Andrew, to clarify my point above about the gospel (rather than the church) as subject, I would add the following: the gospel is not ‘owned’ by the church.  It is neither the product nor the property of the church.  Rather, the church is the product of the gospel.  As such, the gospel is something beyond the church, as the Word of God, and cannot be domesticated by it.  The gospel and the church are not synonymous, nor necessarily in parallel.  The gospel stands both for the church in the world, AND against the world in the church.  In standing for the church, it is the wisdom and power of God for salvation through the forgiveness of sins and the realization of (eschatological) life by faith.  In standing against the church (in its worldliness), it stands as the judgment of God against us, calling us afresh to repentance and self-denial - a mortification of the flesh.