Kirchentheorie

Deutsch:
Die Kirchen in Europa stehen vor vielschichtigen Herausforderungen. In der kirchlichen Praxis werden vielfältige neue Wege gesucht und ausprobiert. Einer dieser verheissungsvollen Ansätze wurde durch 3DM entwickelt und findet vielfältige Umsetzungen in verschiedensten Regionen und Denominationen der Welt. Auf einen ersten Blick erscheint das Modell von 3DM aufgrund von vielen ekklesiologischen Ähnlichkeiten auch für ein täuferisches Gemeindeverständnis adaptierbar.
Diese Studie bringt die leitenden ekklesiologischen Prinzipen des Täufertums mit denselben von 3DM Gemeinschaften ins Gespräch. Bei allen Differenzen zeigen sich die zentralen gemeinsamen Leitthemen Nachfolge, Gemeinschaft und Mission. Das sind wegweisende Dimensionen einer zukunftsfähigen Ekklesiologie jenseits traditioneller konfessioneller Grenzen. Nicht zuletzt sind in dieser Arbeit 11 Fallbeispiele von 3DM Gemeinschaften beschrieben, die ein nachvollziehbares Bild dieses Gemeindemodells geben.

English:
The churches in Europe are facing multilayered challenges. In church life many new approaches are sought and tried out. One of these promising approaches has been developed by 3DM and is being implemented globally in different regions and denominations. On the first glance, due to many ecclesiological similarities the model by 3DM may possibly get adapted to an Anabaptist- Mennonite understanding of the Church.
This study brings into conversation the guiding ecclesiological principles of Anabaptist tradition with those of 3DM communities. Despite some differences, the central common themes of discipleship, community and mission were identified as central common themes. These are groundbreaking dimensions of a viable ecclesiology beyond traditional confessional boundaries. Last but not least, 11 case example of 3DM communities are described in this paper, giving a comprehensible picture of this community model.

The study deals with the question of how liturgical theology, articulating  the close interconnections between liturgy and church, can contribute to a contemporary theory of church. It works with reflections on the church as expressed by two Protestant theologians, the American liturgical theologian Gordon W. Lathrop (1939) and the Czech practical theologian Pavel Filipi (1936–2015). The main theses of this study are that liturgy is a place where the joint vision of the church is formed, with the help of biblical imagination. Therefore, the perspective of liturgical theology can be beneficial for contemporary studies of churches, especially as they consider church reforms. This perspective reminds us of the theological view on the substance, function, and mission of the church in the contemporary world.