Craig Van Gelder on the Church as Hermeneutic

From The Essence of the Church: A Community Created by the Spirit:

As the church lives “into” and “out of” the biblical story, its life is transformed by its power. The biblical story is contextualized in the life of the church. The church becomes, in fact, the hermeneutic of the gospel. That is, the world is able to understand the truthfulness of the gospel story by reading the story of the life of the church. (144)