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What makes a church the church? This question has been well
answered in the Lutheran tradition. However, as the living em-
bodiment of Christ‘s promised Word and grace, we must cons-
tantly reflect on what the church‘s existence means and how it
relates to the contemporary world. We investigate this subject
by comparing the ecclesiologies of Helmut Thielicke and Paul
Tillich. Their theologies have their roots in the Lutheran her -
itage, but they built their ecclesiologies respectively upon the
Christocentric and Pneumatological approaches. Throughout
the study, we affirm that a comprehensive understanding of
“what is the church?“ should have an inclusion of its spiritu -
al, essential, invisible essence and its social, existential, visible
embodiment. Starting from this ontological basis, we discuss
several ecclesiological issues, including the ecclesia-social rela-
tionship and participation, the church‘s role as a salvation me-
diation, and a good ecclesiological approach to the ecumenical
movement. As well as this, in the light of the traditional notions
of the church‘s four marks, the difference between Thielicke‘s
and Tillich‘s approach is highlighted; and from which we con-
sider whether an ecclesiology with the characteristics that uni-
versality overwhelms distinctiveness is advisable