N.T. Wright on the Church

The church is first and foremost a community, a collection of people who belong to one another because they belong to God, the God we know through Jesus. Though we often use the word “church” to denote a building, the point is that it’s the building where the community meets. True, buildings can and do carry memories, and when people have been praying and worshipping and mourning and celebrating in a particular building for many years the building itself may come to speak powerfully of God’s welcoming presence. But it is the people that matter.