The Church (Chafer)

Matthew 16
18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

The concept or the doctrine of the church seems problematic to me.  There are so many stories of mal-functioning churches or churches that are going through difficult times.  Maybe the problem is that churches are a peculiar, toxic mix of man and God's will. Be that as it may, following is provided for on-going consideration. 

From Chafer's Major Bible Themes
As used in the New Testament, the word church means a called-out or assembled company of people. It has two distinct applications: (1) In its less important usage it refers to a local gathering of people, not necessarily Christians, who have been called out and assembled in one place (1 Cor. 1:2; Gal. 1:2; Phil. 1:2. Note, Acts 7:38; 19:32). (2) In its more important usage it refers to a company of people called out from the old creation into the new, being gathered by the Spirit into one organism or body of which Christ is the Head. This company includes all those, and only those, who have been saved in the period between the day of Pentecost and the return of Christ to receive His own. So, also, there are organized churches in the world with their memberships, but these should not be confused with the one Church of which Christ is the Head and all believers members in particular.

While there are a thousand stories of problematic churches, there are a lot of good ones.  My sense is that if it wasn't for that occasional, perfect worship service, that service where you sing a song like the "The Old Rugged Cross" and it really gets to you, that service where the preaching has special meaning for you.... My sense is that if it wasn't for such a church service, then, I think, maybe, we would not be able to even start to understand Biblical events, such as the Millennium.