“Church” is the wanna-be side piece, not the Bride of Christ.

I’m guessing you saw my post and thought I had lost my mind.

I haven’t.

You read that right:

I love God. But as the ekklesia—the bride of Christ—that codependent wanna-be side-piece, the “church,” is a pain in my 🍑.

And today, I'm diving deep into why the translation of the Greek word “ekklesia” into “church” is the theological train wreck that derailed our spiritual journey.

Let’s start with the basics: ekklesia. This Greek term wasn’t some mystical, holier-than-thou concept reserved for Sunday mornings. Nope. It was a word used in ancient Greece to describe a gathering of citizens called out to discuss the affairs of the state. It was an assembly, a community, a movement of people actively engaging in the world around them. When Jesus spoke of ekklesia, He envisioned a dynamic, living, breathing community of believers who were called out to be light in the darkness, to bring justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with their God.

Ekklesia was about action, engagement, and transformation.

But then along came the term “church”. This word, derived from the Old English “cirice,” which in turn came from the Greek “kuriakos” (meaning “of the Lord”), shifted the focus. Instead of a vibrant assembly, we got a term that, over time, became synonymous with a building. The church was no longer a people on a mission; it was a place to go, a structure, a location. The ekklesia was diluted from a revolution into a real estate investment.

Imagine if Jesus had walked into Jerusalem and said, “Upon this rock I will build my...building?” No wonder the original zeal of the ekklesia got lost in translation. Jesus didn’t come to establish a property portfolio; He came to ignite a global movement. The transformation from ekklesia to “church” turned a revolutionary idea into something that can, quite literally, be locked up on Sunday night and left empty for six days a week. It took the “go and make disciples” mandate and stuffed it into pews and pulpits, sidelining the radical call to be a living, breathing embodiment of God’s love and justice.

Here’s the unapologetic truth: the modern church, as it stands, has too often become a monument rather than a movement. It’s a “wanna-be side piece” because it is not the bride of Christ—the gathering of God’s people committed to MOVEMENT. The production and budgets and programs that are the “selling points” of churches today are all a distraction from the real mission—transforming lives and communities.

We were never meant to be defined by four walls and a celebrity pastor. We were called to be an unstoppable force, an ekklesia, bound together not by mortar but by mission.

But here we are. Members of churches that we love, but wrestling with the system created by it. What do we do with that?

Awareness of how far we’ve gotten from Yeshua’s intention should drive change but in truth, I have thought what you are probably thinking:

“What am I supposed to do? I can’t change all of THAT! And I like my church.”

I absolutely understand that. I love attending church services as well. I love singing. I love the fellowship. I love learning to expand my thinking around biblical topics. I love the way they love my kids. But I attend for different reasons now. I am seeking out allies who desire to be BIGGER than what has become common. As the founder of ALL MADE WELL Recovery, I promote HEALING from every type of trauma, trigger, and temptation because your past defines the lens through which you see life. Healing reshapes the story you tell yourself about your past. As you begin reshaping the beliefs you’ve developed about God, life, people, and yourself, your view of the world gets clearer. It opens you up to your purpose, your spiritual gifts, and a new level of intimacy with God. And that clarity drives change. It is our calling to reclaim the true essence of ekklesia. We are meant to be the community of spiritual movement makers that Jesus envisioned. But breaking free from the shackles of “church” as a place and embracing ekklesia as the powerful, living force in the world takes courage.

That is why we established We Are The Refuge. It is a community of people healing, growing, changing, and becoming the ekklesia again. Because, dear friends, we were never meant to be a building. We were meant to be a bold, world-changing community. And that, my fellow believers, is where the real power lies.