There is a rising awareness of the need for churches to be more world-aware and mission-focused. The absolute necessity of this cannot be questioned; the church is struggling to make an impact in the Western world. But greater outwardness will not necessarily solve the profound challenges before us.

Without a communal centre, a church will never aspire to a greater sense of mission.

And without a healthy community, the gospel cannot be demonstrated to a watching world. Our challenging reality is that churches are struggling to build effective, intimate community in a culture that is busy, broken, and fractured.