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Bibframe Work

Title
Being the church
Type
Text
Monograph
Contribution
Rommen, Edward, 1947- (Author)
Subject
Orthodox Eastern Church
Church growth--Biblical teaching (LCSH)
Church growth (LCSH)
Orthodox Eastern Church
Church growth (FAST)
Church growth--Biblical teaching (FAST)
Language
English
Illustrative Content
Illustrations
Classification
LCC: BX320.3 .R66 2017 (Assigner: dlc) (Status: used by assigner)
DDC: 254.5 full (Source: 23)
Supplementary Content
bibliography
index
Content
text
Summary
If the divine liturgy really is as beautiful as we claim, wouldn't more people attend? Wouldn't the church grow? Driven by our desire for growth, we count, we analyze, we make charts, and we strategize, but often with few discernible results. That is probably the result of focusing on secondary aspects of church life. As we know, the very existence of a church is a gift of God's presence and not the result of any particular actions taken by human beings. For that reason, church is primarily about being something rather than doing or achieving something. So the growth of the church is not reflected in ever-increasing numbers, dollars, and activities, but rather in steadily growing conformity to the divine ideal. So in order to evaluate ecclesial growth, we will first have to ask what the church is supposed to be. One answer to that question is captured in the four marks of the church given in the creed: Oneness, Holiness, Catholicity, and Apostolicity. These four characteristics serve as a matrix or framework within which we can focus on the primary aspects of ecclesial being and help it grow and become what it was intended to be.
Table Of Contents
Introduction: Counting, success, and ecclesial growth
Ecclesial being : on the nature of the church's existence
Ecclesial unity : on the oneness of the church
Ecclesial goodness : on the holiness of the church
Ecclesial beauty : on the Catholicity of the church
Ecclesial integrity : on the apostolicity of the church.
Authorized Access Point
Rommen, Edward, 1947- Being the church
Admin Metadata
Generation Process: DLC marc2bibframe2 v2.5.0
Status: changed
Encoding Level: minimal
Identified By: bf:Local, 19989788
Change Date: 2018-06-14T07:00:19
Creation Date: 2017-09-13
Description Language: English
Description Modifier: United States, Library of Congress
Description Authentication: LC Copy Cataloging
Assigner: YDX