In the last two decades, Seventh-day Adventist scholars have been attempting to articulate a balanced and distinct ecclesiology, aimed at helping the denomination to retain its global unity, maintain its relevance and enable a more fruitful and meaningful interaction with others. No comprehensive account of the church has been developed yet, however. This thesis is intended to facilitate a more rounded and systematically articulated concept of church from an Adventist perspective. Part I presents a thumbnail history of the denomination and considers the advantages and limitations of its standard claim to be the 'remnant', awaiting a pre-millennial parousia. Part II engages with the ideas of some of the ablest communio ecclesiologists of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and considers their ecclesiological system, built around the concept of koinonia, while Part III examines ways in which their theoretical framework can assist the Adventist community to deal with practical ecclesial issues. Four major proposals are made for deepening Adventist understanding of the nature of church. Whereas the formal structure of communio framework can help Adventists move beyond one-sided, single-metaphor communal self-descriptions, the idea of the church as essentially a koinonia of believers in God can supplement their predominantly functionalist portrayal of the church as herald or messenger. Thirdly, the Adventist notion of truth can be enriched by viewing the community of believers not only as a messenger, but also as an organic part of divine revelation. This makes ecclesiology central to the theological enterprise, intrinsic to the grounding of theological claims and the interpretation of biblical texts. Finally, the development of a richer interpretation of the Spirit's activity in the church is seen as one of the key prerequisites for a fuller, more nuanced account of the church's participation in the life of the triune God. The highlighting of these four aspects, hitherto neglected or underdeveloped in Adventism, and the presentation of tentative solutions to its ongoing ecclesiological problems, form the principal contribution of this monograph.

We live in a world that is broken by sin, where the only permanent thing is change. The cause of man’s sin was that the koinonia relationship between man and God had been severed. After Adam and Eve feel into sin, a spiritual darkness in the history of man began. Man was unable to rebuild the communication and relationship that he had with God. God came through the calling of Abram (Abraham) to restore some of the koinonia relationship we need. In the New Testament, Jesus came and restored the way to God, but something is still missing. This koinonia relationship will only be totally fulfilled when Jesus comes again to take us home. God’s instrument to experience true koinonia is the church. The koinonia that was lost and restored in Jesus. The church of today has lost some of the koinonia that the first church experienced, by becoming program orientated. The church is at this moment in a transformation process, where it is rediscovering the importance of being a mission-minded balanced loving community that is experiencing koinonia in relationships. The small group is thé vehicle that could help the church rediscover the koinonia, which people and the world need. This will only become true when we have a broader insight of the small group ministry in a local missionary-minded community (congregation). The small groups ministry is not a tool to use. You start a small group ministry in your local congregation because this is the way you were created. To truly understand the local church and the way we were created, we need to look back. We need to look back to creation, and how God created us, and to remind us of the Triune God’s, Father, Son and Spirit’s functioning in community. Only when the church realizes again that we are created in God’s image, will we look at our mission responsibilities and not-yet-believers in a new way. Namely, God’s way. / Thesis (DD (Theology))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Science of Religion and Missiology / unrestricted