3 - Models of the Church

• Institution

• Community

• Sacrament

• Herald

• Servant

• Discipleship

Models of the Church (6)

I-C-S-H-S-D

Institution

Clerics responsible to the laity for teaching, sanctifying and ruling

• Church as Institution

• Vital Perfection

• Structural Perfection

Institution (3)

Church as Institution

In this model, the Church is seen as the perfect society

• a political society alongside any government

Roman Empire

This is the "Roman’s side of Roman Catholicism”

• the structure of which was designed after the brilliance of the hierarchical administration of the _____ ____ whose virtues were efficiency and accountability

Church as Institution

Modeled after the Roman Empire system:

• organized

• efficient

• clear authority

teaching, sanctifying, & governing

The Church is seen as on the giving (vs. receiving) end of the three functions of:

Church as Institution

The main focus of this model is within, toward those already in the institution vs. those outside

Church as Institution

The scriptural foundation for this model is Matthew 16:18: "You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church.”

• endorsement

• past, corporate identity

The advantages of this model are:

• strong ______ by official Church documents in the past few centuries

• continuity with the ___ and a strong sense of _____ _____

Church as Institution

Imagine:

🏫 School principal → teachers → students

Same idea:

✝ Pope → clergy → laity

Vital Perfection

The communion of the Church provides the perfect structure

for the purpose of the Church.

Vital Perfection

Without:

🦴 Skeleton only → dead

With:

❤ Body with heartbeat → alive

Holy Spirit

The bones are set and the sinews are in place in the body, so to say. However, what gives the body life?

• Indeed, it is said well that if the Church is the Body of Christ, it has the _____ as its soul

Holy Spirit at Pentecost

It was the _____ __ ______ who gave what was necessary for the Gospel to be preached and hearts converted

• baptized

• made, taught, and strengthened

That is, for men to be _____ and disciples to be ___,____,&_____

• This is most excellently seen in the Sacraments and in repentance

Structural Perfection

The Catholic Church, being a societas perfecta, like civil kingdoms, is made up of cells.

Societas perfecta

The Catholic Church, being a ____ _____ , like civil kingdoms, is made up of cells.

family

In a civil society,

the basic cell is the ____.

family

It is the cell, because it is a microcosm of the whole, where the father is king over his family for their good.

Society

However a family, on its own, cannot thrive.

Therefore, families come together for their common good to form a _____.

Nation

And when helpful, those families joined together into societies can form into a great society, such as ____.

• The same goes for the Catholic Church

Community

The Body of Church

• Church as Community

• Christ is the Head

• The Holy Spirit is the Soul

Community (3)

Church as Community

This model stresses the personal and the interpersonal, the fellowship of persons with God and with each other.

Church as Community

It stems from the house church structure

of the first decades of Christianity

• face-to-face

• the organization is fluid

• covenantal

• 30-40

• intimate

Before big churches existed, they: (5)

scriptural precedent

The _____ _____ is strong:

• the Church is the "Body of Christ and the People of God”

• The idea of Church as Community is strongly supported by the Bible.

Christ

___is the HEAD

Christ

The Church and its individual members depend on ___ as the whole depends on its head.

• Spirit

• visible hierarchy

Christ communicates through His ____ and governs the whole Church, individually and entirely through the ____ ____

• Pope

• Bishops

Visible hierarchy:

Holy Spirit

______ is the SOUL

Holy Spirit

The ______ gives life to, unifies and moves the whole Body of Christ, the Church.

Baptism

One receives the Holy Spirit through _____.

Christ

It is _____ who pours out the divine life

that makes the soul one with the Church.

The members are diverse yet together they form one body

The members have diverse gifts and functions yet they work together for the benefit of the entire body

People of God

As the __________, the Church opens its identity to the world, calling all people to be part of it

Church as Community

This model is strongly taught in Lumen Gentium

Church as Community

This model has been prefigured by the People of Israel

People of Israel

with whom Yahweh established the old covenant

Church

Thus the _____ is the New People of God

• in which through baptism, believers are born as a new community, God’s chosen people, people of the covenant, the messianic people.

• Priest

• Prophet

• Servant king

People of God share in Christ’s three-fold offices:

• Obscuring

• Divinizing

• Clarity

The disadvantages of this model (Church as COMMUNITY) are:

• _______ between spiritual and visible dimensions of the Church

• danger of ______ the Church

• lack of _____ regarding the Church’s identity and mission

Sacrament

Visible manifestation of the grace of Christ

Sacrament

the visible form of an invisible grace

Church

Just as the ____ is the Sacrament of God, so the ____ is the Sacrament of Christ.

Church as Sacrament

As sacrament, the church is a visible sign that effectively makes present Christ’s redeeming presence and activity offered to all persons

of every age, race, culture and condition.

Church as Sacrament

This model challenges the Church to be more like Christ in its dealings with everyone.

Church as Sacrament

Since the Eucharist is the central Sacrament of the seven, the Church takes on the challenge of being prayerful, liturgical presence in the world

• while at the same time calling the world to table fellowship, to the conditions of cooperation, friendship and exchange.

Eucharist

the central Sacrament of the seven

Church as Sacrament

The disadvantage of this model is its ability to serve a job description for the Church, along with its performance can be evaluated.

Church as Sacrament

A disadvantage is that the job description of the Church might not clearly identify the outward or apostolic mission of the Church