How Many Churches are There?

There are four churches identified in the Bible and we also run into problems when we try to combine them. 

1. Historically, there was the church in the wilderness mentioned in Acts 7:38 by Stephen, which was the assembly of the children of Israel that were called out of Egypt and assembled in the wilderness. 

2. Then there was the Jerusalem church which was made of none but the lost sheep of the house of Israel and proselytes. This was the Kingdom Church. No one is a part of this church today. It stopped after the rejection was complete. 

3. And today, we are a part of the Body of Christ which is made up of Jew and Gentile that was the mystery revealed to Paul. This is the Mystery Church that was revealed through Paul in which all are justified freely by grace (Colossians 1:18; Romans 11:25,16:25; Ephesians 3:1-2). 

4. And finally, there is the Tribulation Church which will be made up of those who will seal their fates in their own blood by not accepting the Mark of the Beast which is made up of the congregations mentioned in Revelation 2-3. It is those who overcome and sit with him on his throne. That is not us. We are already sitting in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). Eating of the Tree of Life in Revelation 22:14 will be the reward for those who made it through the Tribulation. During this time the Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached again by the 144,000 according to Matthew 24:13-14. To interpret the churches any other way, as I did for years, is allegorizing the text which is exactly what dispensationalists are not supposed to do.

Spearman, H. Dwayne. The Book of Acts: A Mid-Acts Perspective (pp. 179-180). Directional Bible Ministries. Kindle Edition.