Because Christ’s death is cosmic, having to do with the whole of creation, the battle in which the church is now engaged in the period between Pentecost and the second coming must be one that recalls Christ’s victory over sin through the resurrection and anticipates the consummation of his victory over evil in his return. This means that although evil permeates every area of life, the hope of the church is the reign of Christ in all of life. And the task of the church is to realize that reign in the life of the church. . . . Our goal is to focus on the church as a community of light, an alternative to a relativistic society.
-Robert Webber, Ancient-Future Faith: Rethinking Evangelicalism for a Postmodern World (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1999), 167.