Lecture - The Church - by William Henn

8 tradition. The one and only Church of Christ has various branches. 5. Wainwright’s fifth type is called a more “subjective” ecclesiology and is associated with Protestant pietism of the 17 th and 18 th centuries. Christianity is a religion of the heart and the one Church is comprised of true believers everywhere, all who have a warm relationship with Christ and thus enjoy a certain union of affection with one another. 6. A sixth vision of “church” is associated with the great Protestant missions of the 18 th and 19 th centuries and is called an evangelistic model. It practices “open communion,” emphasizing the inviting character of the gospel and the welcoming nature of the Church. 7. Wainwright’s final type is associated with the Life and Work Movement and reflects the slogan “service unites.” This pragmatic or secular approach holds that those who collaborate together in the cause of justice and peace are in fellowship with one another. Wainwright’s historical overview helps to reveal how different Christian communities understand the Church, but may also make one despair that any common vision of the Church could be possible. A hopeful countersign might come from the first meeting of the Faith and Order Commission held in Lausanne in 1927. There the delegates individuated three fundamental ways into which almost all churches seemed to be able to be categorized. Some were organized in an episcopal fashion, under the personal leadership of individual bishops. Others were organized in a presbyteral or collegial fashion, in which synodal guidance by a group of elders was predominant. Finally, others were strictly congregational in structure, the voice of the local community being the highest authority. Already at Lausanne, it was affirmed that the values underlying these three forms of ecclesial order need not be