The Church is of God,
and will be preserved to the end of time,
for the conduct of worship
    and the due administration of God's Word and Sacraments,
the maintenance of Christian fellowship and discipline,
the edification of believers,
and the conversion of the world.
All, of every age and station,
    stand in need of the means of grace

    which it alone supplies.

(UMC Hymnal, 1993)