What does Ephesians 4:12 mean?

The overall mission for every Christian leader is "to equip the saints for the work of ministry." This involves the idea of training believers to serve God here on earth. Notice that this training is not focused purely on academics, but strongly emphasizes practice. Leaders are to train others in the church to serve others. In addition, ministry is "work." It involves expending energy and placing the needs of others first. Ministry is difficult to do from a distance, because personal involvement is required in order to have the greatest impact.

The reason church leaders are to train every believer to serve others is "for building up the body of Christ." In many modern churches, one pastor is expected to provide all or most of the ministry work for those in the congregation. When this takes place, others do not use their spiritual gifts. When the people do not serve, the congregation's growth stagnates. Instead of allowing this to happen, church leaders are called on to focus on training others to serve. In this way, every believer is growing in maturity and making disciples of others.