Five can do More!
Ephesians 4:11 says the following:
"11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: 14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ"
The Lord spoke to me today and said, “Will we continue to be fearful, or will we obey Him by allowing Him to have full control?” Today, many are trying to “do” church with a partial equipping. When Jesus Christ left this earth, He not only sent the Holy Ghost, but He gave helpers for His body so that they would reach their full potential. We know these helpers as the five-fold ministry gifts. Most local bodies freely receive the evangelist, pastor, and teacher, but many are fearful and unbelieving of the prophet and extremely intimated by the apostle. We have some in the local body who, because of the lack of truth, have taken the title of prophet/prophetess and apostle without the manifestation of the fruit of this calling. Scripture bears record of what these vessels will do and of their God ordained purpose (which we will look at later).
What we must do is decide if we are willing to obey God fully! What is the point of taking on the task to build something but only receiving half of the required equipment? This is what we do when we only embrace and utilize the three main gifts. The body of Christ was designed to need the fullness of each gift to become what we read in Eph. 4:11-15. The local church bodies try to be successful with only a partial implementation of the five gifts. Some have included the prophet, evangelist, and teacher, but many have excluded the apostle while depending upon the pastor. I am not slighting the necessity of any ministry gift, especially pastors, and I never will. But if we will reach the completeness, wholeness, and unity in faith, we must build God peoples His way.
What is so important about the other gifts? In 1 Corinthians 12:28, we are shown that as our military has ranking, so does God’s. It confirms the order or rank in the body, which includes the local church: "And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues."
Why did God establish this order? Again, because every army has order and rank of authority. Now, this is not so that others may lord over one another but because lack of Godly order permits and produces chaos.
When looking at the order of the five-fold ministry, we first must understand its rank and importance within the body of Christ. The apostle secures the foundation. Ephesians 2:20 tells us that the apostle and prophet are foundation builders; they correct incorrect doctrine.
Apostles are builders of people (some plant churches, but all do not). They are gifted to work with the other five-fold gifts to ensure maturity to the body. They are equipped with a high level of discernment and use this ability to free captives, which causes growth. They are teachers of sound doctrine, reinforcing that those who have been freed will learn Christ as the word of God instructs. They can be noted by the miracles which follow their calling, the level of the anointing upon their lives, and their ability to discern the use of scripture correctly. Also note that apostles are not appointed by men but are called by God from the womb.
Prophets, as stated before, are also a foundational gift to the body locally and as a whole. They are sent to give direction, protection, and to bring correction. When we see the biblical model, we see that God uses the prophet to guide His people to Him. They also protect the people from demonic destruction; the prophet Elijah shows us this when he is used of the Lord to defeat Baal and his prophets. This mighty defeat was used to bring a nation of people back to their true God.
Through the life of Elijah and other prophets, we can see how God also used them to bring correction to a person, a people, or a system in operation. Nathan is another prophet God used to bring correction. He was used to show King David the error of his ways when he sinned with Bathsheba. Deborah was a prophetess; God used her to judge a nation of people daily and call forth the leader who would take them into war and bring them into victory and deliverance from oppression. We could go on and on about the office of the prophet/prophetess.
The evangelist has been supernaturally gifted to win souls. They are the “Billy Grahams” given to every local body and to the church body as a whole. Many of them are stifled by politics and favoritism, so their blessing to the local body is never realized.
Pastors (speaking of the office) are the nurturing more tender-hearted gift which balances the sharpness and directness of many apostles and prophets. They teach and remind us of what has been established in the word. Many have been burnt out and have left this world before time because of their deep care for the people and lack of balance in their lives. They can lack spiritual discernment to recognize the wolves, witches and higher-ranking demons because their focus is on preaching the word and caring for the Lords flock. From this we can understand why many are non-confrontational. They are not protectors of the sheep but are nurturers, which makes them and the sheep vulnerable to becoming easy prey. Their gift is as needed and as important today as any other gift, but again we must operate in the order God has given us by His word.
If these five-fold gifts would work together in the local body, this united effort would bring such blessings of maturity, wholeness, and deliverance in which we cannot conceive. Spinning the preverbal ministry wheels can be avoided if we will yield to the plan and word of the Lord. He has set His order for success, and He has His plan in place, why not follow His lead into building a victorious empowered church that the gates of hell cannot prevail against.
Some Signs a five-fold ministry gift is in your midst (with emphasis on the gift of the apostle and prophet):
God does not send a five-fold vessel to take away from what He's called a local body to do. He sends them to help build, reinforce, and stay focused to the target.
He (God) doesn't send them to promote themselves. They are workers, builders, and planters who promote the Kingdom of God and reinforce His agenda.
God doesn't send them to break up a ministry. He sends them to unify His body and to call us into the oneness found in His Spirit through Christ.
They will not force themselves upon any local body but will prayerfully try to connect to bring help by use the abilities God has placed in them to help develop His people.