What God has ordained for his church is both wonderful and sobering. It is wonderful because he is a jealous and determined God. His work in his people will not fail, but will continue until it is completed. It is sobering because this work follows an “all of my people, all of the time” model. Many of us would be relieved if God had placed our sanctification in the hands of trained and paid professionals, but that simply is not the biblical model. God’s plan is that through the faithful ministry of every part, the whole body will grow to full maturity in Christ. The leaders of his church have been gifted, positioned, and appointed to train and mobilize the people of God for this “every person, everyday” ministry lifestyle. The paradigm is simple: when God calls you to himself, he also calls you to be a servant, an instrument in his redeeming hands. All of his children are called into ministry, and each of them needs the daily intervention this ministry provides. If you followed the Lord for a thousand years, you would still need the ministry of the body of Christ as much as you did the day you first believed. This need will remain until our sanctification is complete in Glory. That is what this book is about: how God uses people, who are themselves in need of change, as instruments of the same kind of change in others. 

This book’s goal is not just that people’s lives would be changed as they give help and receive it. The goal is to help change the church’s very culture. I am persuaded that the church today has many more consumers than committed participants. Sure, Joe and Sheila may volunteer for a specific activity like VBS or a diaconal project, but this frequently falls woefully short of the “everyone, all the time” model of the New Testament. Our tendency toward ecclesiastical consumerism has seriously weakened the church. For most of us, church is merely an event we attend or an organization we belong to. We do not see it as a calling that shapes our entire life. But consider this: we could never hire enough paid staff to meet the ministry needs of the average local church. The “passive body that pays the professionals” culture of the modern evangelical church must be forsaken for the ministry model God has so wisely ordained. To that end this book has been written. As always when I come to the end of a project like this, I am aware of how privileged I am. To be released for six months from normal ministry responsibilities to focus on writing is an amazing gift. My thanks goes out to John Bettler, the faculty and staff of the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation, and to all of God’s people who have sacrificially given to make this work possible. I must extend my thanks as well to Sue Lutz. Sue, your editing ability is outstanding. Thank you for being willing to turn my thoughts into words that make sense, and thank you for being willing to give me the “bad news” when you are convinced it will make the book better.