Models of the Church

Jesus came to build his church. All Christians affirm this to be true.
 What kind of church did Jesus intend to build?
 What should it look like?
 How should it be structured?
 Who is part of it?
 What is its purpose?

Church as Institution
The institutional view “defines the Church primarily in terms of its visible structures,
especially the rights and powers of its officers”. Church government is not democratic
or representative, but hierarchical. Power is concentrated in the ruling class –the
church officers – whose jurisdiction is patterned after the secular state. As officers of
God’s sacraments, the clergy open and shut the valves of grace. Because the
institutional model maintains that its leadership structure is part of the original
deposit of faith handed down by Christ’s disciples, the authority of the ruling class is
understood as God-given, and should be unquestionably accepted by the faithful.

Church as Mystical Communion

In this view, the church consists of people of faith who are united by their common
participation in God’s Spirit through Christ. The ties that bind are not institutional but
pneumatological, communal, and personal. “The Church, from this point of view, is not
in the first instance an institution or a visibly organized society. Rather it is a
communion of men, primarily interior but also expressed by external bonds of creed,
worship, and ecclesiastical fellowship” . The experience of ecclesiastical community
differs from any other community in that it has both a horizontal and vertical
dimension.

Church as Sacrament
• In this model, the church is a sacrament, a sign and transmitter of God’s grace in
the world. A sacrament is “a visible sign of an invisible grace.” As such, it is an
efficacious sign, meaning that “the sign itself produces or intensifies that of
which it is a sign”. In other words, it is “a true embodiment of the grace that it
signifies”. Put most simply, the church truly transmits grace – the favorable
presence of God.
Church as Herald
• The herald model “emphasizes faith and proclamation over interpersonal
relations and mystical communion” . “This model is kerygmatic, for it looks upon
the Church as a herald – one who receives an official message with the
commission to pass it on… It sees the task of the Church primarily in terms of
proclamation”. The heralding church constantly calls its members to renewal and
reformation. The pure word of God passes judgment on a church that never quite
measures up to God’s holy demands.
Church as Servant
• The servant model “asserts that the Church should consider itself as part of the
total human family, sharing the same concerns as the rest of men”. The ministry
of Jesus, the suffering servant of God who was certainly “a man for others,”
provides the template for this model: “just as Christ came into the world not to
be served but to serve, so the Church, carrying on the mission of Christ, seeks to
serve the world by fostering the brotherhood of all men”. As “the Lord was the
‘man for others,’ so much the Church be ‘the community for others’”
Nature of the Church
How is the church to be described, indeed to be identified?

The church was not a building: it was rather the ecclesia, the assembly, of those who
had believed in Jesus Christ, had been baptized in His name, and had received the
Holy Spirit. They went to the Jewish temple for prayer, they met in peoples homes for
worship and breaking bread, and they shared their earthly possessions. Many signs
and wonders were done in Jesus name. They were a company united in praise, study,
fellowship, and service.

“They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of
bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs
were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in
common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to
all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they
broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God
and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their
number those who were being saved.”

When studying the nature of the church we must always look at the point that the church is the
fellowship of people who believe in Jesus Christ. This means that the church stands constantly in a
living relationship to Christ.

How is the church to be recognized or identified?

It is by observing a fellowship of people whose total lives, their worship and their
work, are sustained by the living Christ.

Ephesians
Christ and the Church
First he speaks of Christ as "the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness
of him who fills all in all" (1:22-23).

Christ the head, the church is His body

The church’s Head, Guide, and Mind is none other than the exalted and risen Christ. The church is
the extension of the incarnation, the embodiment in time of Christ’s eternal purposes. The church
exists to carry on the work He began on earth and now directs through His Spirit. Neither pope,
priest, nor preacher can be the head of the church. There is but one: He who said, "I will build my
church." The church, the ecclesia, must exist for nothing else but to carry out the living Christ’s
will to be for Him His hands and His feet.

Household of God
A second figure Paul uses is that of the church as "the household of God“ the church as a growing
spiritual building with Christ as the chief cornerstone, and all people being built into it.

