Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:1 (NKJV), “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus.” Notice who Paul considered to be the foundation of the church… the “saints” who were “faithful in Christ Jesus.”
Certainly, the people in Ephesus didn’t start that way, but by God’s grace they were transformed and became the right kind of foundation for Christ’s church. As church leaders, we cannot forgot the power of the gospel and the transformational effects of discipleship. In other words, don’t trade quality for quantity; believe God for both with quality being the first priority.
Furthermore, Paul reminds the people in Ephesus that the foundation of the church is first the five-fold ministerial leaders, for the purpose of building the church from infants into the perfect image of Christ:
Ephesians 4:11-14 (NIV) “11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature [perfect], attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.”
Firm foundations matter, just talk to any construction worker; and the same is true in the church.
