More from the Preface to my book on the kingdom of God:
In the book of Revelation, Jesus comes and pats the churches on the back and says well done then adds, "Look, there are some real problems that need to be addressed." You and I have no status to bestow praise on the church, but if the ship is sinking, and if the churches need reforming, then we might be able to help by saying, "Look, this is where it's going really badly wrong and this is what might be done about it." In all of this, let's not forget that the kingdom of God is not equivalent to any of our denominations. A denomination may crumble and fall, but the church will last forever.