Thanks to Scott for this great quote from a great man!
“…These missionary experiments have until recently left untouched the position of the local congregation as the definitive form of the church, the place where the word is preached, the sacraments dispensed, and Godly discipline administered. These other activities have been seen as rather unecclesiastical or at best para-ecclesiastical activities which were the outworks of the church rather than its main structure, the scouting parties rather than the main column.
…We must ask, ‘is the church only truly the church when it is in camp, and not when it is on the march? Is mission not as truly churchly as congregation? Are these goings forth, these self-emptyings, these fallings into the ground, not as truly of the life of the church as the settled local congregation? Should these not also have at their heart the ministry, the word and the sacraments as truly and fully as the other? When we use the word ecclesiastical only for the settled and not for the experimental, only for the congregational and not for the apostolic, are we faithful to the bible? Or are we putting the traditions of men in place of the word of God?”