The church is called to a process of perfecting, focusing on personal overcoming and growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. This involves becoming more submitted to God, refining character and attitudes, and improving relationships within marriages, with children, and among brethren. Through a much closer relationship with God, the church seeks to apply every possible moral, spiritual, and ethical aspect of the gospel of the Kingdom of God. The main thrust of the church should shift toward preparing a people for the events of the end time and for marriage with the Bridegroom, emphasizing the urgency of this responsibility as Christ's return draws near.

The church is a living spiritual organism, portrayed as Christ's body and as a building of living stones, called out by God and prepared for a purpose planned before the foundation of the world. Its main responsibility is preparing those called, not mass conversion. It is God's training school for developing godly character and qualifying the firstfruits to rule and teach under Christ in the Kingdom, and to become the Bride who bears spiritual children from that union. Israel failed under the Old Covenant because God never gave it His Spirit and because of unbelief, and the church now has the opportunity because of that failure. The parallel with Exodus 19 shows the point. Israel sanctified itself for three days and washed its clothes, while the church must be sanctified for a lifetime, washed by Christ, the greater Moses, until it is arrayed in clean, bright linen, the righteous acts of the saints (Revelation 19). Cleansing from carnality and reflecting God's image is the work of this period. Once the church is finished and ready, Christ returns, and the church takes up its office of reconciling Israel first and then the whole world to God. Christ's return is tied to this readiness.

God's children are truly His children now, and, as with physical children, growth is expected and essential. He has made going on to perfection (Hebrews 6:1) a basic doctrine of His church, and He knows that failure to grow can have tragic, even eternal, consequences. Physical and mental development, which people experience twice, as children and again as parents, pictures spiritual growth. Such growth is orderly, moving from milk to meat (Hebrews 5:12-14). It is planned, since God has called His children to an incredible potential, but each must choose whether to attain it. Remaining diseased by sin, resenting trials, and feeding on the world's philosophies and entertainments instead of God's Word will stunt growth. Growth is slow but undeniable, and it comes in spurts, so discouragement may temporarily arrest it until God intervenes. Looking back, it will seem rapid. Israel's gradual conquest of the Promised Land (Exodus 23:28-30) shows that God brings His people into their inheritance, the Kingdom of God, little by little, until with His help they have conquered Satan, the world, and human nature. The mustard seed and the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) reinforce that God expects growth from everyone. The potential is now too big for His children, but if they grow patiently, the Kingdom will in time fit them perfectly.