At this extraordinary moment, local leaders — people who lead groups of 10 to 1,000 people — have perhaps the greatest opportunity to shape culture in the United States that they have ever had. This is a guide for those of us who are Christian leaders at this moment.

Shaping culture is a matter of changing “the horizons of possibility.” Culture tells us, in countless direct and indirect ways, what we are able to do, and what we are not able to do. And leaders play an outsize role in moving those horizons, especially at times of disruption and crisis. They play that role through both symbolic action — what they say, how they say it, even how they hold themselves and respond to others — and through decision-making on behalf of others.