More Than A Building: Building Resilient Disciples | Pastor Nate Keeler
When most people think of a “successful” church, they picture a packed parking lot, polished worship team, lively kids ministry, and a coffee bar that rivals Starbucks. And while these things might make Sunday mornings enjoyable, the Apostle Paul points us to something far more important: spiritual maturity.
In Ephesians 4, Paul peels back the layers of what the church is really called to do. Not just meet. Not just sing. Not even just serve. The church’s mission, Paul says, is to equip people to grow into Christlikeness—to look, live, and love more like Jesus.
If that’s not our aim, we’re missing the entire point.
Unity First: One Body, One Mission
Before diving into growth, Paul highlights the essential foundation: unity. In just six verses (Ephesians 4:1–6), he repeats the word “one” eight times. Why? Because we can’t grow if we’re not united.
Our culture celebrates individuality—and that’s not always bad. But spiritual maturity happens in community, not isolation. Just like your physical body can’t function if the parts don’t work together, the church cannot thrive if we’re divided.
Unity doesn’t mean uniformity. It means alignment in the essentials: one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one mission. When we’re united in Christ, we become the soil where deep roots of spiritual growth can take hold.
Who Does the Ministry? Not Who You Think.
There’s a common misconception that church leaders—pastors, teachers, ministry directors—are the ones responsible for “doing” the ministry. Paul blows that idea up.
In Ephesians 4:11–12, Paul writes that Christ gave these leadership gifts not to do all the work, but to equip every believer to do it. That means ministry isn’t a one-person show. It’s an all-hands-on-deck operation.
If you follow Jesus, you are called to serve, share, pray, and build others up. Your church staff is there to train and support you—but the calling belongs to all of us.
This truth flips church expectations. Sunday isn’t a performance by professionals. It’s preparation for your mission field—your home, your workplace, your neighborhood.
The Ultimate Goal: Maturity in Christ
So why all this equipping? Paul gives the answer in Ephesians 4:13:
“…until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”
Maturity is the goal. Not attendance, not programming, not aesthetics. We exist to become more like Jesus.
This is a shift in mindset. It’s not about looking spiritual. It’s about being transformed.
When you think about spiritual growth, it’s easy to think of Bible knowledge or moral behavior. But Paul’s picture of maturity is holistic: how we think, how we love, how we treat people, how we respond to suffering, how we pray. It’s about becoming fully formed in Christ—not just believing in Him, but living like Him.
Why Maturity Matters So Much
Paul doesn’t leave us guessing about the stakes. In verse 14, he warns what happens when we stop growing:
“Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves…”
Think of a toddler wandering into the ocean’s surf—naive, unprepared, and easily overwhelmed. That’s the image Paul uses to describe immature Christians.
Without growth, we become vulnerable:
- To false teaching.
- To spiritual manipulation.
- To cultural trends that distort truth.
- To emotional instability.
This isn’t just a theological concern—it’s deeply practical. Immaturity means we’re easily confused, easily discouraged, and easily divided. And churches full of immature believers will eventually implode or drift into irrelevance.
The Cure: Truth and Love in Community
So how do we grow? Paul says the secret is in the relationships we build.
“Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.” – Ephesians 4:15
Truth alone can be harsh. Love alone can be shallow. But truth spoken in love—that’s where transformation happens.
This is where discipleship begins: in trusted relationships where people are honest, gracious, and committed to helping each other grow. It’s not about perfection. It’s about being willing to wrestle with truth, confess weakness, and invite accountability.
You need spiritual lifeguards—people who will pull you back when you drift. You need spiritual siblings who will challenge and comfort you. And you need to be that for others too.
Church Growth Is More Like Human Growth
Paul compares the church to a human body—not a machine, not a product launch, not a device you plug in.
And that’s important. Because humans grow slowly. Messily. Relationally.
You don’t outgrow sin in one sermon. You don’t learn to love difficult people in one small group. You don’t become generous, humble, bold, and discerning in one weekend retreat.
It takes time. And it takes others. We grow by showing up for each other. Through the highs and lows. In joy and in grief. Through awkward conversations and hard questions.
No app can replace that. No strategy can shortcut it. This is how the body of Christ grows: together.
The Choice: Growth or Regression
There’s no standing still in the Christian life. Paul’s metaphor of infants being tossed in the waves reminds us: you’re either growing or drifting. There’s no neutral.
Spiritual maturity doesn’t just happen. You don’t age into it. You surrender into it. You choose to pursue it. And you choose to do that in community.
If you’ve been coasting spiritually, maybe it’s time to re-engage. Join a group. Find a mentor. Ask someone to pray with you. Open your Bible not just to read, but to listen.
And if you’ve been growing? Invite someone else into the journey. Pass on what you’ve learned. Because as Paul writes in verse 16, the body grows “as each part does its work.”
That includes you.
Final Thought
The real mission of the church isn’t better music, cooler programs, or bigger crowds.
The real mission is helping people become more like Jesus—day by day, decision by decision, in the messy middle of real life.
When that’s our goal, we’ll build something no trend can outgrow and no storm can shake.