brand

“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.”
— Ephesians 2:19

It’s not about which “church building” you attend, what style of worship you prefer, or what your church logo looks like.
The true Church is God’s family — and only those adopted into that family by faith in Christ are part of it (John 1:12-13).

You don’t “go to church” — you are the Church, if you belong to Jesus.

3. The Church is the Temple of the Holy Spirit — Not Made by Human Hands

“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?”
— 1 Corinthians 3:16

The New Testament never commands us to build a “church building.”
Instead, God builds His Church by filling people with His Spirit.
In Acts 2:1-47, the Church was born — not in a cathedral, but in a house, where believers were filled with the Holy Spirit and went out to proclaim the gospel.

So Why Do We Gather?

If the Church is not a building — then why do we meet together?

Because God commands it.

“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another…”
— Hebrews 10:24–25

Gathering is not about attendance.
It’s not about checking a religious box.

It’s about mutual encouragement, teaching, correction, prayer, worship, the Lord’s Supper, and building one another up in the faith (Acts 2:42, Colossians 3:16, 1 Thessalonians 5:11).

We gather because we are one body — and the body cannot function in isolation (1 Corinthians 12:14–20).

Matthew 18:18-20
‘Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. ‘

A Serious Word About Fellowship and the Breaking of Bread

True fellowship — the kind commanded by God — is holy.
It is the shared life of the redeemed, those who have been born again by the Spirit of God (John 3:3).

When the Church gathers, we pray, we worship, we build one another up — and we partake of sacred ordinances like the breaking of bread (Communion) and Baptism.

But God gives a fearful warning:
This gathering, and the sharing in the Lord’s Supper, is only for the saved — and only for those who walk in repentance.

Paul wrote by the Holy Spirit:

“Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.”
(1 Corinthians 11:27-29, KJV)

To take part in holy fellowship without being in Christ, or while living in willful sin, brings God’s judgment — not His blessing.

This is why even among true believers, the Bible commands that if a brother or sister persists in sin and refuses to repent, the Church must cast them out from fellowship:

“But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.”
(1 Corinthians 5:11, KJV)

And again:

“Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.”
(1 Timothy 5:20, KJV)

This is not cruelty — it is obedience.
It is a call to holiness, protecting the purity of Christ’s body and calling sinners to true repentance.

Fellowship is not a casual gathering.
It is the holy communion of the saints — those who have received a new heart and a new spirit through faith in Jesus Christ:

“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you…”
(Ezekiel 36:26, KJV)

Visitors and unbelievers are welcome to observe and hear the Word of God — but they must not take part in the sacred breaking of bread until they too have been born again by faith.

The Church is the gathering of the redeemed.
Its fellowship is sacred.
Its holiness must not be profaned.

“Be ye holy; for I am holy.”
(1 Peter 1:16, KJV)

Let This Sink In

If you think “going to church” makes you a Christian,
then you’ve misunderstood the gospel.

You can sit in a church building every Sunday and still be spiritually dead.
You can never step into a building and yet be fully alive in Christ — if you belong to Him.

The Church is not a weekend event.
It is the redeemed people of God, living in relationship with Christ and each other, carrying His mission into the world.

Final Words

We must stop using worldly language that confuses buildings with believers.
The Church is not a place you go.
It’s who you are — if you are in Christ.

So the next time you hear someone say, “I need to get back to church…”,
ask them this:
“Do you know what the Church truly is?”
Because that question changes everything.


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