¶ … church as an institution vs. As a community?
An institution is a place with set, formal rules of operation. It has a history and a tradition, and often certain requirements or barriers to entry. Communities, in contrast, are voluntary associations with members who can easily enter and leave the fold. A community is spontaneously, randomly created, like an online community of people with an interest in a particular sport or television show, or a neighborhood community of people who have haphazardly been thrown together, because they own houses in the area and want to get to know one another better and help each other.
To be part of an institution means to accept certain rules. The only requirement for membership in an online community is having an Internet account and having a similar interest. Being part of a real-world community often means simply being part of a particular location. A church community is based on voluntary attendance and like-mindedness. It is entirely volitional. People can have different ideas, but as long as they feel comfortable with other church-goers, they can attend. According to the institutional authority of the Catholic Church, individuals must accept certain principles, go through certain orientation and membership procedures (such as confirmation and confession), and submit to certain authorities, such as priests, bishops, and the Pope.
Give a meaning of sacrament as it applies to church.
Sacraments in the context of a worship community are often defined as the invisible made visible, or how the divine makes itself physically manifest on earth. The most obvious symbol of this is transubstantiation in the Catholic Mass, where God is made present in the form of the host, through the ritual process evident during the ceremony. In other Christian traditions, such as Quakerism, the spirit may be spontaneously present during a communal and nonhierarchical worship ceremony, when it moves ordinary believers to speak. The church during the context of any worship ceremony is supposed to provide a unique space and time for the sacred to become present in the world, even if the tradition's specific concept of what is a sacrament which may vary and not be called a 'sacrament' in words.
