Teologi for endring?

Abstract

A Theology for Change? Change in Churches in a Holistic Ecclesiological Perspective The question we have been seeking to answer in this article is why it is so important to have -not just an organizational justification for change in congregations, but also a theological one – or more precisely an ecclesiological one. We argue for what we have named a holistic ecclesiological understanding of change where we specifically discuss the relationship between the normative and non-normative factors’ impact on church development and change. Our focus is not on the level of church denominations, but on the local congregational level. Change in churches must always be adapted to the specific ecclesiastical and local context in which it is performed, but at the same time there will always be some fundamental and more principled questions of ecclesiological nature that one should think through – no matter how the ecclesiastical and local context looks like. The focus of the article is therefore how a holistic ecclesiological perspective influences both how one thinks about change and the implementation in congregations.