Towards an Inclusive Ecclesiology

What makes a church the church? This question has been well answered in the Lutheran tradition. However, as the living embodiment of Christ's promised Word and grace, we must cons tantly reflect on what the church's existence means and how it relates to the contemporary world. We investigate this su bject by comparing the ecclesiologies of Helmut Thielicke an d Paul Tillich. Their theologies have their roots in the Lut heran heritage, but they built their ecclesiologies respect . Throughout the study, we affirm that a comprehensive unde rstanding of "what is the church?" should have an inclusion of its spiritual, essential, invisible essence and its soci al, existential, visible embodiment.