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+\setcounter{section}{12}
+\section{The church and its mission}
+
+God's saving work has always taken place through communities or for the benefit
+of the world.
+
+\begin{description}
+	\item[Old Testament] In the OT, this community was the nation of Israel.
+		Yahweh makes a covenant with Abraham, where Israel becomes God's agent for
+		the blessing of all nations. Israel is the instrumental in the renewal of
+		the original blessing of creation of Gn.~1:26--8. That covenant is
+		described right after the story of the tower of Babel: it is God's answer
+		to the problem of a sinful humanity (Gn.~3--11).
+
+		During the exile, it becomes clear that Israel's faithfulness does not
+		depend on the temple or the promised land, and in the end also that
+		Yahweh's covenant with Israel cannot in fact be restricted to the nation of
+		Israel (cf.~Jonah).
+
+	\item[New Testament] Jesus collected disciples and chose apostles, who were
+		to bring the gospel to the ends of the earth (Mt.~28:18--20). They do so in
+		the physical absence of Christ, yet in his presence through the Holy Spirit
+		(Jn.~14:15--17).
+
+		We should therefore understand the \index{Church}church in
+		\index{Church!Mission} missional terms. Jesus commanded them to do
+		concrete things to witness to his kingdom (e.g.~Mt.~5--7). The church
+		therefore is the community of people that continues the apostolic mission
+		of following Jesus by making God's kingdom known in word and deed.
+
+		This implies that the church is not first and foremost a human enterprise:
+		humanity is only God's agent in the world.
+
+	\item[Key biblical images] \index{Church!Images of}\emph{People of God}
+		(covenant; communal nature); \index{Christ!Body of}\emph{Body of Christ} (a
+		sacrament; cannot be understood apart from its head --- Christ);
+		\emph{household of God} (combines the other two; from Ephesians).
+
+		Avery Dulles: we can see the church as five different things: (1)
+		institution; (2) mystical communion; (3) sacrament; (4) herald; (5)
+		servant.
+\end{description}
+
+In the \index{Nicea!Creed}Nicene Creed, the church is articulated as \emph{one,
+holy, catholic and apostolic church}. This gives us four `marks' or
+\index{Church!Notes of}`notes' of the church:
+
+\begin{description}
+	\item[Unity] ---\index{Unity} not only a problem since the Reformation: in
+		the 11\textsuperscript{th} century, the eastern and western church split
+		up, and even in the first centuries there were different groups that were
+		labelled `heretical' but still considered themselves the true Christian
+		stream. There are ecumenical attempts though, for example those by the
+		World Council of Churches.
+		
+		However, even when church\emph{es} are divided, there is unity to the
+		degree that the believers proclaim one faith in Christ.
+
+	\item[Holiness] ---\index{Holiness} for example a problem during the
+		\index{Donatism}Donatist crisis (see Chapter 16 below), but also
+		considering the Crusades, the passive silence in the face of the Holocaust
+		and recent genocides in Bosnia, Rwanda and Sudan. However, as
+		Augustine\index{Augustine} claimed, opposing the Donatists, the church is
+		holy in a \emph{derivative sense}: it is holy because God is holy.
+
+	\item[Catholicity] ---\index{Catholicity} literally `universality', this
+		refers to the fact that the members of the church here and now have the
+		same mission as other believers at other times and places.
+
+	\item[Apostolicity] ---\index{Apostolicity} initially, people took this to
+		mean that the leaders of the church were the successors of the apostles.
+		Nowadays, especially in Protestant settings, this is difficult to uphold,
+		and now this note of the church indicates that the current church proclaims
+		the original, apostolic teaching.
+
+		However, another aspect of apostolicity is `\emph{being sent}'. This note
+		therefore implies that the church has a mission.
+\end{description}
+
+%todo chapter 13, pp. 348 -- 358