How can we reconcile the ideal church described by theology with the broken church that we see in the world? In this book Joseph Small argues that the church's true identity is known somewhere in the tension between the two. Small revisits familiar ecclesiological concepts--people of God, the body of Christ, the communion of the Holy Spirit--but rather than focusing on theological abstractions or worldly cynicism, he carefully evaluates the church in its scriptural, historical, theological, and social contexts. Both sociologically honest and theologically discerning, offers a constructive Reformed yet ecumenical ecclesiology for the real world.