(or Germanic) cultures, also influenced by Christianity, used the word kirika, which became kirche in modern German.9 The word meant “house of the lord,” and was used to refer to any ritual gathering place, Christian or pagan. This Germanic term became the one used most often to refer to the ekklesia of Jesus, and from it we get the word church. Whereas the majority of your English Bible is a word-for-word translation of the Greek text, not so in this case. The word church is not a translation from