Preface 1 Introduction What Does It Mean to Believe in the Church? Between Systematic and Practical Ecclesiology Confessional Context and Biblical Basis Recent Developments in Ecclesiology 2 The Church: People Gathered in the Name of Jesus The Starting Point: the Church is a Fellowship of People Matthew 18:20 as a Starting Point for Understanding the Church The Continuing Presence of Jesus by the Holy Spirit The Church as the Body of Christ Understanding the Church from an Eschatological Perspective The Holiness of the Church The Eschatological Reservation: "Not Everyone Who Says Lord, Lord . . ." A Heavenly Church? The Presence of Jesus in Word and Sacrament 3 Sociological and Theological Perspectives The Nature of Social Reality Is the Church a Result of Human Work or the Work of God? 4 Sent Out into the World Church and Creation Gustaf Wingren on Church and Creation Church and Culture The Church and the Mission of God The Church's Healing Ministry The Diakonia of the Church Diakonia and Politics The Church Catholic 5 Fellowship with One Another The Church as Koinonia Visible and Tangible Fellowship The Church as Moral Community Folk Church as Christian Fellowship The Church as Public The Fellowship and the Individual 6 The Church as an Organization and Institution The Church as an Organization from a Sociological Perspective The Church as an Institution Is the Institutionalization of the Church Theologically Untenable? Church as a Legally Ordered 7 A Fellowship of Ministries A Traditional Distinction between Clergy and Lay A Diversity of Ministries The Lutheran Case: The One Ministry of the Church Unified Structure or Different Ministry Patterns Instituted by God? Pastoral Ministry Ordination to Ministry All Christians Have a Ministry The Leadership and Governance of the Church 8 Worship: As Gathered in the Name of Jesus What Does It Mean to Be Gathered in the Name of Jesus? The Distinctiveness of Christian Worship Historical and Contemporary Sources Worship as Sign What Should and Should Not Be Included in the Worship Service Various Elements of the Worship Service The Time, Place and Form of the Worship Service The Worship Service as a Ritual The Worship Service as a Place to Experience God The Worship Service of the Real Church 9 The Universal Church as the Fellowship of Local Churches The Universal Church Church Splits and Moves towards Unity Unity between Local Churches Types of Unity Mutual Accountability Church Organizations as Ministering on behalf of the Churches Church and Small Groups 10 Epilogue: Building Up the Real Church Bibliography Index

"This is an ecclesiological masterpiece. Hegstad's multi-disciplinary erudition, logical acuity, and, above all, theological wisdom all come into play as he argues - very convincingly - that the church we believe in is not, and cannot be, anything other than the church we live within and experience. A complex-yet-balanced constructive, theological proposal that is a must-read for everyone interested in the church." Nicholas M. Healy, Professor of Theology and Religious Studies, St. John's University 'In this lucidly written work, which he has himself translated from Danish into English, Hegstad argues that we should dispense with a Platonically inspired idea of the invisible Church which exists above and beyond the real-life community that gathers in the name of Jesus for worship and fellowship.' Revd Dr Edward Dowler, in Church Times, 28 March 2014 "[...] this book, is something that is often lacking in contemporary studies of the Church: a union of systematic theology and empirical research. This would be a very good book, therefore, to put into the hands of those curates I met who are about to undertake a study of their local church as part of their training." Alan Billings, Theology, vol 117, issue 295, (2014) This text is a helpful work of ecclesiology, both for its formal means of argumentation as well as Hegstad's material conclusions and prescriptions. Joseph McGarry, Theological Book Review, volume 26, no 1, 2014