Church is...?

Yesterday, Tom and Jane got us thinking about that vexed question, what is church? Not being party to the discussions that the growed-ups had (I was having a laugh with Estelle trying to answer the question through moulding some tin foil, but she prefers to eat things before playing with them just to check whether or not they'd be better as food!), I thought I'd post the quotes that Tom had got together to stimulate the conversation. I'd like to hear the sorts of things people said in response to the quotes, even if you're all clued up already. Anyway, here they are...

“A church is a place in which gentlemen who have never been to heaven brag about it to persons who will never get there”
H. L. Mencken

“All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.”
Acts 4:32-35

“The Church is not a gallery for the exhibition of eminent Christians, but a school for the education of imperfect ones”
Henry Ward Beecher

“Church is the only place where someone speaks to me and I do not have to answer back.”
Charles de Gaulle

“If I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth”
1 Timothy 3:15

“The Church is the new creation, it is life and joy, it is the sacramental fellowship in which we share the ultimate purpose of God, made real for us now in our hearing the Word and sharing the Sacrament.”
Rowan D. Williams

“The church is the great lost and found department.”
Robert Short

“The church is a solid community; we all support each other.”
Lee Greenwood

“And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”
Ephesians 1:22-23

“Going to church doesn't make you any more a Christian than going to the garage makes you a car.”
Laurence J. Peter

“The Church exists to connect people at the level of their hunger for a new world.”
Rowan D. Williams

“They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
Acts 2:42-47

“Shalom makers should find the church a congenial home for both active shalom proclamation and the modeling of the message”
Perry B. Yoder