Seeking the Church : An Introduction to Ecclesiology

Seeking the Church offers students, teachers and scholars an introduction to key themes for a contemporary doctrine of the church. The book considers some fundamental questions: What does it mean to seek the Church? How is this related to the search for God? Who are the contemporary travellers seeking God but not interested in the Church? What is the relationship between the Triune God and the Church? How might the Church recover a pace and presence in tune with the Spirit of Christ? Where does energy come from for a resilient discipleship in the contemporary world? Is community a good idea? Chapters cover sources, images, models and practices of the Church. Faulty doctrines of God are examined for their impact on the relationship between the church and the world, leadership and mission. At the heart of the book is an emphasis on movement and pilgrimage with the Triune God. Later chapters offer a fresh examination of familiar themes in ecclesiology: the marks of the Church; structure and polity in terms of freedom; and word, sacraments, witness and care in relation to energy. The result is a dynamic systematic ecclesiology that concludes with a provocative account of the ‘slow church coming’. Questions and suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter make this a particularly useful text for students and teachers.