ABSTRACT
Building on the idea of the church’s ek-centricity – its living outward from its centre – this chapter goes on to ask about the implications of such an idea for the most basic of ecclesiological questions: what is the church? The argument is put forward that the lived church of practice embodies an understanding of church identity which is both ‘edgy’ and ‘edgeless’: ‘edgy’ in that it recognises the peculiar pneumatological significance and power of being placed on ‘on the edge’ and ‘edgeless’ in its account of the possibilities for participating in the divine life of the Trinity beyond institutional boundaries. This position is explored by attending to the ways in which the ARCS Practices inform ecclesiology about what being ‘in the world’ might mean and what ‘community’ might actually look like on the ground. What emerges is a practice-based ecclesiological response to: ‘what is the church?’ in which structures, organisation and the historic institutions come second to, and ideally serve, the experience of the Spirit in God’s world. It is in and out of this word that the church is created by the Spirit, and it is to this divine activity that the structured community of church is called to respond.
