Ecclesial Mode

Publisher: Global.Church · Created: 2026-04-16 · 2 concepts

https://ontology.global.church/core#EcclesialModeScheme

Classifies the operational structure of an ekklesia using Ralph Winter's Two Structures framework: Modality (settled, gathered, inclusive parish-style structure) vs Sodality (sent, selective, mission-vocational structure). Multi-valued — an ekklesia may operate in both modes.

Code	Label	Definition
`ECL-MOD`	Modality	The 'gathered church' structure — geographically bounded, inclusive of all ages and stages, the parish or congregational form. A Modality ekklesia has open membership, stable location, mixed demographics, and tends toward permanence. Local churches in both settled and pioneer contexts typically operate as Modality. The Modality is what Winter calls 'the first structure': the primary vehicle for nurturing believers through all of life. An ApostolicBand or MissionalOrder is never purely Modality — they carry Sodality by definition. A LocalChurch is usually Modality and can also carry Sodality when it houses an active apostolic engine.
`ECL-SOD`	Sodality	The 'sent church' structure — mission-vocational, voluntary by affiliation, selective in membership, and translocal in operation. A Sodality ekklesia gathers believers around a shared apostolic call rather than around geography. Apostolic Bands and Missional Orders are sodality-aligned by definition. The Sodality is what Winter calls 'the second structure': the primary vehicle for frontier mission and new church-planting. When a LocalChurch sustains an apostolic engine (a commissioned band sent from within the congregation), it may carry both Modality and Sodality triples — the settled congregation is Modality, the sent band is Sodality, and both express the same ekklesia's life. Example: A church-planting band sent from a congregation carries gc:ModeSodality, while the settled sending congregation carries gc:ModeModality — the same network can carry both at once.