In many ways, the church today has more consumers than committed participants. We see church merely as an event we attend or an organization we belong to, rather than as a calling that shapes our entire life. Many of us would be relieved if God had placed our sanctification in the hands of trained 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 maturity in Christ. All of his children are called into ministry, and each of them needs the daily intervention this ministry provides. God uses people, who need change themselves, as instruments of change in others. Tripp explains how his work follows an "all of my people, all of the time" model. 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.
