Have you ever heard someone say something like, " The Church was never meant to be an institution ."? I have been hearing statements like this thrown around more and more, and it made me realize something... I need to look up the word " Institution " in the dictionary. Honestly, I had an idea of what it meant, but I never actually looked up the official definition. While I had a general idea of the definition, one thing I understood with clarity was that the word "institution", when connected with the Church, is almost always said in a negative manner. With that in mind, I found it helpful to look up the definition so that I can answer the question, Is the Church an institution? And if so, is that a bad thing? Here is the dictionary definition: " An organization, establishment, foundation, society, or the like, devoted to the promotion of a particular cause or program, especially one of a public, educational, or charitable character. " (Diction...