But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.  So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 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. 

Ephesians 4:7, 11 – 13

This brings us to the heart of the issue – we believers have all been called by God, in Christ.  The calling is God’s doing, not ours.  God calls.  So that is clear, we who believe have been called, so we are equal with all believers in that regard.

But we are called for specific roles, so to speak.  Some are called to be apostles, others are prophets and evangelists, pastors and teachers.  We have the same calling, but our roles are different.  The different roles are determined by where we are in our cultures.

God supplies the gifts to enable his people to equip other believers for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 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. I see something in this that moves me, Paul speaks of unity in the faith and knowledge of Jesus.  Let’s read again, unity in faith.  Not unity in practice, etc.  Our unity is spiritual!  All are unified in Christ.

Mature believers embrace the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.  This is hard to believe and even harder to live, but there is no other way.  All believers share a spiritual unity, but they work differently in cultures.  Our congregation called Chestnut Hill in Lancaster shares a living, binding unity with all believers in the world, yet believers in different parts of the world reach out to all cultures.