The Church as family of God: Its development and implications for the church in Vietnam

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.