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Why should evangelicals care about something as arcane as the ontology of the church?

Evangelicals traditionally have been noted for their concern for the ontology of the person. They preach the gospel with the view to getting the individual transformed or "born again." Persons are spiritual entities who, because of sin, need to experience the miracle of conversion. Unfortunately, they have not extended this understanding to the church. They fail to see that conversion is not about transforming the individual, per se, but is incorporation into a spiritual reality—the Body of Christ. Another way of putting it is to say that the church is more than the sum of the individual members—precisely because of her relation to Christ and the presence of the Spirit. Evangelicals' failure to understand this fact has led to their seeing the church as essentially a collectivity of our own making. Church is only a practical way of organizing individual Christians for effective ministry.

Certain consequences follow from such a view of the church. For example, evangelistic outreach to and formation of individuals becomes the paramount concern of the church. But if the church herself is more than an entity of our own making, then different consequences follow. The church will still be concerned about outreach and formation of people, but the overarching reason for being will be defined by her relationship to God. Her response to the revelation of God in worship becomes paramount.

Concern for the redemption of the world has been an evangelical hallmark ("God so loved the world … " [John 3:16-16] our favorite verse begins). Yet you argue that God's purpose is less about the redemption of the world and more about the election of the church. Where does mission fit into your theology?

I don't think we should speak of one as "less" and the other "more"; rather we should see the redemption of the world within the larger context of God's eternal purpose, which is to transform the world into the church, i.e. to be a people living in communion with the triune God. The mission of the church, therefore, is the extension of the mission of the triune God ,which is larger than saving souls. Salvation is in view of that higher end.

The failure to see salvation in light of the eternal purpose of God expressed in the election of the church before the creation of the world (Eph 1:4) tends to result in a view of mission that is narrowly defined in terms of escape from hell and enjoyment of heaven. One can see how this popular evangelical understanding of mission is only one small step from the gospel of self-fulfillment: I am saved because God can't bear to see me suffer and wants me to be "fulfilled."

Many evangelicals argue that the essence of the church is simple: Where two or three are gathered in Jesus' name (Mt. 18:20). After that, we're free to create any structure that "works." Why is this "ecclesiology" not enough in your view?

I suspect that when evangelicals quote this passage of Scripture the accent probably falls on the word "gathered": the church is a gathering of believers with Jesus somehow present in their midst. The precise nature of that presence is often hazily understood. I would argue that the emphasis should be on the phrase "in Jesus' name" and that the presence of Jesus needs to be understood precisely in light of the Trinitarian economy. It is the place of Jesus in the church that makes all the difference between a social gathering and the ecclesia. The church is where Jesus is, according to Ignatius of Antioch. But what does the presence of Jesus mean? I also suspect that most evangelicals would tend to conceive of the presence of Jesus in the church very much like the presence of an individual: Jesus is the VIP among us! But that is theologically problematic. Our doctrine of the ascension tells us that Jesus is not present as an individual since he ascended bodily. It is the Holy Spirit, the "other Paraclete," who indwells the church and joins the church to Jesus as his body. Thus we speak of the Eucharistic presence or the "spiritual presence" of Jesus (Calvin) in the church as a defining characteristic of the church after Pentecost and before the Parousia. We are not free to conceptualize his presence in other ways, since it is determined by the very nature of the Trinitarian economy. Jesus in his farewell discourse makes this quite clear: Unless I go away, the Paraclete will not come. Evangelical's weak ecclesiology has meant that the church is often viewed in isolation from her ontological link to Jesus Christ and ultimately to the Trinitarian economy. And so a passage like Mt. 18:20 becomes a proof-text isolated from the larger theological context.

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November (Web-only) 2006, Vol. 50