The term Christian Church as a proper noun refers to the whole Christian religious tradition through history. When used in this way, the term does not refer to a particular "Christian church" (a "denomination" or to a building). However, some Christian groups do not accept this definition (e.g., the Roman Catholic Church, the Oriental Orthodox churches, and the Eastern Orthodox churches) instead considering only their own churches to be the one true church.

This article addresses the Christian Church broadly, taking account of the variety of conceptions about it, some identifying it with a concrete visible structure (the view of Oriental Orthodoxy, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Roman Catholic), others seeing it as an invisible reality not identified with any earthly structure (the general Protestant view), and others equating it with a particular set of groups that share certain essential elements of doctrine and practice, though divided on other points of doctrine and practice and in government (the branch theory as taught by some Anglicans).