Why does the church exist? Even if we can give the theologically correct question, what does it look like practically? The church exists, not for itself, but for mission—to carry out the mission that Jesus Christ gave to it. That mission is to embrace a biblical commitment to planting healthy, reproducing churches.
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. — Philippians 2:5-8 (ESV)