ekklesia

Ekklesia is a Greek term meaning assembly or congregation, from ek- outward plus kalein to call. In classical Athens and other ancient Greek city-states, it designated the civic assembly of citizens required for deliberation and decision-making; it was a public, political body rather than a religious one.

In the New Testament, ekklesia is used to denote the community of believers. It can refer to a local congregation, as in the churches of Corinth or Ephesus, or more broadly to the church as the universal body of Christ. The word is often translated into English as church. In Christian usage, the ekklesia emphasizes the people called out by God and gathered by Christ, rather than a church building. The concept plays a central role in ecclesiology, the study of the church's nature and mission.

The term appears in the Septuagint to translate the Hebrew qahal, the assembly of the people of Israel, and it later acquired specialized theological sense in Christian writings. Over time, ekklesia came to denote both the local body of believers and, by extension, the whole of Christendom in ecclesiological discussions.

In modern Greek, ekklesia remains the word for church, both the community and, in some contexts, the church building. In English-language scholarship, ekklesia is primarily used to refer to the ancient Greek and New Testament concept, with church as the common translation.