When I mention the ekklesia of Jesus destroying the gates of Hades and setting the prisoner free, I don't suggest some "work", religious or otherwise, rather a testimony of the work of God in sending His Son Jesus Christ, that we might believe and be saved. This ekklesia, or gathering, or meeting, can occur at any point, in multiples; in New York City or London there might be dozens of 'ekklesia' occurring simultaneously. All of them in my view have one mission: to testify of Christ, and in this testimony destroy the king of this age. The love of God compels us to assemble and testify.
So to focus on the church as a subject in its own right is to begin to move away from the testimony of Jesus and into the testimony of human affairs. Then, the unbeliever happens upon our discussion and sees incessant wrangling over names and positions and doctrines, and say, "No way do I want to be a Christian!", and who could blame them?
No, the power of the church is to testify of Jesus Christ, not only in theory but in actuality, in the assembling together. Peter stood with the eleven, and the gates of Hades crumbled before his testimony of Christ risen from the dead, and thousands at that very hour streamed into the Kingdom Of God. The ekklesia should be, in my estimation, a birth chamber for the new life. "Blessed is that man that is born in her"
Quote:
1 He has founded his city on the holy mountain.
2 The Lord loves the gates of Zion
more than all the other dwellings of Jacob.
3 Glorious things are said of you,
city of God:
4 “I will record Rahab and Babylon
among those who acknowledge me—
Philistia too, and Tyre, along with Cush—
and will say, ‘This one was born in Zion.’”
5 Indeed, of Zion it will be said,
“This one and that one were born in her,
and the Most High himself will establish her.”
6 The Lord will write in the register of the peoples:
“This one was born in Zion.”
7 As they make music they will sing,
“All my fountains are in you.”
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Blessed are those who are born in her, in Zion, the ekklesia, or meeting, or assembly, or gathering together in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who are born there are blessed indeed.