According to reformed conviction, the church-organized-with-special-offices is looked upon as a specific and separate sphere of life. Perhaps we can best describe the church as a community of believers instituted by Christ and by Him endowed with offices for the administration of Word and sacraments. She does not find her place at the top of a hierarchically organized “natural” life but in the midst of other life-spheres such as family, school, state and industry. The church may not govern the latter but serve them through the proclamation of the full Word of God. This Word teaches that the bearers of special offices as well as individuals Christians have their own task in life according to the general office of believers.
However, in view of the fact that the church is entrusted with the administration of Word and and sacraments, ... she does not occupy a unique position. Although this position is not at the “top” of human life in the Roman Catholic sense, the church may not be placed on a par with the other socalled “natural” spheres which are rooted in the crration-order. In Christian life the Church occupies a central, as a matter of fact, the central place for which no community can act as a substitute. Without the church Christian life on earth cannot be understood since there the communion of saints is experienced in the most central manner.
Jan Dengerink
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