Scot McKnight – Three Terms for “Church” Today

Allow me to use three Greek terms to describe how church is not only understand but practiced today. If you observe the practice you can describe the understanding behind it. Each is an expectation that can be met by participating in that expectation. I offer today some thoughts about three models of church at work in our minds and our practices, and send you to A Fellowship of Differents for an exposition of the third sense.

Leitourgia

That is, church is worship service. The Germans calls this Gottesdienst, and many Americans when they say “church” mean “going to a church building on Sunday morning for a worship and sermon service.”

Some leitourgia models focus on worship order (the liturgical, lectionary model, eucharist-focused) while others focus on the sermon.

No matter what is believed, for many “church” means the leitourgia. It means what happens when Christians gather on Sunday morning to sing, read Scripture, hear a sermon, and for some participate in eucharist.

Advertisement

Clearing the Ground – A Controversial Report on the Discrimination of Christians in the UK

‘Christians in Parliament, an official All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), chaired by Gary Streeter MP, launched Clearing the Ground – a preliminary report of the committee’s findings into the freedoms of Christians within UK public life.

The inquiry was facilitated by the Evangelical Alliance and the report was published in February 2012.

The Clearing the Ground inquiry was tasked with considering the question: Are Christians marginalised in the UK?

This report reflects the findings and views of the committee and is issued by Christians in Parliament.’

(Source, HERE)

Ekklesia – a think-tank on religion in public life

Ekklesia is an independent, not-for-profit think-tank which examines the role of religion in public life and advocates transformative theological ideas and solutions. We also look at the operation of beliefs and values is society and politics more widely.

Ekklesia emerged in 2002 from Workshop, a long-standing independent theological training programme sponsored by the Anvil Trust. Its partners in the Root and Branch Network include the Anabaptist Network UK, the London Mennonite Centre, and Christian Peacemaker Teams UK.