“Seekers of truth and justice”: an investigation of the Accra Declaration’s ecclesiology

Abstract

This article investigates the implied ecclesiology of the Accra Declaration (WARC, 2004). It does this by viewing the document through the lenses of various ecclesiological categories: Biblical images or metaphors, social manifestations of the church, Protestant and Catholic marks of the church, the threefold office of prophet, priest and king, the four ministries or dimensions of the church and Avery Dulles’s Models of the Church (1976). This is done in an appreciative manner, yet reveals some of the shortcomings of the document’s implied ecclesiology. It also lays the foundation for deeper reflection on the role of the church with regard to social issues such as global economic injustice and ecological destruction.