When we think of Village Church, we tend to think of the above God and prayers and faith. Church brings the idea of a gathering of people that is immovable to a building temple. We pray in them and engage with other devotians and then we leave, we are no longer in church and our life continues.
In the New Testament, the word for church is “ekklesia” which means an assembly or a body of believers. Church was not defined by which denomination it was from or how many buildings it had but by the whole body of believers. Christians in Judea and Christians in Samaria were all called “the church”. Luke writes in Acts 9:31 that “the church then had peace throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, and it became stronger as the believers lived in the fear of the LORD. And with the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it also grew in numbers.” Did you catch that? He called the whole population of believer in Judea, Galilee and Samaria the “church”. The Church was not one gathering or people but many gatherings and congregations. The Church is meant to be the entire gathering of God’s people in the entire world.
Churches have always been organized and conducted differently throughout the history of the world. The churches in Acts were gathered in house churches. I was compile in photograph series about Churches in Bolivia which can be found everywhere with a few dozens people worshipping Jesus. The firsts church was compiled of a few, sandal-wearing disciples who left everything to follow a man who was the SON of GOD.
