EXCERPT FROM ARTICLE:
The term Christian Church, in the first understanding, which is generally used by Protestants, does not refer to a particular denomination. However, the majority of Christians belong to groups that consider themselves to be the one true church, to which other Christians do not belong. The three largest such groups are the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Oriental Orthodox communion. Thus, some Christians identify the Christian Church with a visible structure (the view of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox churches) while others (generally Protestants) understand it as an invisible reality not identified with any earthly structure and others equate it with particular groups that share certain essential elements of doctrine and practice though divided on other points of doctrine and government (such as the branch theory as taught by some Anglicans).
The Greek term ἐκκλησία, which is transliterated as "ecclesia", generally meant an "assembly",[SUP][1][/SUP] but in most English translations of the New Testament is usually translated as "church". This term appears in two verses of the Gospel of Matthew, twenty-four verses of the Acts of the Apostles, fifty-eight verses of the Pauline Epistles (including the earliest instances of its use in relation to a Christian body), two verses of the Letter to the Hebrews, one verse of the Epistle of James, three verses of the Third Epistle of John, and nineteen verses of the Book of Revelation. In total, ἐκκλησία appears in the New Testament text 114 times, although not every instance is a technical reference to the church.[SUP][2][/SUP]
[SUP]FOUND HERE:
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Christian Church - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The term Christian Church, in the first understanding, which is generally used by Protestants, does not refer to a particular denomination. However, the majority of Christians belong to groups that consider themselves to be the one true church, to which other Christians do not belong. The three largest such groups are the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Oriental Orthodox communion. Thus, some Christians identify the Christian Church with a visible structure (the view of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox churches) while others (generally Protestants) understand it as an invisible reality not identified with any earthly structure and others equate it with particular groups that share certain essential elements of doctrine and practice though divided on other points of doctrine and government (such as the branch theory as taught by some Anglicans).
The Greek term ἐκκλησία, which is transliterated as "ecclesia", generally meant an "assembly",[SUP][1][/SUP] but in most English translations of the New Testament is usually translated as "church". This term appears in two verses of the Gospel of Matthew, twenty-four verses of the Acts of the Apostles, fifty-eight verses of the Pauline Epistles (including the earliest instances of its use in relation to a Christian body), two verses of the Letter to the Hebrews, one verse of the Epistle of James, three verses of the Third Epistle of John, and nineteen verses of the Book of Revelation. In total, ἐκκλησία appears in the New Testament text 114 times, although not every instance is a technical reference to the church.[SUP][2][/SUP]
[SUP]FOUND HERE:
[/SUP]
Christian Church - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia