Christianity - The Church

There is certainly such a thing as 'liberation theology' (the principle of faith confronting deprivation, such as poverty in Latin America), and a webtrawl will reveal such entities as 'liberation' / 'liberal' / 'liberated' churches ... but worthy though these may be, it does not seem appropriate to rank them with the three more established previous answers.

The worship itself may take many forms, but plenty of actual churches manage without the other suggestions on whatever basis. Not all churches follow the 'suburban Anglican' traditions which you may have assumed (by default) to apply to all.

Not all churches have priests (let alone bishops), though usually there will be someone qualified (or perhaps at least 'anointed') in overall charge of planning and delivering the spiritual and pastoral programme.

Answer 2: Not all churches struggle to raise funds to maintain and enhance their premises, and/or to support good works of charity etc. ... but far more of them do, than not.

Answer 3: Sadly, small churches sometimes see the numbers in their faith-community dwindle to a point where continuing is no longer viable. In such a case their building may lie empty or be deconsecrated and used for other purposes, else even demolished. But it is possible for 'a church' (in the sense, probably, of distinctive purpose-built premises) to exist without anyone attending it.

Answer 4: In the days of the 'underground churches' (meeting secretly under persecution by Communist authorities, for instance) there might not have been an actual complete copy of the Scriptures available. But in any other circumstances, what would be the value of a church without at least one Bible for public reading and encouragement?

The Reformation is usually considered to have started with the publication of the Ninety-five Theses by Martin Luther in 1517.

There is a delicate balance to be struck between sharing common spiritual ground (not least, Communion in its various guises) and respecting deeply-cherished individual traditions. Several British, and other, towns and communities have established 'Church[es] in X' organisations for mutual benefit, organising such schemes as street pastors, food banks, festivals, Passion Plays etc.; at international level, people of good faith are concerned to have warm and constructive dialogue with others between branches of the Christian Church and more widely (e.g. with Jews, Muslims and followers of other, non-monotheistic faiths).

On this occasion He was pointing out that even a small, temporary 'nucleus of faith' (as we might call it) does not require a large or elaborate building, nor complex rituals to match. Keen Christians would probably use this to define the essence of 'what a faith-community is'.

The church has never existed in a moral vacuum (see various doctrinal issues raised &/or answered in Paul's letters, in the New Testament) ~ how could it, since its role is to care and to lead by wholesome example? We wonder whether some of the matters suggested in our list will be settled (ecumenically or otherwise) within your lifetime. Many would take as a principled starting-point the claim that 'God's laws are eternal', but how are we to articulate them in a well-post-Biblical world with the Internet, cars (and ambulances) which are also fossil-fuel-powered, and so much else?

As mentioned in our introduction, Peter was the quick-tempered fisher-disciple who usually meant well but sometimes let Jesus down (as on the occasion where he was the only one to run after Jesus when He had been arrested; yet when challenged three times while waiting overnight for an outcome, he pretended never to have met Him). 'Peter' was itself a nickname given to Simon: perhaps he was a somewhat hulking figure ('Rocky'!) in real life; the word 'Petros' comes across in such other words as 'petrified' ([as though] turned to stone) and 'petrol' ('rock-oil'). At any rate, faults and all, he became Jesus' choice; it was he who spoke up on the morning of Pentecost and was 'given the keys of the kingdom' ... hence the key-shaped 'square' in front of St Peter's church in the Vatican, the world headquarters of the Roman Catholic church.

Ecclesiology is an intricate matter, but you may well have spotted that the 'C of E' could hardly have produced anything more specific before there was Protestantism at all. By way of a reasonably clear and accessible starter, see Denominations

Answer 3 seems abrasively cynical compared with these other interpretations!