conlegium ecclesium regnum

It is like unto a fellowship of several men and women who dwelt together in a single house. The house, over time, had gone neglected by its landlord, and the roof had become all but gone. It allowed the hot sun to pour in at mid-day and in the evening, the rains were barely impeded from soaking all inside. As the roof had begun to leak, each of the men inside had begun to build himself a smaller sub-house to protect himself from the heat and the rain. Over time, the smaller, interior houses had become their sole shelters, and others who had moved into the larger house, had begun to shelter themselves in the smaller houses. The larger, original house, soon did nothing more than mark the boundaries of the dwelling.
Because all inside were protected by the shelters of their own construction, the landlord didn’t even notice his house was in disrepair. Many of those who had sought shelter in the smaller interior houses, and thus were kept dry and safe, found it amazing that in spite of the decrepit larger house, it still protected them. It was as if they didn’t even notice what was actually keeping them dry. And thus the community of dwellers continued in a somewhat prosperous manner thanks to the interior shelters.
One day, the landlord decided to take inventory of his investments and came by for a visit. He was pleased that all the tenants were dry and healthy, but he was appalled at all the clutter that had been caused by the construction of all the smaller houses within the larger house. One by one, he had them razed until all that was left was the larger, leaky, unsafe house. Then the rains came.