If you asked different people, you'll get different answers. To some it is where those intolerant people meet. Some say it is where superstitious people worship an old fashioned religion. Others see the church as the building where they worship God. What is the church Biblically?
The word church is derived from the Greek work ecclesia. The word has the idea of "called out to an assembly." It was a word used to describe a town meeting. Biblically, the church were the ones called out by God. We tend to think of the church as a building or organization. It is actually an organism or a body. The church is the body of Christ.
Originally the church was divided into regions. Each city or district of a city had a local assembly. Denominations did not occur until after the reformation. Denominations occurred over divisions over free will versus God's sovereignty, church versus state and other issues. Today there are churches of all kinds. Today even non-Christian groups, like Scientology, call themselves "a church".
The church was meant to be an assembly of God's redeemed people. It was where they gathered for prayer, worship, fellowship, reading from the Bible, preaching and commemoration of the Lord's Supper.
What is the perfect church? It is a church where God is glorified. It is a church that seeks to please God. It is a church that pleases God in everything they do. It is a church that does things God's way. It is a church that reads, believes, and obeys God's word.
