Jesus Never Started a Church
In most English Bibles, Jesus makes one of the most quoted statements in Christianity:
“Upon this rock I will build My church.” — Matthew 16:18
But what did Jesus actually say?
Was it really the word church or another word?
THE BACKGROUND
Jesus asked His disciples:
“Who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter answered:
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus told Peter that this revelation had not come from flesh and blood, but from His Father in heaven.
Then Jesus declared in the original Greek translation:
“Upon this rock I will build My ekklesia.”
And that word matters.
It was deliberately chosen by Jesus.
THE WORD WAS ἐκκλησία (pronounced ek-klē-sē'-ah).
The literal meaning is “the called-out ones.”
It did not mean “church.”
It referred to an assembly, congregation, or gathering of people.
Long before Christianity, ekklesia was used in the Greek world for an assembly of citizens “called out” of their homes (summoned) to gather for civic purposes—to make laws, vote, discuss public business etc. The word did not represent a building, an institution, a denomination, or a religious organization.
It represented people—people who had been called out or summoned out of their homes.
That changes the picture.
Jesus wasn't talking about constructing religious buildings.
He wasn't announcing a new denomination.
He wasn't giving His followers a brand name.
He was declaring that He would build a people.
A people belonging to another Kingdom.
A people gathered around the revelation of who He is as declared by Peter:
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
"CALLED OUT" OF WHAT?
Jesus repeatedly distinguished His people and His Kingdom from that of the world:
“They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” — John 17:16
And when Jesus stood before Pilate, He made the nature of His Kingdom unmistakably clear:
“My kingdom is not of this world.” — John 18:36
There it is.
Jesus came preaching the Kingdom of God.
He called people to repent because the Kingdom of Heaven had come near.
He taught people to seek first the Kingdom of God.
He taught His disciples to pray to the Father:
“Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” — Matthew 6:10
And after His resurrection, Acts tells us that He spent forty days speaking to His disciples about the Kingdom of God.
His message was Kingdom.
His authority was Kingdom.
His gospel was Kingdom.
His people belonged to His Kingdom. NOT a church. NOT a religion.
SO WHAT WAS JESUS BUILDING?
A people—not a building.
A Kingdom people—not a religious brand.
Jesus was building a people whose allegiance was first and foremost to Him.
And what is the rock beneath them?
Look again at Peter's confession:
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Everything rests upon Jesus.
Peter didn't die for your sins.
A denomination didn't shed its blood for you.
A religious institution wasn't raised from the dead.
Jesus was.
Jesus is the Christ.
Jesus is the Son of the living God.
Jesus is the cornerstone.
Jesus is the Head.
Jesus is the Shepherd.
Jesus is the King.
And Jesus Himself declared:
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6 (emphasis added)
Not through a denomination.
Not through a religious institution.
Not through membership in an organization.
Not through “sacred ordinances.”
Through Jesus Christ.
So the next time you hear the word “church,” remember what stands behind the English translation:
Ekklesia.
A gathered “called out” people belonging to Jesus and living under the authority of their King in God's Kingdom.
Jesus did not call us to put our faith in an institution, join a church, or make secret oaths and covenants or learn secret signs, tokens and keywords.
He called us out of the world and into the Kingdom of God.
A church building didn't die for you.
A denomination didn't shed its blood for you.
An institution didn't walk out of the grave.
Jesus did.
And when everything else is stripped away, there is only one name upon which our salvation rests: JESUS CHRIST.
WHERE DOES THE WORD “CHURCH” COME FROM?
In order to understand how the word “church” replaced the word “congregation” in the New Testament, you must first understand the difference.
Again, the Greek word ἐκκλησία (ekklesia) means “called out” or an assembly, gathering or congregation of people, who were “called out” of their homes to meet and discuss and decide issues affecting the community.
The Greek word κυριακόν (kyriakon), means “belonging to the Lord” and became associated with Christian worship buildings, or what we call “churches.”
How did the switch begin?
Enter Roman Emperor Constantine, who merged imperial power with church authority.
Around 313 AD, Constantine embarked on an enormous church-building campaign throughout the empire. He built monumental basilicas, including the original St. Peter's Basilica in Rome that was built over the traditional burial site of Peter; St. Paul's Basilica that was built over the traditional burial site of Paul; and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
These grand structures, kyriakon, represented a dramatic departure from the smaller house gatherings and community assemblies, ekklesia, that started happening after Jesus’ resurrection (See Acts 2:46).
Constantine also intervened directly in church affairs, most famously by convening the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, where bishops gathered to address disputes concerning Christian doctrine and then vote on what doctrine to believe.
Constantine, an emperor who was not a bishop, was now exercising considerable political influence over the institutional church.
In the New Testament, ekklesia primarily refers to the gathered people of God—not a magnificent building.
This fact raises a question that every follower of Jesus should consider:
When Jesus declared, “Upon this rock I will build my ekklesia” (Matthew 16:18), was He speaking of a community of believers belonging to Him, or the imperial religious structures that developed centuries later?
The distinction matters.
Jesus spoke of building His ekklesia—His congregation or assembly of believers, not building a church.
