Modality, in
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
and
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
Christian theology, is the structure and organization of the local or
universal church. In Catholic theology, the modality is the universal Catholic church. In Protestant theology, the modality is variously described as either the universal church (that is, all believers) or the local church.
By contrast,
parachurch organization
Parachurch organizations are Christian faith-based organizations that work outside and across denominations to engage in social welfare and evangelism. Parachurch organizations seek to come alongside the church and specialize in things that indivi ...
s are
sodalities
In Christian theology, a sodality, also known as a syndiakonia, is a form of the "Universal Church" expressed in specialized, task-oriented form as opposed to the Christian church in its local, diocesan form (which is termed '' modality''). In E ...
. These include missionary organizations and Christian charities not linked to specific churches. Some theologians consider denominations, schools of theology, and other multi-congregational sodalities. Catholic sodalities include orders, monasteries and convents.
The modality versus sodality parachurch dispute
In some Christian circles, particularly among non-denominational evangelicals, there is conflict over whether parachurch, including Christian not-for-profit organizations are a biblical model for ministry. A minority of pastors and theologians assert that ''only'' the modality is a valid model for ministry, and they typically equate modality with the local church structure. Central to the dispute is whether the missionary travels of
Paul the Apostle should be categorized as an expression of modality or sodality.
A practical consideration in the modality/sodality dispute is that certain Christian efforts, like translating the
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
into different languages, are difficult to organize and fund solely by local congregations in the absence of parachurch organizations.
Ralph D. Winter of the
US Center for World Mission
The Venture Center was a collaborative Christian mission base located on a 15-acre campus in Pasadena, California. It has moved to a virtual "hub" approach, and sold the campus in 2019. The Venture Center sought to connect other like-minded organiz ...
has argued that modes of modality and sodality are both necessary and will be most effective if they are supportive of one another.
References
R. D. Winter: The Two Structures of God's Redemptive Mission
Types of Christian organization
Ecclesiology
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