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What You Should Know About Fivefold Ministry
Pastor Albert Kang
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.
Ephesians 4:11-13
You have heard about the fivefold ministry as found
in Ephesians 4:11-13, but have you seen it in operation? The chances are that
you would have seen twofold or threefold ministry in the church. In most
churches, the pastors are the ones who usually serve as Evangelists and
Teachers. On some rare occasions, they might even take on the prophetic role and
utter some prophecies. Once a year, they might lead mission teams to plant
churches in other countries and thus take the role of an Apostle.
We have to appreciate these pastors for being
versatile enough to do the fivefold ministry. However, in the biblical sense
this is not ideal. The Lord has never placed all the gifts in one person but
wants the fivefold ministry to be shared among the leaders of the church. The
church grows stronger when these ministers cooperate and serve the people,
building them to become matured in their faith. The end result will be an
effective congregation united in Agape love and at the same time doing the
“works of service” by reaching out to the community.
Mobilization of Laity
The mobilization of laity is absolutely vital for the
church to grow strong spiritually and also grow large numerically. The
“quantity” of the churchgoers goes hand in hand with the “quality” of
the church. (Though the opposite may not necessary be true). Seekers respond to
the Gospel when the church’s lay ministers are spiritually strong and well
trained enough to present it with the power of the Holy Spirit. The fivefold
ministry of Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers has to be
reintroduced in every church. The pastor has to observe, select and train lay
people who have such relevant gifts. After training, these gifted people should
be given clear guidelines, ministry descriptions, and the appropriate authority
to serve and build God’s people for other ministries. God has given us a
self-perpetuating programme it is up to us to obey Him and implement this in our
church.
Apostles
Govern
The early Disciples of Christ were known as Apostles.
They were the ones who were anointed by the Holy Spirit so that they could
establish the fledging Christian faith in different countries. Apart from the
twelve well-known Apostles recorded in the Gospel we have to take note of the
Apostles recorded in the other parts of the New Testament. The lack of clear
distinction between these two groups of Apostles has led to misunderstanding as
to what Apostleship is all about. We now know that there are people who are
called to the office of Apostleship and then there are many who have apostolic
gifts. Paul the Apostle challenged those who claimed to be Apostles but who were
not willing to pay the price of that esteemed office:
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. Five times I received from
the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three 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, I 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. I 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.Corinthians 11:23-28)
Today, there are Christian ministers who call
themselves “Apostles”. There is no doubt that some of these are true
Apostles but others have assumed this title as position of elevation. (Surf the
Internet and you will be able to observe quite a few of these so-called
Apostles). Few of them hold apostolic credentials like that of Paul and I
suspect that it is their insatiable appetite for recognition and power that has
resulted in this abuse.
When I was in China, I had the privilege of traveling
with an old Chinese pastor who had been imprisoned for his faith, by the
Communists, for 27 years. During the journey, I observed how humble and
Christ-like he was. Even at 75 years old, there was fire in his eyes whenever he
talked about the Lord and the future of the Chinese churches. He was poor but
was most willing to share the little money that he had with others. He had no
car or even a bicycle. He dressed simply and had little possession. For more
than ten years after his release from prison, he had been traveling around
Southern China to establish underground churches. After traveling with him to visit a couple of these churches
and watching him counseling, correcting and even reprimanding younger pastors, I
had no doubt that he was a true Apostle. In every church, he encouraged the
congregation to establish more cell groups and more churches. In one church, he
had to leave in the middle of a sermon because the police was after him. Even
though he had never announced himself as holding the apostolic position, the
people whom he served, recognized that.
Missionaries who pioneer and establish churches can
be considered to be the modern Apostles because the primary task of Apostleship
is planting churches. Even though I have planted more than 16 churches and a few
orphanages, I can only say that I am doing the apostolic work. The emphasis is
upon the word “work” rather than the word “apostolic”. It is a privilege
to be used by the Lord in this way and never shall it be used as a position of
elevation and honor.
