The church influenced society by instituting the equality of brotherhood (in contrast to differences in rank and station) both by abolishing all artificial demarcations between men and by joining rich and poor in one holy food at the Lord's Supper. The communion service is a symbol of the unity that binds us together not only in our common humanity but, more important, as those who have collapsed under the same guilt and have been saved by the same sacrifice in Christ.
– Abraham Kuyper, The Problem of Poverty (ed. James W. Skillen), 41.

What Skillen adds as an endnote to Kuyper's words is also noteworthy. He notes that the church must engage in a mission that is all-encompassing. For "the church was organized not only to seek the eternal welfare of its followers, but also to remove social injustices. Exactly because of its divine simplicity, this organization brought forth a double fruit. It follows that the church forsakes its principle when it is only concerned with heaven and does not relieve earthly need" (87).