"So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints
and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole structure is joined together
and grows into a holy temple in the Lord".
Ephesians 2:19-21
 The church by nature is the only place where all mankind can dwell together in harmony. This is
where Jew and Gentile, black and white, rich and poor find themselves one; for, whatever
outwardly may separate, in the church all are built and joined together with Christ as cornerstone.
There can be no longer any strangers or sojourners all are at home with Christ

The third picture is that of the church as the bride of Christ.

"as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having
cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that the church might be presented before
him in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without
blemish”
Christ loves the church beyond any husband for his bride, for not only did He give Himself up for
her, but also He ever seeks to purify her, make her holy. Hence love the love of Christ for us and
our love for Him is the tie that binds. The church is the place where love should reign supreme,
where love is to be the motive for every action. As the church day by day fellowships with Christ,
she grows in strength until the consummation when she will sit down at the marriage supper of
the Lamb.

Images: Christ and the Church

1. Christ the head of the church, the church His body;
2. Christ the cornerstone of the church, the church His building;
3. Christ the husband of the church, the church His bride.

How is the church to be recognized or identified?

it is a fellowship of baptized, believing, Spirit-renewed people for whom Christ is in all
such ways the living Lord.

How is the church to be recognized or identified?

It is by observing a fellowship of people whose total lives, their worship and their
work, are sustained by the living Christ.

Origin and Nature of the Church

The Catholic Church's Origin

The question of the Catholic Church's origin is not just academic.
Understanding the historical origin of the Catholic Church is not just an interesting question about
history. It's an essential issue for our faith!

Origin of the Church

The origin of the church rests entirely in God: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Spirit. The New Testament refers to the church as "the church of the living God" (1 Timothy 3:15).
Jesus Christ speaks of the church as "my church" (Matthew 16:18). Throughout the book of Acts it
is the Holy Spirit who inspires the church and fills it with power and wisdom. The church is the
church of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

CCC 758
“We begin our investigation of the Church's mystery by meditating on her origin in the
Holy Trinity's plan and her progressive realization in history.”

Church in the Scriptures

In a certain sense the church began in Old Testament days. To be sure, the word church does not
occur until the New Testament; however, the New Testament in looking back does speak, in one
instance, of "the congregation in the wilderness" (Acts 7:38 in the King James Version the
translation is "the church in the wilderness"). The word church is the translation of the
Greek ecclesia, which means basically an "assembly of people" or a "congregation." Thus it can
refer in the Old Testament to the people of Israel, those chosen by God to carry forward His
purposes and promises in the world.

Old Testament
The Old Testament concept is that the whole nation of Israel was actively devoted to the worship
of God, that they as a people were a divine congregation to meet in assembly to hear the divine
commands, to proclaim to the world His eternal promises. This was "the church in the wilderness“
and in some sense the church later on as a nation. They were the Israel of God.
Hence, even in the Old Testament the ecclesia originated in God; the Israelites were a chosen
people. Moses speaks in Deuteronomy: "You are a people holy to the Lord your God; the Lord your
God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, out of all the peoples on the face of
the earth" (7:6). Chosen of God, the ecclesia belonged to Him, and as His possession they were to
keep His covenant and be a blessing to all mankind.

New Testament
Let us now note the first occurrence of the word church in the New Testament, Matthew
16:18"And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of
death shall not prevail against it."
Not "the church will be built,"
but "I will build my church.“
The church will belong to Christ, and He will be the builder.

Moving on with the New Testament, only one other specific reference to the church is made in the
Gospels (see Matthew 18:17). Christ does not refer to it again by name. So do we come to the
book of Acts wherein the first mention is in 5:11"And great fear came upon the whole church, and
upon all who heard these things."
It happened on the Day of Pentecost, the day on which the Spirit of God came as a mighty wind
and as tongues of fire, the day on which fearful, weak disciples found themselves with new power
and wisdom, the day on which about three thousand others were baptized and received the gift of
the Spirit. It was the birthday of the church "my church“ before prepared by God the Father,
founded by God the Son, and empowered by God the Holy Spirit.
The church then, in origin, is entirely of God. Man neither planned it, nor founded it,
nor built it, however much man may and must be a part of it. The church is the church
of the living God, the church of Jesus Christ, the church of the Holy Spirit.

