ABSTRACT

The rise of the basic church communities and the praxis of these communities are of matchless value when it comes to questioning the prevailing manner of being church. They are sprung from basic, minimum elements like faith, the reading of the word and meditation on it, and mutual assistance in all human dimensions. As we have seen, they are genuine church. Many functions, genuinely new ministries, appear in them – ministries of community coordination, of catechesis, of organizing the liturgy, of caring for the sick, of teaching people to read and write, of looking after the poor, and the like. All this is done in a deep spirit of communion, with a sense of joint responsibility and with an awareness of building and living actual church. The best conceptualization of this experience is in the frequently heard expression,

to be common fashion of considering oneself to be church. It enables one to discover the true source of the ongoing birth and creation of the church: the Holy Spirit.