In this unit we will be exploring both the essence and the practices of the church. People often feel hurt by the church, encountering unexpected sins ranging from jealousy, small mindedness, selfishness and hard-heartedness to even coarse sexual sins. At the same time the church can be a place of wonderful blessing and support for many, where they experience the reality of Christ in a special way. This begs the question: What is the church really? How should we understand this very human organisation which also claims to represent the body of Christ on earth?

We will be dealing with these two dimensions of the church to uncover both the essence of the church and the way in which this is expressed or possibly not expressed through the church’s actions.