If you want to find the church you don’t look for Christians. You look for the pure gospel of Christ. God only knows who the Christians are. But we can and must know what the gospel is. So we don’t look for the biggest group, the most prestigious group, the holiest group, or the most spiritual group of people. We seek out the pure gospel of Christ. We follow the example of that poor woman from Canaan whose daughter was severely demon-possessed. She knew more about the church than most theologians do. If our Lord Jesus said, “Oh woman, great is your faith,” it would do us well to pay attention to how she exercised her faith.

Pastor Rolf Preus, “God May Try You; He Won’t Deny You,” The Second Sunday in Lent, March 1, 2015, Matthew 15:21-38, Trinity Lutheran Church, Sidney, Montana, and St. John Lutheran Church, Fairview, Montana, p. 2.