Our Lord has created one church. This church is found where the Word of God is proclaimed and the Sacraments are rightly administered. It is through these means that the Holy Ghost builds this church. We have assurance that the Word will not return void but that it will accomplish that which God pleases. This is known as the Office of the Keys.
Believers have the authority to exercise the keys individually and collectively.
This normally is done through the external forms of the local congregation, synod and denomination. Although it is God's will that Christians gather for public worship, these external forms, as such, however, are not divinely instituted. The kingdom of God cometh not with observation. If they can show me that a single letter of Scripture speaks of it, I will recant my words. The local congregation is the primary grouping because this is where Christians live and where they can readily and practically carry out the commands of God on a regular basis.