Here's the assumption -- the parish church is about the "means of grace" and the "hope of glory."
The phrases come, as you know, from the General Thanksgiving of the Daily Office.
We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for your immeasurable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory.
For most of the baptized, the week-by-week, day-by-day, fulfillment of the prayer takes place in relation to their parish church -- what is experienced in its worship and life and what through that Eucharistic life is revelaed about all of life.
Our hope is that what gets offered in these pages will be a help for all leaders seeking and struggling for more viable and vital parish churches.
Robert A. Gallagher & Michelle E. Heyne