Quotes from Tim Conder

The church is thus the genuine (though imperfect and incomplete) presence in human history of a people who in their communion together are being narrated into the life of the living God. A divine institution, it is also a fully human, social reality tangibly present in the local congregation and united universally in its origin and end.

By accepting its marginal status, the church can actually engage in a freer kind of service as a result of not having to be in control. Describing the power of powerlessness, he states, "Powerless churches need not wrangle over the relationship between evangelism and social action (this was always essentially about power), but can develop fresh perspectives on seemingly intractable social issues, because things look different from the margins.