Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers
These are the gifts that Jesus himself gave to the Church and are often referred to as ‘the five-fold ministry’.
Ephesians 4:7-8 (NLT)
7 However, he has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ. 8 That is why the Scriptures say,
“When he ascended to the heights,
he led a crowd of captives
and gave gifts to his people.”[Psalm 68:18]
Ephesians 4:11-13 (NLT)
11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
The function of the ‘Five-fold Ministry’ is to equip the body of Christ to do his work and to build it up and lead it into maturity in Christ Jesus. This is done in an attitude of servanthood – serving the body in God’s love, grace and mercy, in the power of the Holy Spirit - just as the ministry of Jesus is.
When we look at verse 13 above, we see that the function of the five-fold ministry is not to stop until we reach full maturity and unity as a body which, in all likelihood, will only be when our Lord returns, and we are clothed in our imperishable bodies!
The gifts of Christ in the ‘Five-fold Ministry’ are not just gifts alone but are also positions or offices within the local church – these five gifts are people! We find that these gifts also come, sort of naturally, with the gift of Leadership!
When expressed correctly, spiritual gifts will always point to Jesus and give him glory. There are four passages in the Bible which touch on spiritual gifts: Romans 12:4–8, 1 Corinthians 12:4–31, 1 Peter 4:10–11 (in these verses Peter is just exhorting the Church to use the gifts), and Ephesians 4:11.
One of the most common questions regarding this topic is, “What is the difference between the gifts described in Ephesians 4 and those found in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12?”
In Ephesians 4 there are two key factors that are unique to them that the Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 gifts do not have.
1. The source is Jesus (Eph 4:11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,), whereas the gifts in Romans 12 come from the Father (Rom 12: 3-8 by God’s grace and the faith He has given us), and the gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 come from the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12:4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them).
It is fascinating how this highlights the Father, Son and Spirit (the Holy Trinity) working together in perfect harmony and unity to generate and distribute all these gifts! And it is these gifts operating and functioning in the Church in the power of the Holy Spirit that will ensure that the body of Christ work together in perfect harmony and unity of the Spirit to reach full maturity and be conformed more and more to Christ’s image!
2. The second factor is that the Ephesians gifts are nouns and are thus actual people who hold this office in the local Church congregation because they carry that particular anointing from Jesus, rather than showing an activity or manifestation through any member of the congregation as are the other gifts.
For example, an evangelist or a pastor is a person who holds that office in the local body; in contrast, a person showing the gift of mercy as an activity or someone sharing a word of wisdom are manifestations of the gift through a person speaking under the power of the Holy Spirit or a person prophesying under the power of the Holy Spirit for a certain time or event for encouraging an individual or a group of people.
Moreover, the Ephesians gifts result in a singular and unified effect with the other gifts of the five-fold ministry (rather than showing diverse effects as the other gifts do): specifically, equipping and building the saints to perform the works of service in the ministry, which builds up the body of Christ towards the goal of unity, and displaying the full measure of Christ Jesus in the Church both as individual believers and as a corporate body.
The gifts Paul describes in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 are all transitive verbs and are thus doing words – they require an action to be done to or for someone, for example giving a word of knowledge to someone; showing mercy to someone or giving an act of service to someone. They are the gifts that the children of God use under the power of the Holy Spirit for a specific event and/or time. These gifts can also be used by the person holding an office in the five-fold ministry.
The importance of the fivefold ministry in the local congregation
The Church, including every local body, needs every part of the five-fold ministry that Jesus has given to us. One or two are not enough; we need all of the five-fold ministries working together in unity to build up a vibrant and Spirit-filled body!
Sadly, in recent times, the five-fold ministry has not been operating to its fullness in many local Churches, one or more of them are missing. But as God restores these ministries to the Church, as He is about to do, we must correctly respond to them.
God’s purposes will not be fulfilled outside of His divinely appointed leadership. When the Church embraces the fullness of the ‘Five-fold’ ministry, then the more the Church in every local congregation will flow in God’s gifts under the power of the Holy Spirit and the more we live life in the Spirit, so the more we will become like rivers of living water – more like Jesus, glorifying His name and bringing life to the local community in general!
A local congregation that is not built on and governed by the five-fold ministry will be unable to function to its true potential in the power of the Holy Spirit. It will be like a bicycle wheel that is missing a number of spokes – it will wobble and misfire and will only be able to progress so far and then buckle or just stagnate, injuring many people in its wobbly path!
To Jesus belongs all glory, honour and praise!
Jesus, the Name above all names!
Prayer:
Heavenly Father
I pray in Jesus name that you would restore the five-fold ministry to your Church, to each and every local congregation across the world so that the Church can be empowered by your Holy Spirit to be the Church that you intended it to be. Amen.
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