You might think that it should be easy to tell what we mean by the word "church," but it's not. It turns out, we use the word in plenty of different ways. Is there a best or most proper way? That depends if you're asking a language question or a theology question.
In terms of language, you can use the word church in any way you like that effectively communicates your message.
In terms of biblical doctrine, the word is most properly used to describe the communion of saints. In other words, the church is "the holy believers and lambs who hear the voice of their Shepherd" (S.A. III, XII). In still other words, the church is "the congregation of saints, in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered" (A.C. VII). Some people, by convention, spell it with a capital C when they are using the word this way.
Colloquially, the word "church" usually refers to a civic organization of people which may be associated with at least one fixed piece of real estate. That's not the same thing as what I wrote in the previous paragraph. Martin Luther's Roman opponents believed that "the Church" was the organization of people headed by the Pope, associated with real estate all over the world. We make the same mistake when we think of our congregation or the synod as "the Church." We play with that fire a bit when we ask questions like, "Is synod Church?" We must be careful. ("Get out the sticks and matches, boys!")
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