Abstract:
We live in a time when survival seems to be the biggest
concern of most mainline congregations and denominations. How can the church possibly
survive? This is a question that is asked in almost every corner of the institution. Since the
1960s, numerous books and articles have been published, trying to get a handle on why the
mainline churches are in decline. Whatever the cause may be, decline is causing great fear and
anxiety in the mainline churches. In an effort to answer the underlying question: ‘What shall
we do to turn the situation around?’, some churches are simply trying to ‘market’ themselves
and their message. Others try to ’do’ church differently. Some try to rediscover the purpose
of the church, et cetera. Cheryl Peterson argues that churches are, in fact, facing an ecclesial
crisis, that is much more than a crisis of declining numbers and membership. There is a deeper
and more basic issue that must be explored, one that has to do with the church’s theological
identity, and that is: what it means to be church? This article is about the question: Who is the
church? And it answers the question on the basis of Peterson’s thesis by means of a narrative
of the church that commences with the Spirit.
