I believe that church in the original connotation was the fellowship of believers. It was not tied to a building or place. I have fellowship with people that have the same beliefs as me all of the time, therefore I am always in church, but rarely in a bureaucratic building.
Johnstone provides the following seven characteristics of churches:
1) claim universality, include all members of the society within their ranks, and have a strong tendency to equate "citizenship" with "membership"
2) exercise religious monopoly and try to eliminate religious competition
3) are very closely allied with the state and secular powers–frequently there is overlapping of responsibilities and much mutual reinforcement
4) are extensively organized as a hierarchical bureaucratic institution with a complex division of labor
5) employ professional, full-time clergy who possess the appropriate credentials of education and formal ordination
6) primarily gain new members through natural reproduction and the socialization of children into the ranks
7) allow for diversity by creating different groups within the church (e.g., orders of nuns or monks) rather than through the formation of new religions
I have problems with points 1-4. I also believe diversity (point 7) should be extended to living peacefully within a population that includes people of other religions, but that would be a problem with the churches usual goal of eliminating other faiths (point 2).
Sorry for the long rambling, but I feel it is important for masons to be religious men. I do not believe that all masons should be required to fit themselves into a bureaucratic organization called a church.
BTW, even with these beliefs I am a registered member of the Methodist Church.
I have never felt closer to my maker than my daughter's baptism in a Methodist Church, touring a small chapel in Sienna Italy, and watching a leopard cross the road in Namibia. The Grand Architect can be found in many places.