Abraham Kuyper on the chosen and precious foundation of our churches:
Your church is then a colony of heaven living on the earth. It has its own autonomous existence, resting on its own foundation; it is constructed in its own unique style; it is built of very different stone than those offered by the mines of the world; and in its state and organization it depends not on the laws of nature, nor on the legislation of earthly lawmakers, but only on the law of life of its divine founder.
—On the Church, p. 323, emphasis added; think also of 1 Peter 2:4-5