Renaming vs. Recovering: Finding the Heart of the Ekklesia

I’m thankful for the desire to see the Church function regionally, relationally, and missionally. What many now call “hubs,” “apostolic centers,” or “regional centers” is close to how the early Ekklesia already lived.

Here’s a concern worth naming with humility: Sometimes we are tempted to redefine the Church rather than recover it. When we create new language for what Scripture gave us, we risk suggesting the biblical vision was lacking or implying we’ve found something the apostles missed. The early Church already functioned as a spiritual family, a training community, a sending base, and a regional witness. They didn’t need new terminology; they needed faithful embodiment.

Along with this comes a subtle misunderstanding of Jesus’ teaching about wineskins. We often speak as if God is creating an entirely new wineskin, but biblically, what He renews is the vessel He already chose: The Church. The issue in Scripture was not that the wineskin was wrong, but that it had become old, rigid, and unable to carry fresh life.

The solution was not replacement, but renewal.

There is no new wineskin model apart from the Church.

There is a renewed wineskin called the Church, made soft again by repentance, reformed by Scripture, and made alive by the Spirit.

The danger is subtle. I've been guilty of it. It’s easier to rebrand than to repent.

 It’s easier to restructure than to reform. It’s easier to rename than to restore.

Calling the Church a “hub” or “ecosystem” may capture some of what it does, but not what it is. The Ekklesia is not a model to optimize, but a people to form. It is not merely infrastructure; it is a holy family shaped into Christ’s image. Scripture’s language already carries God’s intent and authority: Body. Household. Temple. Priesthood. Assembly. Bride. These aren’t metaphors to update; they are identities to inhabit.

Yes, the Church should train. Yes, the Church should mobilize. Yes, the Church should bless the city and reach the lost. These are not alternative expressions to the Church; they are the fruit of the Church when it is healthy. Instead of asking, “How do we build strategic hubs?” perhaps we should ask, “How do we become the people the New Testament describes?”

We have been hesitant to call things “the Church” because of the dysfunction we’ve experienced in what I would call American Western Christianity. Instead of confronting what went wrong and returning to the biblical vision of Ekklesia, we chose a different path; we began renaming instead of recovering. Changing the language doesn’t heal the wounds. Avoiding the word doesn’t restore the function, and rebranding doesn’t bring reformation.

The answer to dysfunction is not distance from the Church, but deeper obedience to Christ’s design for the Church. Scripture does not invite us to invent new structures to replace the Ekklesia; it calls us to be transformed into the kind of people who can actually live as His body, His household, and His priesthood. If the Church has been broken, the solution is not to build something else and give it a safer name. The solution is repentance, renewal, and a return to the ancient paths that formed disciples, shaped holy communities, and turned cities upside down.

Recovery is harder than redefinition, but recovery brings true authority, depth, and lasting fruit. Instead of settling for a new language, let us commit to ancient obedience, shared life, deep formation, and Spirit-filled witness, the very things the Church was always meant to embody.

Scriptures References

1. The Church as Ekklesia: a People, Not a Platform

Matthew 16:18 (NASB) “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”

Acts 2:42 (NASB) “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”

Acts 2:46–47 (NASB) “Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

2. Spiritual Family, Household, Temple, Priesthood

Ephesians 2:19–22 (NASB) “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household… being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”

1 Peter 2:5 (NASB) “You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

1 Peter 2:9 (NASB) “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession…”

1 Corinthians 12:27 (NASB) “Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.”

3. Wineskins: Renewal, Not Replacement

Luke 5:37–38 (NASB) “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.”

(implied theological point: the vessel must be renewed, not discarded)

Romans 12:2 (NASB) “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…”

2 Corinthians 4:7 (NASB) “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves.”

4. Formation Before Function: Being Before Doing

Ephesians 4:11–13 (NASB) “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ…”

Colossians 1:28 (NASB) “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.”

Romans 8:29 (NASB) “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son…”

5. Mission as the Fruit of a Healthy Church

John 20:21 (NASB) “Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you."

Matthew 5:14–16 (NASB) “You are the light of the world… Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

Acts 17:6 (NASB) “…These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also.”

6. Repentance, Restoration, and Return to the Ancient Paths

Revelation 2:5 (NASB) “Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first…”

Jeremiah 6:16 (NASB) “Thus says the LORD, ‘Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; and you will find rest for your souls.’”

James 1:22 (NASB) “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.”

7. God’s Design, Not Ours

1 Corinthians 3:11 (NASB) “For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”

Ephesians 3:10 (NASB)

 “So that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.”