Jesus spoke of people, not of bricks and mortar.
Jesus called OUT His people from the world, not IN to a religious organization.
When did the switch officially happen?
Enter King James I of England, the monarch who commissioned the translation of the Bible, known as the King James Version (KJV) in 1611.
King James was a Protestant monarch who believed strongly in the divine right of kings—the idea that monarchs received their authority from God and were accountable ultimately to Him. He also held the title Supreme Governor of the Church of England, meaning he exercised considerable authority over the established church.
In 1604, at the Hampton Court Conference, Puritan leader John Rainolds proposed a new English Bible translation, and King James approved the project with specific instructions attached like this one known as Rule 3:
“The old ecclesiastical words to be kept, viz. the word Church not to be translated Congregation.”
Did you catch that?
The translators were explicitly instructed to retain the established English ecclesiastical term “church” rather than translate it as “congregation,” the original meaning for the word ekklesia.
In other words, the Greek word kyriakon was chosen as the basis for the English translation of the King James Bible instead of ekklesia, thereby OFFICIALLY putting in a word that Jesus never said.
Jesus never said He was building a church, or even wanted one.
If you truly study the ministry of Jesus, you will know that He went around trying to tear down the religious beliefs, the religious leaders’ doctrines, and the religious traditions that had been built up in synagogues (churches).
Jesus was tearing DOWN churches. Not building them.
Jesus was calling people OUT of the world and INTO His Kingdom.
Jesus was showing people the WORKS of the Kingdom of God.
Jesus was teaching the WORDS of the living God as He had received them.
Jesus was testifying that He was the SON of God and not God, Himself.
Jesus was declaring that He is the ONLY way back into the presence of God.
What should the Ekklesia look like today if it’s not a church?
The Ekklesia should look like what Jesus commissioned His "called out" disciples, ekklesia, to do in Mark 16:15-18:
“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
Here’s The List for those, who like me, love to make lists!
1 - GO OUT into the world and teach others about Jesus - don't meet each week in a church with the same believers - go out and make NEW believers in your neighborhood, community, or wherever God calls you. Tell them about Jesus, teach them the words of Jesus and show them the WORKS of Jesus (#3 and #4)
2 - Baptize new believers just as Jesus commanded "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," (Matt 28:19) not into the name of a church (like I was baptized into the Mormon church). [And for the Mormons, Jesus never gave a requirement that the believer had to attend church before getting baptized.]
3 - Cast out demons in the name of Jesus from those people who God sends to you who are repenting and believing in Jesus as their Savior and want to be set free.
4 - Heal people of their pains, infirmities, sufferings, diseases and addictions in the name of Jesus.
5 – Minister to the LIVING (not the dead). Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and the imprisoned, welcome the stranger, and give drink to the thirsty. As you do those things to the LIVING, you are doing them for Jesus.
“For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me. Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of Mine, you did it for Me.” Matthew 25:35, 40
That's what Jesus was calling OUT His ekklesia to do, and it hasn’t changed because as the prophet Samuel so eloquently said in the Old Testament in 1 Samuel 15:29:
"He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind."
And affirmed in the New Testament
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, and forever." Hebrews 13:8
As we become the ekklesia of Jesus Christ, or called OUT ones of this world, and IN to the Kingdom of God, Jesus declares:
“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:19
Did you catch that, especially if you are LDS?
JESUS will give us the KEYS of the Kingdom of God…not a man with the Melchizedek Priesthood. JESUS.
Every day I am striving to be Jesus' disciple and considered one of His ekklesia.
I don’t belong to a church anymore, and I never will again.
I belong to Jesus.
Churches impede the works that Jesus commissioned His disciples to do, and it’s too easy for Pride to enter the leader of the church and for money to be used where Jesus never instructed.
I believe Jesus would much rather have us spend our money on the poor, the needy, the sick, and the imprisoned rather than all the expenses of a church such as:
Mortgage or rent or cost of the building
Utilities
Insurance
Property taxes
Clergy compensation – including housing, travel, health insurance, retirement plans
Maintenance and repairs
Groundskeeping
Supplies – paper products, hymnals, communion elements, bulletins, manuals, Bibles, decorations, and
and more
It's estimated (because the LDS Church does not disclose its financial affairs), that the LDS Church spends anywhere from $1 Billion to over $6 Billion on its "capital expenses" each year. Capital expenses represent the money a company or organization spends to buy, maintain, or improve fixed, long-term assets (i.e. churches and temples).
If Jesus WAS building a "church," why didn't He just plant Himself in one town and tell everyone to just meet Him there each week where He'd teach them and heal them in a central location?
It's because Jesus was OUT amongst the PEOPLE and not confined IN a building.
Yes, Jesus went IN to the synagogues (churches) but when He did, it was to denounce and correct the religious leaders with what they were teaching the people. In the process, Jesus always had an “object lesson” where He cast out the demon or healed a person to DO the works of the Kingdom of God.
I know He would do the same today.
It's all and only Jesus.
Not a church.
Not a religion.
Not a pope, a pastor, a prophet or a priest.
Only Jesus ❤️🔥✝️🩸
