Alan Billings encourages clergy and laity to take seriously those occasions when ministry is sought – such as baptisms, weddings and funerals, and to ponder what it is people are looking for. Offering some clues based on small-scale research done in his own community, he argues for a recovery of the idea of the parish church as a sacred building, a focus of meaning and service for all within its boundaries.

As the twenty-first century begins, the pressure is on for the (mainstream) Church to abandon its traditional role and building, but Alan Billings insists that we must resist this and rediscover the importance of the local church and the ministry it offers to all who surround it.