The concept of a "church" in the Writings is both complex and beautifully organic, linked with teachings on the nature of the Lord and the resulting nature of mankind.

The Writings say that the Lord, in His essence - His actual substance - is perfect, infinite love, a love that powered creation, that is the ultimate source of reality, and that sustains reality constantly. That love is expressed in form as perfect, infinite wisdom, which gave form to creation and gives form to reality.

Deep stuff! You can read more about that elsewhere, but what matters here is that all of creation, from the smallest elements to the whole of the universe, reflects that same structure. It's present in nature itself, powered by the heat (love) and light (wisdom) of the sun. It's present in the essential forms of life, with plants (which are rooted; which change little; which are unfeeling; which are powered by light) representing elements of wisdom and animals (warm, feeling, mobile, ever-changing, powered by heat) representing forms of love. It's present in the near-universal division into male (wisdom) and female (love) aspects of plants and animals alike.

That structure is also in each of us. In common language we might call these our hearts and our minds - what we want and what we think. The Writings commonly talk of them as good (love; what we want in our hearts) and truth (wisdom; what we know in our minds) or as will (heart) and understanding (mind). Not only do these elements define us, they are also key to our spiritual fates. We can use them to accept the Lord's love, come into the good of life and ultimately go to heaven. We can also use them to reject the Lord's love and trot off to hell.

And there are further layers. The Writings say that all human societies are in human form, with functions analogous to the human body. This is true from small groups like families to large companies to entire nations and ultimately to both the entire human race in this world and the entirety of heaven in the next.

Among the most important human societies are, naturally, churches. Since the concept of a "church" is based on the human form, though, churches as referred to in the Writings can take many forms. At one end of the scale, any one person who has true ideas of right and wrong and lives by them is a church himself or herself. At the other end of the scale, all those in the whole world who believe in love of the neighbor – and act from that belief – collectively make up one church.

Many other varieties lie between those two extremes, but most references to "church" in the Writings mean the community of those who have the Word, know the Lord, and follow His commandments. These people have access to the best possible truth and deepest possible understanding about the nature of the Lord and what He wants from us.

Such a church plays a vital role: The Lord works through it to get ideas about being good into people's minds and the desire to be good into the inner recesses of their hearts, reaching far beyond that church itself to touch everyone in the world. In fact, the Writings say there is in essence a marriage between the Lord and the church, with the church in the role of the bride and wife, producing true ideas and good desires the way a wife produces children.

To protect this function, the Lord has made sure that throughout history (and a good bit of prehistory) there has always been a church filling this role.

The first of these was the Most Ancient Church, represented by Adam; it was inspired by love of the Lord. The second was the Ancient Church, represented by Noah; it was inspired by love of the neighbor and knowledge of the Lord. The third was the Israelitish Church, which had no interior love of good but preserved ideas of the Lord. The fourth was the primitive Christian church, which had a new, more direct understanding based on the Lord's teachings. The fifth, according to the Writings, is to be based on the deeper understanding offered through the Writings and their explanations of the Bible.

There is much more that could be said, but we'll just emphasize one other point:

We as individuals are who we are based on what we love, not what we know. We will go to heaven or to hell based on what we love, not what we know. Knowing, thinking and seeking truth are important things, but their purpose is to shape, guide and serve our loves; love is ultimately what matters. The Writings make it abundantly and repeatedly clear that it is the same with churches: They are ultimately based on love, not knowledge, on their determination to serve the neighbor, not their external forms of worship. And if churches share that common purpose of serving the neighbor then they are in essence one, with doctrinal variations being of little consequence.

(References: Apocalypse Revealed 533; Arcana Coelestia 407, 768, 1799 [3-4], 2048, 2853 [2-3], 2910, 2982, 3310, 3773, 3963 [2], 4292, 4672, 4723, 5826 [2-3], 6637, 6648, 8152, 9256 [4-5], 9276 [2]; Conjugial Love 116; Heaven and Hell 57; The Word 8; The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture 99, 104)

9. IX. Those whose aim is to possess luxury and honours in the world and also in heaven, as well as those who aim at wealth and profit in the world and those who aim at a reputation for learning, do not see or find any real truth in the Word.

I was allowed to talk with many in the spiritual world, who had thought that they would shine like stars in heaven, because, so they said, they had treated the Word as holy, read it through many times, collected many passages from it and used them to prove the dogmas of their belief. So they had a reputation for learning in the world and they themselves together with others believed that they would be Michaels and Raphaels. But many of them were tested to see what love had made them study the Word, and it was discovered that for some it had been self-love, so that they would appear important in the world and be respected as leaders of the church; for some it was to get a reputation for learning and so be promoted to honours; for some it was to acquire wealth, and for some to become learned preachers. When finally they were examined to see whether they had learned any real truth from the Word, it was found that they knew nothing but what is obvious to anyone from its literal sense, and they knew no genuine truth which might serve inwardly for instruction. The reason for this was that their aims were themselves and the world, not the Lord and heaven. When these are their aims a person and his mind are confined to himself and the world, and he thinks constantly from his self, which is in thick darkness as regards everything in heaven. For a person's self is nothing but evil and the falsity it produces. So someone who in reading the Word regards himself, or honours or reputation or profit, cannot be withdrawn by the Lord from the self, and so be raised into the light of heaven; and consequently he cannot receive any influence from the Lord through heaven.

[2] I saw many such people, and each of them made all possible efforts to reach heaven, and they were admitted there. But on arrival they were examined to see if they knew anything of the truth the angels have, but they knew nothing but the bare words of the literal sense without any inner understanding of them. So in the eyes of the angels they looked stripped of their clothes and as if naked, and so they were sent down below. Some of them were deprived of intellectual sight in the light of heaven, and afterwards of their eyesight. Afterwards they were seized by violent pain in the heart, and were thus taken below. But the proud belief that they had deserved heaven lingered.

This is the fate of those who study the Word with the aim of acquiring honours, reputation and profit. But quite different is the fate of those who are led to study the Word by an affection for truth, or who in reading the Word take pleasure in truth for its own sake. Their aim is the love of God and the love of the neighbour, and they have life as their aim. All of these as lovers of truth receive influence from the Lord, seeing and finding real truths in the Word. For their intellects are enlightened, and this allows them to perceive the truths as if of themselves, though not really from themselves; and after death they are raised to heaven, where truth enjoys its own light, so becoming spiritual and angels.