The word "church" appears in the Bible (New Testament only) 58 times. "churches" appears (again, New Testament only) 35 times. It is from the Greek word ekklesia, meaning: A calling out, i.e. A popular meeting, especially a religious congregation (Jewish synagogue, or Christian community of members on earth or saints in heaven or both): - assembly; church. The word "assembly", which uses the same Greek word for church, appears 3 times (Acts 19:32, 39, and 41). "The Church" refers to the body of believers, whereas "A church" denotes a specific place where believers gather together. My sources are: "Strong's Exhaustive Concordance" and "Vincent's Word Studies of the New Testament" (Vol. 1, p. 93). Hope this helps.
