Mag. Claudia R. Wintoch
Fivefold Ministry
Tom Trout
World Revival School of Ministry
Content
1. Introduction
2. Apostles Govern
3. Prophets Guide
4. Evangelists Gather
5. Pastors Guard
6. Teachers Ground
7. Conclusion
8. References
1.
Introduction
It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Eph 4:11-13)
In the letter to the Ephesians the
apostle Paul describes the kind of leaders God has provided for His church for
it to attain maturity and Christ-likeness, becoming the spotless Bride of
Jesus. In this passage Paul lists five offices that are referred to as the
five-fold ministry: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers. Many
Christian leaders have taken this verse out of context and elevated these five
roles above their rightful place. They emphasize the importance of these
offices in a local church – which is certainly true – but often serve their own
interests, need for power and recognition, denying others – the “laity” – any
kind of involvement in church government. Others discard the verse altogether,
claiming that Paul is speaking in the apostolic age which has long passed, so
that his words are not relevant to us at all any more.
It is therefore of uttermost
importance to get a biblical understanding of the five-fold ministry, so that
our churches will be healthy and functioning according to the will and plan of
God. But while we will focus on these five, we must not forget that Paul is not
giving us an exhaustive list. In 1.Corinthians 12:28, he is saying, in the church God has appointed first of all
apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those
having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of
administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. Only
three of the five in Ephesians are repeated here again, while Paul adds other
kind of people and functions. Surely would we not equate an apostle with an
administrator, yet both are in the same list, and there is no reason to assume
a hierarchy, or that one function has more value than another. On the contrary,
those who speak the Word of God, who preach and teach, which is all part of the
five-fold ministry, are held to higher accountability, and their goal is not to
serve themselves, but the flock of God, so that they would attain all the
fullness in Christ (see Eph 4:12-13). With the visibility comes the
responsibility, and with the responsibility the higher accountability. God has
set His leaders in place for His church to function, and those truly called
into these places will have been tested and proven, having gone through the
fire of preparation, and they display true humility and Christ-likeness, not
desiring a position, but wanting to serve their King any way He wants them to.
While there are many different ideas
in the body of Christ today about each one of these five offices or functions,
the remainder of this paper seeks to present a biblical viewpoint of each one
of them.
2. Apostles Govern
“When it comes to a study of the five-fold ministry in the New Testament, prophets are mentioned a few times, the evangelist is specifically mentioned a couple of times, pastors and teachers are referred to occasionally, but apostles are mentioned often.”
(Scheidler 2001:97)
And yet, apostleship is the most
misunderstood of all of them. How can that be? Over the centuries, the term
“apostle” disappeared from word usage, until a recent new awakening of interest
over the past two decades. That does not mean that apostles did not exist –
they were often called “missionaries” or “pastors” – yet the dispensational
belief that the Holy Spirit had stopped moving with the end of the apostolic
age, also meant that all apostles had to have disappeared. Today, many are
trying to get a biblical understanding of what an apostle is supposed to look
like in our day, in the course of their pursuit to restore the church to the
normative of the first century. Unfortunately the result has often been an
unhealthy elevation of the office of an “apostle” which is feeding into
people’s need for power and recognition, and an abuse that seems to justify
dispensational concerns of apostleship being unscriptural today. However, their
theological concern results from a lack of distinction between the first twelve
apostles and the office of an apostle. They overlook the many other apostles
listed in the book of Acts as well as the Epistles. And those in favor of
apostleship yet abusing it seem to have overlooked that Paul calls himself a
servant and a father, and that he paid a price none of them would be willing to
pay:
Are they servants of
Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much
harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been
exposed to death again and again. 24Five times I received from the
Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25Three times I was beaten with
rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a
day in the open sea, 26I have been constantly on the move. I have
been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own
countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the
country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. 27I
have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger
and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. (2.Cor 11:23-28)
Jim Goll (2001:290) defines an
apostle as “one called and sent by Christ to have the spiritual authority,
character, gifts and abilities to reach and establish people in Kingdom truth
and order, especially through founding and overseeing local churches.” An
apostle has “a burden to build something that didn’t exist before” (Kim Terrell
2002:17). They lay the foundation of new local churches and see to it that they
come into full maturity. That is the church that person will be the apostle to
– which means he/she will not have any authority as an apostle in other
churches, which is what many today claim. Paul himself wrote to the
Corinthians, Even though I may not be an
apostle to others, surely I am to you! For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord (1.Corinthians
9:2).
Apostles have a burden to ground
their church in solid biblical teaching, an example of which we can see in Acts
11, when Paul and Barnabas spent two years at Antioch, teaching and equipping
them. Apostles have the desire to train and raise up church leaders who will
come into full maturity in the church, to release them, and then move on to
plant another church. Making themselves “redundant” is their greatest reward,
as they father their spiritual children into adulthood.
Let us remove the mysticism from the
term “apostle”, seeing it for what it really is. Dick Iverson (Scheidler
2001:205) states in an interview, “But no, you don't find “Apostle” written in
large letters on my door. I would rather say that I do apostolic work. It isn’t
just a title, it’s work, W-O-R-K.”
3.
Prophets Guide
4.
Evangelists Gather
5.
Pastors Guard
6.
Teachers Ground
7.
Conclusion
8. References
Conner,
Kevin J., The Church in the New Testament, City
Bible Publishing: Portland, OR 1982
Goll,
Jim, The Coming Prophetic Revolution, Chosen
Books: Grand Rapids, MI 2001
Scheidler,
Bill, with Dick Iverson, Apostles. The Fathering Servant, City
Bible Publishing: Portland, OR 2001
Terrell,
Kim, The Call of a Prophet, Class
at the Forerunner School of Prayer in Kansas City, Fall Trimester 2002