Abstract
The paper is responsive to the current debate about future models of the church and their potential for reform. It first attempts to demonstrate, through a couple of historical probes, what role models of the church play in shaping spiritual life, from what impulses they emerge, and how they work with reform ideas.
Two examples are presented in the next sequence to suggest possible functional models of the church that have been developed under contemporary secularization pressures. The paper concludes with selected questions that the church may ask in the context of a discussion of future models, pointing out the limits of the presented models and the possible outcomes of such a dialogue.