Lawrence Richards, in A New Face for the Church , gives three lines of evidence that clearly indicate this. The major deliberation of church leaders focuses on organisational problems - personnel and staffing problems, building problems, financial problems. Not that these are unimportant. They are just not the prime business of what the church is all about. Status in the church is ascribed on the basis of organisational performance.
Christians see themselves in terms of their role in the organisation.
Their identity comes from their relationship to the organisation, rather than from their relationship to Christ and his people. Obviously, when humans get together you have to have some organisation, but organisation must always be subservient to community, relationships and mission in the church. Only a cause that is obviously unselfish, outgoing, compassionate, flexible and travelling light in terms of structures, can be a credible source for the message that God is, God loves, God came and God forgives. We live in a community-starved world. The church can have no greater impact today than by modelling true community as God intended.