Christ does not build the church directly with His own hand. Rather, He builds the church indirectly through the members of His Body (Eph. 4:11-12, 16). Ephesians 4 tells us that Christ as the ascended Head gave gifts to men for the building up of His Body (vv. 8, 11). Verses 11-12 say, "And He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ." But even these gifted persons do not build up the church directly. Christ does not build the church directly, nor do the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers. The gifted persons perfect the saints unto the work of the ministry, that is, the work of building up the Body of Christ.
In building the meeting hall in Anaheim, the one who initiated the building did not do much actual building. Much of the direct building was done by eighty young brothers. The initiator gave the instructions and motivated the building work, but the eighty brothers actually did the work. In the same way, it is not God, the Initiator, who builds the church directly; neither is it Christ, the anointed One, nor even the gifted persons given by Christ to the Body. The gifted persons perfect the saints as members of the Body to do the direct building work. Still, it is God in His Trinity who moves in these perfected members in their carrying out of the work of building. Thus, all the credit should still go to God.
The believers of Christ grow up in all things into Him, the Head, and out from Him all the Body grows unto the building up of itself (Eph. 4:15-16). Christ gave the gifted persons to the church for the perfecting of the saints unto the building work. But there is something more intrinsic than this: all the believers as members of the Body need to grow up. When we were building the meeting hall in Anaheim, the little children were not allowed to help because it was too dangerous. They needed to grow so that they would have the strength to do the work. Likewise, in order to do the work of building up the church, we must grow. All the members of the Body must grow into Christ the Head in all things.
Then, out from the Head all the Body grows unto the building up of itself. After growing into the Head, we remain in Him to receive the bountiful supply from Him. Then we, the small members of the Body, build the church with the bountiful supply that we have received from the Head. Ephesians 4:16 says, "Out from whom all the Body...causes the growth of the Body." In the building up of the Body, growth is a crucial matter. First, we grow into Christ, the Head; then out from Him we receive the nourishment, the supply, to grow unto the building up of the Body of Christ.
All the small members are the direct builders of the church, yet they build the church with the very Christ who is the bountiful supply in them. Thus, the building is not only by Christ but also with Christ. The church is built by us with Christ as the building material. This is very intrinsic.