The Church's survival?

"Metochites presents his church to Christ"

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Here's the question: Does the Church exist for its own sake or for the sake of seeking and serving Christ in all people?*

The introverted church is one which puts its own survival before its mission, its own identity above its task, its internal concerns before its apostolate, its rituals before its ministry. Undue emphasis on the static structure of the Church has led to the disappearance of a significant lay ministry in denominational Protestantism.

-- Gibson Winter

*Please take a look at the baptismal covenant in the Book of Common Prayer 1979.