Equipping also must be done in discovering and developing spiritual gifts, and helping believers to use them for the growth of the church. The local church needs to be equipped to be an agent of transformation, to be a witness of Jesus Christ in love and righteousness. It needs to be sensitive to the spiritual and social issues in its context. With the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the church needs to permeate the society to arrest the decay, to make it better and to guide it in the right way. Church history is full of godly men and women who stood against evils in their society and were the instruments of God in changing it by his transforming power and love.
Persecution is inevitable in Christian life.
A servant is not greater than His master. In the coming century, the church may face more and more persecution. Therefore, the local church must be equipped for persecution. We must gird ourselves with the unflinching determination to maintain unity in the body of Christ. Before he went to the cross, knowing the immensity of the task that was ahead of his people and the need to be united in him in fulfilling that task, Jesus prayed for unity among the believers so that the world may believe that he was sent by his heavenly Father.