What is the difference between 'a church' and 'The Church'?

Answer 1

The difference between them is a denominational church will have a set of beliefs (doctrine) that is recognised throughout the denomination, where as a non denominational church will not. That's not to say you have to belong to the Baptist, Nazarene, etc. But with the same teaching from church to Church within the denomination it helps prevent false teaching.

Answer 2

Ladies and gentlemen, I believe this is a very important question. I welcome your thoughts, I do not welcome your prejudice. I have tried, perhaps not wholly successfully, to have left mine at the door. Please attempt to do the same.

And, no, we do not need great tracts of various scripture here. I will delete them. I promise you.

Some thought, please.

This is an "Excellent question"!

It is, unfortunately, one of those that depends on who you ask.

A church, synagogue, mosque or any other name you care to use is not a building but a place of peace and sanctuary, nor is it necessarily a place where one worships a deity.

We cannot say which deity or deities you should worship, if any. Worship your own.

But be true to those.

Be true to people. They are far more real than any gods or goddess.

There are, obviously, those that will disagree with me, the Pope for instance, I could go on.

I do not know 'THE TRUTH', the difference is I know that, they are now going to bombard you with various scriptures and insist all of them are the truth.

By the way they are all inconsistent.

Another Answer:

a church, is any church. "I go to a church every Sunday"

The church can mean different things for different people. Everybody has a different opinion for that part. For some people, it means that it is the only right church that there is.

To me, it is any Church that worships Jesus and God in the right way.

Answer 3

"A church" = a noun; place. The location of worship for a particular religion, usually synonymous with Christianity.

Ex: The cathedral downtown is "a church."

"The Church" = general term for the power that religion has over society or a niche within it. Can also be used to describe the beliefs a particular religion holds.

Ex: The Church teaches that abstaining from sex until marriage is within the will of

god.

In The Bible the church is the Body Of Christ. We are the hands and feet,we are how God does things through people (believers).

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Catholic AnswerThe Church refers to the Catholic Church which is the Body of Christ, see the references from the Catechism below. A Church can refer to any group of Christians. One of Pope John Paul II's favorite terms was "the domestic church" which is the way he referred to the Christian family. One could also refer to the Church in France, or in a particular diocese as the Church in Philadelphia. A church would also refer to a particular town or even their local building.

from The Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition, English translation 1994

802 Christ Jesus "gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and to purify for himself a people of his own" (Titus 2:14).

803 "Your are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people" (1 Pet 2:9).

804 One enters into the People of God by faith and Baptism. "All men are called to belong to he new People of God" (Lumen gentium 13), so that, in Christ, "men may form one family and one People of God" (Ad gentes 1)

805 The Church is the body of Christ. Through the Spirit and his action in the sacraments, above all the Eucharist, Christ, who once was dead and is now risen, establishes the community of believers as his own Body.

806 In the unity of this Body, there is a diversity of members and functions. All members are linked to one another, especially to those who are suffering, to the poor and persecuted.

807 The Church is this Body of which Christ is the head: she lives from him, in him, and for him; he lives with her and in her.

808 The Church is the Bride of Christ: he loved her and handed himself over for her. He has purified her by his blood and made her the fruitful mother of all God's children.

809 The Church is the Temple of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the soul, as it were, of the Mystical Body, the source of its life, of its unity in diversity, and of the riches of its gifts and charisms.

810 "Hence the universal Church is seen to be "a people brought into unity from the unity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit'" (Lumen Gentium 4 citing St. Cyprian, De Dom. Orat.23; J.P. Migne, ed., Patrologia Latrina Supplement 4, 553).

Answer 4

An abbey is a church that belongs to a monastery and in which the Abbot (or Abbess) has his (or her) throne.