And that is vital. It tells us what the Church fundamentally is. The church fundamentally is men and women who confess Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. Institutions, denominations, clergy and buildings are necessary. But as old Bishop Ryle used to say, they are like scaffolding to the true building of the Church.
Scaffolding is necessary in a building.
And some of it can be good. But some of it is like that scaffolding on buildings opposite Newcastle Cathedral just taken down but that over the years has been so obstructive to traffic trying to get to the station. The structures and institutions of the visible churches are like that. Some of them are quite good. Never mistake the scaffolding for the building of the true church.