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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 of} 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}
\subsection*{The mission of the church}
According to the end of Matthew's gospel, it is the task of the church to make
disciples of all nations. This \index{Proclamation} is achieved through
\emph{preaching} (central in the Protestant tradition; Barth: proclamation is
the announcement of the triune God's promise to be with creation) and the
\emph{sacraments}\index{Sacrament} (central in the Catholic and Orthodox
traditions, providing a more sensual experience of God's word). Sacraments are
visible signs of invisible grace. Lastly, the church is called to be a
distinctive (holy, `set apart') community. Niebuhr distinguishes five different
responses to the question of the relationship between Christ and
culture\index{Culture}:
\begin{itemize}
\item `Christ against culture', especially popular before Constantine:
Christians should not concern themselves with worldly culture.
\item `Christ of culture'; the work of God and the work of humanity are so
intrinsically connected that they coincide.
\item `Christ above culture' (Aquinas); culture is useful in the light of
Christian grace.
\item `Christ and culture in paradox' (Luther's two kingdom --- church and
state --- theory); we cannot reconcile Christ and culture (society is
corrupt), nor can we take refuge from culture in the church (which is
populated by sinners and situated in the world).
\item `Christ the transformer of culture' (Augustine; contemporary liberation
theology); the church has the vocation to transform the sinful aspects of
culture.
\end{itemize}
The topic of mission borders the topic of election: to discuss the relationship
of the church with the broader world it is necessary to articulate how the
church is elected to be this distinctive community. This is typically done by
looking at the visible and invisible church\index{Church!(In)visible}.
Augustine: only God knows the members of the church: members of the visible
church may be hypocrites. It is not the church's task to investigate membership
of the invisible church (Mt.~13:24--30). According to Augustine, everyone is
predestined\index{Predestination} to be saved \emph{or}
damned\index{Predestination!Double}, a position taken over by Luther and
Calvin.
Double predestination is a mistaken interpretation of Scripture. It is based
heavily on Romans~9--11, but ignores the covenantal, instrumental context:
those chosen would participate in God's broader rescue of creation. The
traditional reading also ignores the fact that Romans 11 speaks about the
rejection of Israel and the inclusion of the Gentiles.
Barth worried that the traditional interpretation made God's choice seem
arbitrary, losing sight of God's loving character. Election has to do firstly
with the fulfilment of the covenant in Christ; individuals come into play only
as they are included through the corporate people of God.
\medskip
Traditionally, the distinction between the church
militant\index{Church!Militant} and the church
triumphant\index{Church!Triumphant} is that between the pilgrim church in the
world and the dead saints in heaven. The authors deem it better to think of the
militant church as the \emph{invisible} church struggling against evil, and of
the triumphant church as the invisible church that we do not \emph{yet} see,
because we are still in history. This is a historical meta-position on the
distinction.
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