The unity of the church in jeopardy

Abstract

This article examines the possible influence that a church’s understanding of ecclesiology could have on its approach to homosexual people, with special reference to the Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa (NRCA). By referring to recent debates in the NRCA concerning the prominence the Church awards to the tenet of an ‘ethnic church’ (‘volkskerk’) in its ecclesiology, it is argued that the Church’s understanding of the confession of the one, holy, apostolic and catholic church is not reflected in the NRCA’s own ecclesiology and that this has direct implications for the Church’s understanding and accommodation of homosexual people. It is concluded that if the Church maintains an inclusive character as it is meant in the Creeds, the Church has to design and incorporate models of being church that adhere to this character and the abovementioned confession.