What Really is Church?

I was in a Hardee's this weekend (trashing my diet of course) and I saw a large group of people sitting at a few of the tables together.  I heard one of the ladies say, "I haven't been to church in three weeks.  I really need to get to service this weekend."

It struck me because I am currently dealing with a lifetime of teaching that I have realized is wrong.  I have always been taught that church is a building.  The lady at Hardee's had a point worth analyzing. Do we "go" to church?  So I looked.  Nowhere in the Bible does it say, "the believers 'went' to church." 

After doing some research, I realized that it was during the era of Constantine did we really get the concept of church buildings.  After Constantine came to power, he then created Christian religious buildings that were called churches.  So really, it was two hundred years or so after the New Testament was written that the word "church" transferred from being people to a building.

To answer the question "What is Church?" for myself, I had to go back to the book of Acts and the Gospels.  There I learned some aspects of the early church.  First off, the Bible states that they met in homes and marketplaces together.  When we look at archeology, we find that they also met in remote places and caves during times of persecution.  There was continuous discipleship going on, God given direction and displays of His power, faith, relationships, caring, teaching, leading, mentoring and feeding and praying for the poor and each other.  Not only that, this was a daily thing for them, not a one day a week thing.  There really was no emphasis on a building program or worship styles.

Somehow, when it comes to church, we have really missed the mark.  The church is people.  You are the church.  You can't "go" to church.  You are already there if you have given yourself to Christ.  I really don't think there's anything wrong with buildings, worship and gathering together on Saturdays or Sundays.  However, don't let the mold limit your view of what church should really be.  When I read the two greatest commandments:

Matthew 22
36  "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
37  Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'
38  This is the first and greatest commandment.
39  And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
40  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

I realize that the motto of our group of believers is perfect:  "Loving God, Loving People, Serving Both".  I think that if I try to generalize all that the apostles did in the book of Acts, this general statement covers it all.  When we remember that we are the Church (with a capital 'C') and that church is not a location, we will live out our faith every day.  When we love God and love people, when we serve them both, we are the church.