Ekklesia vs. Babel: Dismantling Religious Towers to Recover Christ’s Blueprint
“The church Jesus promised to build bears little resemblance to modern Christianity’s institutional monuments. It’s time to tear down Babel’s towers and return to the apostolic blueprint.”
When Jesus declared in Matthew 16:18, “I will build My (ekklesia), and the gates of Hades will not overpower it,” He wasn’t envisioning denominations, celebrity pastors, or mega church buildings. The Greek word ekklesia meant “called out assembly,” a civic gathering of citizens summoned to deliberate and act with governmental authority, as seen in Acts 19:39. Jesus intentionally chose this political term over religious vocabulary, establishing His kingdom as a living community, not an institutional corporation.
The English word “church” derives from Old English cirice, rooted in Greek kyriakon (“the Lord’s house”), which gradually shifted meaning from people to place. In Scripture, ekklesia never describes buildings or institutions but always gatherings of God’s people under Christ’s lordship and the Spirit’s leadership.
The New Testament model was organic and relational. We can see that the early ekklesia operated through three foundational principles that modern Christianity seems to have largely abandoned. First, believers gathered in homes. Luke emphasizes “house to house” throughout Acts (5:42, 20:20), demonstrating that homes were discipleship furnaces, not backup plans. This wasn’t mere practicality; it embodied Christ’s design for intimate, accountable community impossible in anonymous crowds.
Second, leadership functioned through plurality, not hierarchy. New Testament leadership included elders who shepherded and taught, overseers used interchangeably with elders (Acts 20:17, 28), deacons managing practical needs (Acts 6:1-6), and the fivefold ministry of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers equipping all saints for service (Ephesians 4:11-13). Nowhere does Scripture describe “senior pastors” or ecclesiastical CEOs. Authority was shared, mutual, and tied to character rather than position (1 Peter 5:1-3). Also, the word ministry does not mean a formal position within a church. The English word “ministry” comes from the Latin ministerium, meaning service, office, attendance, or duty, and is related to minister, meaning servant or attendant. This concept is rooted in the idea of servanthood rather than status, church position, or title.
Third, “every” believer functioned as a priest. Peter’s declaration in 1 Peter 2:9 eliminated religious status forever, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession.” Hebrews 10:19-22 confirms that Christ’s blood grants every believer direct access to God’s presence. The New Covenant ripped the temple veil, abolishing spiritual elites and empowering universal priesthood (Hebrews 4:16).
Family, what we see here in many ways is two competing blueprints, Babel vs. Ekklesia. The Tower of Babel represents humanity’s attempt to centralize power and “make a name for ourselves” (Genesis 11:4). Babel’s spirit pursues monuments over movements, fearing the scattering that enables multiplication. It resists God’s command to “fill the earth” (Genesis 1:28), choosing safety, visibility, and hierarchy over Spirit-led expansion. Modern institutional Christianity reflects Babel’s DNA through centralized megachurch empires, church leaders/ titles, divisions that silence the priesthood of believers, obsession with impressive buildings and “sacred spaces,” celebrity platforms that elevate personality over character, and uniformity that suffocates Spirit-led diversity. These towers promise security but produce spiritual sterility.
Contrasting that with the early ekklesia, which multiplied through persecution-driven scattering (Acts 8:1-4), thrived in radical diversity, and operated through ordinary Spirit-filled believers rather than “professional religious managers.” The early ekklesias’ strength came from believers who genuinely knew, loved, and served each other intimately, not from impressive buildings or mega ministries. Their power was relational, people caring for people, rather than institutional, systems managing systems.
What I believe many are seeing currently is a prophetic call to dismantle these Babel-style religious structures. Recovery requires dismantling modern Christianity’s Babel towers and returning to Christ’s original blueprint. This means abandoning celebrity-driven platforms for humble service, replacing institutional control with Spirit-led community, prioritizing multiplication over consolidation, and restoring every believer to their priestly calling.
Some of the practical steps to do this include transitioning from spectator services to participatory gatherings where spiritual gifts operate freely. Developing house church networks that prioritize relationships over real estate. Establishing plural eldership that shares authority rather than concentrating power. Equipping every believer for ministry instead of seeking and creating consumer audiences. Creating reproducible, self-sustaining Christian communities that can spread organically through ordinary believers rather than building impressive but unchanging religious structures, megachurches, denominational headquarters, and celebrity platforms that consolidate resources and people in centralized locations but don’t reproduce themselves.
The fivefold ministry exists to equip saints, not replace them (Ephesians 4:11-16). When apostolic, prophetic, evangelistic, pastoral, and teaching functions operate correctly (team ministry), they produce mature believers capable of reproducing biblical community anywhere. This creates sustainable movements that survive persecution, penetrate resistant cultures, and transform societies.
Saint’s, we are not alone. Jesus promised His presence wherever “two or three have gathered together in My name” (Matthew 18:20). The power resides in the people and Christ’s presence, not in places or programs. Every kitchen table can become a sanctuary, every living room an upper room, every workplace a mission field when believers function as the living temple they were designed to be. To be honest, archaeological evidence supports this model. No church buildings existed for Christianity’s first three centuries. The Dura-Europos house church (235 AD) accommodated only 65-75 people maximum, fostering the intimate relationships Scripture describes. These communities conquered the Roman Empire not through institutional might but through relational multiplication.
I truly believe the time has come for all of us as believers to repent of Babel’s ambitions and recover ekklesia authenticity. Christ’s true church cannot be contained in buildings, controlled by hierarchies, or marketed as religious products. It lives, multiplies, suffers, and reigns with its risen King through ordinary believers, extraordinary in their commitment.
I have been on this journey for a couple of years now, and I know many of you have been on this journey for way longer. I have repented countless times for not only contributing to our current religious system but also encouraging it. Like many of you, I am done coddling dysfunction cloaked in religious garb. His purging and purification are happening and will continue until we are spotless and unblemished.
Beloved, the church Jesus is building transcends denominational boundaries, defies institutional control, and demonstrates kingdom reality through transformed lives in authentic community. As Psalm 127:1 warns: “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.” Human towers will fall, but Christ’s ekklesia will stand forever.
“The choice is before us. Continue building Babel’s monuments or join Christ’s movement. The gates of hell cannot prevail against His ekklesia, but they seem quite effective against our institutions.”
Sources
Scripture: Matthew 16:18; Acts 2:46, 5:42, 6:1-6, 14:23, 19:39, 20:17-28; Ephesians 4:11-16; 1 Peter 2:9, 5:1-3; Hebrews 4:16, 10:19-22; Genesis 11:4; Psalm 127:1
Early Church Sources: Didache (50-70 AD); First Clement (96 AD); Ignatius of Antioch Letters (107 AD)
Archaeological: Dura-Europos house church excavation (235 AD)
Modern Works:
Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Frank Viola & George Barna, Pagan Christianity
Robert Banks, Paul’s Idea of Community
Howard Snyder, The Problem of Wineskins
Reference: Kittel’s Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Vine’s Expository Dictionary
Strong’s Concordance
Logos Bible Study Software
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