What does the local church have to do with the individual believer’s spiritual growth?

Spiritual growth cannot happen apart from the local church. God has so designed His system that we either do it His way or we do not do it at all, and His way is centered on the Church—apart from involvement in a local church and the exercise of our spiritual gifts, we cannot reach maturity. There the gifted teachers God has given equip the saints for the work of service, setting believers in order according to their need so each one finds and functions in his spiritual gift. As all the gifts function, the believers edify and strengthen one another, and the whole body is built up so it can do what the Church is meant to do—evangelize and tell the world about Jesus Christ.