This thesis aims to study the development of the concept/model “the church as the family of God” and to explore its implications in terms of participation of church members and the social mission for the church in Vietnam. The discussion of the development of the ecclesiological concept helps to construct an ecclesiology of the church as the family of God in response to the call of Pope John Paul II in the Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Africa (1995).It also assists the Vietnamese church in its evaluation and implication of the model of the church as family. This ecclesiological model has been promoted since the seventeenth century and emphasised since the Second Vatican Council in the church in Vietnam. The scope of this thesis studies the biblical, theological and ecclesiological development of the concept/model of the church as God’s family. It also investigates the understanding of the family and the church as family in Vietnam, the mutual relationships of church members and the characteristics of the mission of the church in the world. Then it explores the implications of the ecclesiology of the church as the family of God for the local church. A proper understanding of these issues is necessary because it helps the Vietnamese church to apply authentically the model of the church as the family of God. Chapter One discusses the biblical understanding of the family of God as the metaphor for the relationships between God and his people and among members in the church. The metaphor “the family/the household of God” was applied to the house church in early Christianity and provides some relevant implications for the church today. Chapter Two examines the theological foundations of the concept in patristic writings, in the liturgy and in church documents. Chapter Three explores the components of an ecclesiology of the church as the family of God which include trinitarian, Basic Ecclesial Communities, ancestral veneration and liberation ecclesiologies. Chapter Four investigates the traditional as well as modern Vietnamese family and its challenges in order to identify the foundation of the understanding of the concept of family in the local church. Chapter Five describes the development of the concept/model of the church as family in the organisation of the Vietnamese church that appeared in the seventeenth century and in some documents of the local church. Chapter Six analyses church hierarchy and the participation of the people of God. It provides some implications of the ecclesiology of the church as God’s family for the promotion of the participatory church in Vietnam. Chapter Seven examines the characteristics of and the practical tools in the church’s social mission and explores the challenges to the implications of the social mission of the church as the family of God. The conclusions of this thesis are that the concept/model and the applications of the church as the family of God have basic foundations in scripture, in patristic writings and in church documents. The concept of family in these materials implies two main meanings: the familial relationships between God and the people of God (or the church) and the mutual relationships among people in the church as well as in society. These relationships are based on human interactions in the family which are problematic in some situations. Therefore, the model of the church as family must be patterned on trinitarian communion of the divine family so that it can overcome the limitations of the human family. In that context, the Vietnamese family pointed out advantages as well as disadvantages in the development of the model of the church as family. The concept of family is very close to the Vietnamese; it provides some possibilities to develop the participation in the church and its mission in society. However, to some extent, the concept and the structure of the Vietnamese family which was influenced by Confucianism have challenged the local church in these areas. Therefore, the proper understanding of hierarchy and the church’s social mission were discussed. Based on that understanding some applications were also proposed in order to help the Vietnamese church to overcome these challenges and become an authentic model of the family of God.

This thesis offers a focused study on the benefits of discipleship in the Gospel of John (GJohn). While previous research has considered the meaning of the terms disciple and discipleship, characterization of the Johannine disciples, and various characteristics of discipleship, in the current study I investigate certain themes that can be understood as compensatory benefits of discipleship in GJohn. I argue that these benefits can be grouped under three primary benefits that John deploys to promote discipleship. These three primary benefits are: membership in the divine family, the Father and the Son abiding in the believer through the Spirit, and royal friendship with Jesus. I have identified these three primary benefits based on either the benefit’s strategic placement in the text, or prominence in the Gospel, or peculiar meaning in GJohn. In addition to the three primary benefits, I argue that John features corollary benefits that appear in the surrounding narrative of the three key benefits. The corollary benefits of membership in the divine family are life, love, knowledge of God and of the truth, freedom from sin, walking in the light, salvation, avoidance of judgment/destruction, resurrection, protection, performance of great works, affirmation of genuine discipleship, honor, glory, and unity/oneness of the Father and the Son with the other disciples. The corollary benefits to abiding—which are contingent upon the disciples’ abiding in Jesus—are the presence of the Paraclete, love, peace, joy, avoidance of judgment, answered requests, the ability to perform great works, fruit, and affirmation of genuine discipleship. The corollary benefits to royal friendship with Jesus are love, knowledge of the Father, fruit, joy, and answered requests. The corollary benefits that are constituent of more than one primary benefit—love, affirmation of genuine discipleship, avoidance of judgment, joy, knowledge, answered requests, fruit, and performance of great works—are examined in the context of the primary benefit that develops the accompanying benefit most thoroughly. My study is rooted in a close reading of the text, with an exegetical and a narratival analysis of John’s presentation of discipleship. In chapter 1, I frame my argument in light of the existing literature on discipleship. In chapters 2 through 4, I investigate the three primary benefits and the affiliated corollary benefits. In chapter 2, I argue that followers of Jesus are integrated into the family of God by divine initiation. The disciple is then granted eternal life that enables him to relate to God, Jesus, and other members within the divine family, which results in the aforementioned additional benefits. In chapter 3, I argue that the theme of abiding with God and Jesus has a present and a future dimension in GJohn. In chapter 4, I argue that John depicts Jesus as a royal figure who invites his disciples into a friendship in which they experience the privilege of being members of his royal circle. In chapter 5, I suggest that John presents the benefits of commitment to Jesus against the general backdrop of the hostility of “the Jews” and the world toward Jesus and his followers. This opposition might have been a factor in the then-current experience of Johannine believers, or it might be reflective of the experience of a prior time which continued to form part of the outlook of the Johannine believers. In light of the potential cost of following Jesus, we can understand certain Johannine themes as compensatory benefits that are deployed in GJohn to promote continuous discipleship. In chapter 6, I synthesize my findings.

