The book begins by defining the core tasks (or mission) of the Church in biblical and theological terms, and then asks how these tasks can best be carried out in the conditions of modernity and post-modernity.

Paul Avis describes and evaluates contemporary expressions of spirituality, drawing on many empirical studies, the functions of the Church's 'occasional offices' or rites of passage; the ways in which the Church and its ministers can engage constructively with the community and with civil society, the pastoral method in mission and its practical, policy consequences. Throughout the book Avis urges the imperative for the Church and its ministers to break out from the privatization of Christian values into full participation in contemporary social issues and public life.