And that same Christ gave these gifts to people; He made some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to go and tell the Good News, and some to care for and teach God’s people.  Christ gave these gifts to prepare God’s holy people for the work of serving, to make the body of Christ stronger.  This work must continue until we are all joined together in what we believe and in what we know about the Son of God. Our goal is to become like a full-grown man—to look just like Christ and have all his perfection.

Ephesians 4:11-13 (ERV)

The gospel calls us to be Christ and to show Christ to a world that does not know Him. It is through Christ that we are brought close to the Father. It is in Christ that we find out who we are and how we ought to live. It is from Christ that the Holy Spirit empowers us to experience the reality of being united in Him.

The Apostle Paul tells us the role of the five-fold ministry is to mature, equip, and strengthen us so that we can more closely resemble Christ and possess all of His perfection. In this sense, growing as a Christian involves more than just learning the Bible. It involves developing a closer relationship with God. This deep and intimate connection is what motivates us to love and obey with spontaneous obedience.

The beauty of being united in Christ empowers us to be united as a church.

The church community, as a result, is a gathering of sons and daughters with one heart and one soul rather than a collection of individual believers who live isolated lives with little to no community interaction (Acts 4:32). Our encounters with our community will transform our sorrows and hardships into joy and jubilations as long as we demonstrate our commitment to one another by sharing and caring.

We all have expectations for the church, and each person's expectations will be different. The truth is that no community can ever live up to all of these standards, and occasionally they may even let us down or disappoint us. What matters most is how each of us learns to grow together as a community, how to handle disagreement constructively, and how to forgive and extend grace as we have been shown grace.

A good healthy community doesn't just happen.

It involves all of us as we cooperate and walk in step with Christ's mind (1 Corinthians 2:16). We must all understand that because Christ has totally united us, there is no room for division, dissension or disunity (1 Corinthians 1:10). Since we are all a part of Christ's body, it requires all of us to speak and act in accordance with the truth in love