What is the church? Many metaphors, one reality

As a new believer, I read everything I could get my hands on to help me understand my new faith. Prayer and evangelism. Suffering, salvation, and grace. The nature of Scripture. (And I even read Scripture too!) But I hit a wall when I reached one specific topic: the church.

The issue wasn’t a lack of material. I had plenty to read. The problem was much seemed as confused as I was. Most focused on deconstructing what church is or should be. “Incarnational,” “organic,” authentic,” and “mission...