The church today has a serious need and a heartfelt cry. She needs to recover an urgent, compelling, life-consuming vision of her mission to the world. Her cry is for intimate unity and fellowship with one another in the midst of a fragmented world. Both the need and the cry dovetail in Philippians 1. One is inseparably involved in the other. Where there is failure in mission, there is deficiency in fellowship, and vice versa. What Paul says about "fellowship" in Philippians brings them together into a complete Christian experience.

Paul's themes in his epistles can often be stated in single words or phrases: Romans is the righteousness of God; Ephesians is union with Christ; Colossians is completeness in Christ; and Philippians is fellowship and joy in the gospel.