Marks of the Church

We know that Our Lord established a Church before He ascended into Heaven. He
made St Peter the head of that Church.

"It is Christ, who through the Holy Spirit, makes His Church one, holy, catholic and
apostolic, and it is He who calls her to realize each of these qualities."

The True Church is

ONE,
HOLY,
CATHOLIC
and
APOSTOLIC.
The Catholic Church is ONE
There is only one Christian Church, united in faith, in worship and in succession from
the Apostles themselves. For the Church is the Body of Christ Himself, and so is whole
and one as Christ's Body is whole and one.
"The sole Church of Christ which our Savior, after His Resurrection, entrusted to
Peter's pastoral care, commissioning him and the other apostles to extend and rule
it .... This Church, constituted and organized as a society in the present world,
subsists in the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by
the bishops in communion with him."

Catechism of the Catholic Church 866

"The Church is one: she acknowledges one Lord, confesses one faith, is born of one Baptism,
forms only one Body, is given life by one Spirit, for the sake of one hope, at whose fulfillment all
divisions will be overcome."

The Catholic Church is HOLY

"The Church ... is held, as a matter of faith, to be unfailingly holy. This is because
Christ, the Son of God, who with the Father and the Spirit is hailed as "alone holy",
loved the Church as his Bride, giving himself up for her so as to sanctify her; he joined
her to himself as his body and endowed her with the gift of the Holy Spirit for the
glory of God."
The Church, then, is perfect and holy, the spotless bride of Christ, the undefiled Body
of Christ Himself, filled with the Holy Spirit.
The Church is holy: the Most Holy God is her author; Christ, her bridegroom, gave
himself up to make her holy; the Spirit of holiness gives her life. Since she still
includes sinners, she is "the sinless one made up of sinners". Her holiness shines in
the saints; in Mary she is already all-holy."

The Catholic Church is CATHOLIC

The Church is catholic, that is, universal, insofar as Christ is present in her: “Where
there is Christ Jesus, there is the Catholic Church” (St. Ignatius of Antioch). The Church
proclaims the fullness and the totality of the totality of the faith; she bears and
administers the fullness and the means of salvation; she is sent out by Christ on a
mission to the whole of the human race.
The Church can be found in St Peter's Basilica, in a suburban parish church, in a group
of faithful in the Amazon Jungle. But being one in faith and communion with the
Church in Rome makes this Church a universal collection of those "particular
Churches". Particular Churches fall to the care of Bishops, the pastors of the faithful
and successors of the Apostles. Their communion with each other and with the Bishop
of Rome makes the Catholic Church truly universal.

Who belongs to the catholic Church?

All human beings in various ways belong to or are ordered to the Catholic Church are
those who, possessing the Spirit of Christ, are joined to the Catholic Church by the
bonds of the profession of faith, the sacrament, ecclesiastical government and
communion.
The Baptized!
The baptized who do not enjoy full Catholic unity are in a certain, although imperfect,
communion with the Catholic Church.

The Catholic Church is

APOSTOLIC
The Church is Apostolic in her origin because she has been built on “the foundation of
the Apostles” (Ephesians 2:20). She is apostolic in her teaching which is the same as
that of the Apostles. She is apostolic by reason of her structure insofar as she is
taught, sanctified, and guided until Christ returns by the Apostles through their
successors who are the bishops in communion with the successor of Peter.

The Catholic Church validly claims succession from the Apostles themselves. All
bishops of the Catholic Church are ordained by bishops who themselves were ordained
by bishops who themselves were ordained ... and so on ... who themselves were
ordained by the Apostles. This passing on of the authority and mission of the Apostles
throughout time is guided by the Holy Spirit who descended on the Apostles at
Pentecost and remains with the Church guiding Her until the Lord comes again.