What is Church?
This a question that gets answered very differently, you have some that believe it is the building a group in a religion meet in, or its the people that gather in a building or facility to conduct church business. To understand lets look at the word "church". The original Greek word for church, "ekklesia" means to "call out" and when you consider what the church is commissioned to do, we are called out to share the gospel(Mark 16:15). The Merriam-Webster dictionary does describe the church as the building for public worship, especially for Christianity and even our society today when we refer to the church that is usually what we are referencing too, the building.
It's not the building, as a matter of fact when you really get down to what church is, it is a group of people that come together for worship, prayer, fellowship, teaching and encouragement in the faith. In a sense you are part of a family. I know what many people will say, well I don't need the church I can have church at home with God, or I don't want to be a part of a group of people that are a bunch of hypocrites. Yes I agree you can have fellowship with the Lord right in your home, and you should, its part of the relationship, but its also part of the relationship to get plugged in with a group of believers, as matter of fact its biblical(Acts 2:42). You see Jesus built His church, In Matthew 16:18 He tells peter on this rock "I" will build "My" church, so Jesus is the author and creator of church, but again the church is not the building itself, it is the community/family of believers, and I really like family of believers because as a family you come together to celebrate, morn, fellowship and you are the hands and feet of Jesus to this world together.
Now about the hypocrites, think about this way, you have hypocrites in your family, workplace, neighborhood, kids sports teams and any other organization, and if you think about really, we are all hypocrites, yes maybe some are worse than others but that does not mean they need Jesus any less nor do we. One other thing about hypocrites, Jesus taught and served right with Judas and knew all along he would betray Him, but Jesus did not walk away nor did He love Judas any less, He loved Judas right where he was at. Judas chose to reject Jesus not Jesus rejected Judas, nor the ministry because of a hypocrite.
Here at The Rock Church we have a passion for church, but the passion is to be the hands and feet of Jesus to our community and share the gospel with every man, woman and child in our city and beyond. All the while, we do this together as the body of Christ, loving each other, praying for each other, worshiping together, breaking bread and living out the great commission from our High Priest, our Founder, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are His church.