The Church, just the bare necessities.

When we speak of bare necessities, I really think that we do not need to include any organizational forms when thinking of church but see the church more organically than organizationally. What was church to Jesus? What was church to Luke and Paul? Jesus was still living in the Old Testament worldview. In the Old Testament the church was the assembly of the people. In the nation of Israel, the church and the people were synonymous. Synagogue=Assembly Of course by the time of Jesus the synagogue had developed into a separate meeting hall. The church that Jesus refers to is the true followers of Jehovah, the kingdom of God, which would exclude those part of the Jewish nation who were unfaithful, and include those Gentiles who came into the faith relationship with Jehovah. Jesus is only credited with the translated Greek word ecclesia twice, once in relation to Peter's confession and the other time in relation to community discipline of a sinner. In the latter time it is obvious that Jesus is referring to the community of Jews and not a church as we usually think today as in the New Covenant. The church according to Luke and Paul was focused on a new community that transcended nations, having only by grace through faith as the common denominator plus the law of Christ as the practical application of the faith life. To me it seems that Paul had a very loose concept of church and Luke had his own interpretation, but also a pretty loose community or fellowship. Whether Luke and Paul were in complete agreement in their ecclesiology is difficult to ascertain.