VIII. Transition Points in Spiritual Growth

The goal of every local church, that is true to the Word of God and that is true to the God of the Word, is actualization. A believer can never be said to be actualized until he is equipped for the work of the ministry through the actualization of the Tripartite of Power and begins to do the "work of the ministry"

1. Accurate doctrinal knowledge of the Word of God
2. Complete yieldedness to the indwelling Spirit of God
3. Overflowing filling of the Holy Spirit of God

Ephesians 4:12 clearly lays the responsibility upon the gifted men that Christ gives to local churches for preparing ALL believers within a local assembly to preach/teach/speak about the Lord Jesus Christ. These gifted men are responsible to teach believers how to present Christ's provision of salvation "by grace through faith." They are responsible to teach believers Christ's definitive expectations of those who profess to be "born again" of the Spirit of God. However, if the gifted men that Christ gives to local churches have done what they are commissioned to do, the responsibility for reaching the world with the Gospel and making disciples of every nation (every ethnicity or every language group) becomes the responsibility of the members of the "body of Christ." This understanding radically affects how everyone establishes his/her own missional vision regarding personal responsibility through the ministry of a local church and how that local church extends its ministries into "all the world." To teach requires learners, not "hearers only."