Why is the riotous mob in Ephesus called an 'assembly' in Acts instead of a 'church'?

The Greek word ecclesia can mean any called-out assembly, not only the Body of Christ. Since the Ephesus riot was an unlawful, mob-rule gathering, translators rendered ecclesia there as 'assembly' rather than 'church,' avoiding the false impression that every ecclesia is the Church, which is His body.

Les explains that the word Ecclesia, from which the word Church is translated, is used in different manners and ways than just the Church, the Body of Christ. For example, Stephen refers to Israel in the wilderness around Sinai as the Church in the Wilderness—a called-out assembly—though that was not the Body of Christ. Likewise, in Acts, the riotous mob in Ephesus was also called an Ecclesia in the Greek. The translators, fortunately, did not call it Church there; they called it an assembly. It was an unlawful, riotous assembly and mob rule. Les warns that just because the word Church appears, it does not automatically mean the Body of Christ, because Paul almost always qualifies our present-day Church as the Body of Christ, or the Church which is His body.

Was the Ephesus mob called a church in the Bible?

In Acts, the Ephesus mob was called an Ecclesia in the Greek, the same word often translated 'church.' However, the translators rendered it 'assembly' rather than 'church,' because it was an unlawful, riotous assembly under mob rule. So it was not called a church in English Bibles.