Church Is The Mission. It's Not Irrelevant

The more I deepen my faith, the more I realize that 'the church' is the mission field.  To give up on it, to abandon it, would be like a soldier abandoning their post; like a mom abandoning her child, like a spouse abandoning her marriage; like an artist abandoning their canvas; like the Colorado River abandoning the Grand Canyon.  The church exists so that we can do our work glorifying God and we exist to be a church that glorifies God.  The things that arise from that work...that are forged from that work, are beautiful and messy, pristine, and complicated, perfect and chaotic: on both the worker as well as the subject, the two of which are indistinguishable at times.