The church is the people. The church building is the building. They aren't the same, and these groups of people meeting at placese are churches. "Whenever two or more of you are gathered in my name." Paul started quite a few house churches.
While it is true that "where two or more are gathered there is Christ", that does not make the gathering a church. What is the Church?
St. Paul states that the Church, NOT Scripture is "THE pillar and ground of the truth." (1 Timothy 3:15) Since the Church alone is mentioned as THE pillar of truth, then It alone has the right to discern the truth and interpret Scripture. For if individuals could correctly interpret Scripture, then all interpretations would be EXACTLY THE SAME as there can only be ONE spiritual truth for the plural of the word "truth" NEVER appears in Scripture. The Church is Christ's bride (Ephesians 5:29) and has no spot, wrinkle or blemish (Ephesians 5:27). Christ also stated that the gates of hell will not prevail against His Church (Matthew 16:18) so how can the Church commit error? Individual clergy may commit sins, even popes commit sins because in the Church there are both weeds and wheat (Matthew 13:30).
Is the Church to be a loose conglomerate of believers or is it to be organized and structured? Scripture CLEARLY established "offices" and a "hierarchy" among Christians. The offices of "bishop, priest (presbyter) and deacon" are mentioned in Scripture (1 Timothy 3:1,8; Titus 1:7). What else is this but "organization?" Or should we believe that any believer can "claim" to be a bishop, priest, deacon or even "apostle?" The word "office" is specifically used in Scripture (1 Timothy 3:1) to describe these positions. Webster defines quot;office" as "A special duty, trust, charge, or position, conferred by authority or God and for a public purpose; a position of trust or authority." And the office of "apostle" is to be continued (Acts 1:20-26) to the present day. Not all believers are "equal" nor have the same gifts (1 Corinthians 12:8-10; Ephesians 4:11). Is the Church a "visible, earthly" entity? Yes, for Christ would not direct us to the Church for disputes if it were not here on Earth (Matthew 18:17). Nor would "fear" encompass the whole Church if it were a mystical, invisible and heavenly entity (Acts 5:11). The Church is definitely here on earth for the actions described in Acts definitely take place on earth and the term used is "the whole Church" (Acts 15:22).
>> They aren't the same, and these groups of people meeting at placese are churches. <<
You just became exhibit 'A'. Yes, the church is COMPRISED of the people: The Greek word for church, Ekklesia, meant an "assembly," a gathering of all the faithful together into a whole. The "Didache" (lit., "Twelve," as in the teaching of the twelve) is a first century document which describes in considerable detail what occurred in such assemblies.
>> "Whenever two or more of you are gathered in my name." <<
..."There I am in your midst." That has nothing to do with the topic of what "ekklesia" means.
>> Paul started quite a few house churches. <<
Yes. They were called together in the largest households (so the whole community could fit, since typically the gatherings were quite large!) The entire community gathered, risking discovery so that they could be joined ("assembled") as one ("communion").