The work investigates the education in family, the departure from faith and return to the Church and faith. It is a research work. The first part deals with the preparation for a qualitative dialogue and for the choice of appropriate respondents. It describes the process of respondents collection, the process of dialogue and their recording. The case analysis occupies with the respondents´ characteristics. The second part of the work is interested in the analysis of the dialogue, the comparative analysis and therefore the dialogue evaluation. We get to know how the respondents were guided and lead to faith in their families, when and why they departed from faith, what events and moments in their lives had a bearing on their faith experience, when they returned to the Church, what people influenced their religion development and how they live in Church now. We find out that particular spheres are dependent one on another. It is very important how strong is the faith basis, how deep you sowed the faith and how you kept the seed. We can also see a diference in feeling the faith at each respondent since people are different. The human personality is very important as well as your opening to the Grace of God. The role of people we meet is very important, too. We are influenced by them. It is a kind of a call not only for people in pastoral work but also for believers themselves so that they can try to help and be here for others.

Church leaders and other members of the Mystical Body of Christ can avail themselves more to the contemplative gift while undergoing the Paschal Mystery as a team and cultivating spaces of encounter and communion with people in the Church and in the world for deepening union with God and further entry in the process of divinization. Members of the Mystical Body can be more sensitive to the presence of God within themselves and others through devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus that offers an entryway for Divine Love to take captive the affections of the will as the contemplative gift is increasingly activated from within each person. This way is shown through the Holy Family and their common spiritual life which offers a model of Church that invites all people to share in their oneness of heart rooted in the Trinity to be love as one family of God.

Cette thèse montre que l’ecclésiologie de l’Église-Famille de Dieu peut se construire en articulation avec la question de la protection sociale des prêtres, et que corrélativement la problématique de la protection sociale des ministres sacrés peut se penser par rapport à la théologie de l’Église-Famille de Dieu. Le repérage des failles dans les pratiques ecclésiales de protection sociale des prêtres en cours en Côte d’Ivoire et leur divergence avec les textes du magistère de l’Église m’amènent à considérer un principe : l’organisation d’une protection sociale des prêtres vise à libérer ces derniers des inquiétudes pour l’avenir, qui peuvent nuire à leur ministère et à leur disponibilité dans le temps présent. De plus, lorsqu’elles sont resituées dans le contexte théologique et pastoral de la nouvelle évangélisation, et qu’elles sont mises en dialogue entre elles, la problématique ecclésiologique de l’Église-Famille et celle de la protection sociale des prêtres évoquent l’enjeu majeur de l’engagement social des chrétiens. Si la réception d’une théologie de l’engagement contribue à l’émergence d’un engagement chrétien authentique, l’ecclésiologie entrepreneuriale propose l’entrepreneuriat pastoral comme une autre façon d’entreprendre en Église-Famille pour réussir le pari de la protection sociale des prêtres, conformément au vœu des Pères du Concile repris dans le Code de droit canonique de 1983. / This thesis demonstrates that the ecclesiology of the Church-God’s family can be built in relation to the issue of the social welfare for the priests, and linked to that, the issue of the social welfare for the sacred ministers can be thought about with regard to the theology of the Church as Family of God. The finding of weaknesses in the ecclesial practices of the social welfare for the priests which exists in Côte d’Ivoire and their difference with the Church magisterium texts makes me consider a principle: the organization of a social welfare for priests aims at making them free from worries in the future, which can harm (endanger) their ministry and their availability in the present time. In addition, when they are restored in the pastoral and theological context of the new evangelization, and if they are in connection, the ecclesiological issue of the Church-Family and that of the social welfare for the priests evoke the major stake of the Christians’ social commitment. If the reception of a theology of commitment contributes to an emergence of an authentic Christian commitment, the entrepreneurial ecclesiology suggests the pastoral entrepreneurship as another way to undertake in Church-Family to make a success of the bet of the social welfare for the priests in accordance with the wish of the Council Fathers taken back in the Code of Canon law of 1983.