The most important contribution which the Church can make to a new social order is to be itself a new social order.

Lesslie Newbigin, Truth to Tell

The deepest root of the contemporary malaise of Western culture is an individualism which denies the fundamental reality of our human nature as given by God--namely that we grow into true humanity only in relationships of faithfulness and responsibly toward one another.  The local congregation is called to be, and by the grace of God often is, such a community of mutual responsibility.  

Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society