what is church?

I have been wrestling with the idea of what church really is. In America it seems that we have made a certain "church culture". But, what I wonder is how much of this "church culture" is truly a biblical way of doing church? How much of what we do is tradition? And with that, how much of our Americanized church tradition holds people back from becoming a follower of Christ? Dr. Payne said it well, "Nothing but the cross of Jesus Christ should be a stumbling block for someone coming to faith in Christ." What are we doing wrong? What should we do to become more like the church that God had in mind and how can we reach the people in our culture? This is the question wrestling in my mind. I want to reach people in this culture with the life changing message of Christ. What is the best way to do that? I pray that God would show us.