Church

(Gk. ekklēsia) (vv. 6, 9, 10; Matt. 16:18; Acts 8:1; Rom. 16:1; Rev. 1:4) Strong’s #1577

The Greek term simply means “an assembly.” It was used in secular Greek to speak of any gathering of people to a political or festive assembly. It was used by the NT writers to mean a local assembly of believers or the whole body of believers. In John’s third epistle we see an example of both uses: “the church” in v. 6 connotes a large, unspecified group of believers, whereas “the church” in vv. 9, 10 has to be a specific local church. According to the overall pattern of the NT, it appears that the Christians of each city were unified under one group of elders (see Acts 14:23; 15:2, 4; 20:17, 18; Titus 1:5). Within the local church in the city, there were probably several “assemblies” or “meetings” of believers, held in various homes.

Taken from NKJV Study Bible