Prophets
Guide
In the New Testament, Agabus was known as a prophet
even though his advice to Paul was inaccurate (Acts 21). The daughters of the
Evangelist Philip were also well-known prophetesses. The purpose of the
prophetic ministry is to guide the church. The prophets usually exercise
revelation gifts such as words of knowledge, words of wisdom and discerning of
the spirit in their prophecies. With the words of knowledge, they may foretell
the future in specific terms. With the words of wisdom, they provide wisdom in
difficult situations. Jesus displayed such gift of wisdom when He was faced with
the condemned adulteress (John 8:1-12) and also during the issue about to whom
should the people pay their taxes (Matthew 22:15-22). In having the gift of
discernment, the Prophets are able to discern whether certain people are
speaking on behalf of God’s Spirit, human spirits or evil spirits.
Prophets speak on behalf of God and reveal His will.
They are important in today’s church because all Christians need to know the
heart of God and learn how to work together for His glory. Most Christians may
have prophetic gifts but not all hold the office of a Prophet. Today, there has
been an increase in the number of so-called “Prophets” who abuse this
position of gifting. Many of them have assumed the mystical aura to impress naïve
Christians. Sadly, many Christians are still as superstitious as the pagans and
they are taking these “Prophets” to be their personal fortune-tellers. This
is a very dangerous trend because if prophecies were based on the
practitioners’ ability to guess and convince, then the people would not be
able to distinguish between the real and false prophets. In some of the surveys
done in USA, such prophets were only twenty per cent accurate. This was
tantamount to guessing as those who did not have the prophetic gifts also gained
similar scores. The shamans and mystics in Asia would have done better than
that. In the Old Testament, the prophets had to be 100 per cent accurate or else
they would be known as false prophets and be stoned to death.
Let me emphasize that we should not reject those who
are called to the prophetic office but neither should we accept every utterance
without using the biblical guidelines of evaluating and judging them. Let us be
cautious as we weigh every prophetic word with the Scripture.
Evangelists are Christians who have the specific gift
of challenging seekers to have faith in Jesus and also to bring spiritual
revival to lukewarm churches. They are the “sales” force of the church. It
will be good if the church can identify those who have this gift from among
their congregation and use them for the purpose of winning souls. As not all
pastors are Evangelists, it will be wise to spot some early.
For example, a pastor of a small church, who did not
have the gift of an Evangelist, was constantly frustrated for years when he
preached at his own annual evangelistic meetings and received little responses
for salvation. Then on one
occasion, he broke with his tradition and invited a gifted Evangelist to preach.
The result was astounding. There were more responses for salvation in one
meeting than all the meetings that the pastor had ever conducted. A Holy-Spirit
empowered gift is something to be reckoned with.
The Lord also blesses Evangelists with signs and
wonders so as to confirm the words that they preach. The purpose of the
Evangelists is to create new converts. After that, they hand these converts to
the church and let the pastor-teacher does the grounding work so as to make
these converts into Disciples. We should encourage those who have this
evangelistic gift to come forward to be used for the kingdom of God. This is
especially crucial for the future existence of the church because it is only
through new converts that new Disciples come forth.
Pastors
Guard
We are most familiar with the role of a pastor as
this is the most prominent office in the church. He is the under-shepherd of the
Chief Shepherd who is Jesus Christ. His gifting is in the area of caring and
nurturing the believers. He has overwhelming emotional stamina, patience and
also wisdom to resolve church problems and human relation issues. James, the
brother of Jesus, was known as the pastor of the Jerusalem church. Even the
Apostles returned to report to him and the elders in that church.
Today, the churches are in a confused state because
we do not recognize the call of God for ministers to serve in any one of the
other four ministries, except that of a pastor. Therefore we erroneously deem
anyone who has a divine call should automatically become a pastor.
I met a Christian brother who is gifted as an
Evangelist but he is pastoring a church. This is frustrating him to no end. He
has tried to be a full-time Evangelist but during that time, even though the
ministry results were good, his family almost starved. For practical reason of
getting a fixed income for his family, he became a pastor. Evangelists usually
do not get a full salary and have to live from offerings to offerings. It is now
time for the churches to recognize the needs of the other parts of the fivefold
ministry and to accord these ministers with appropriate income so that they can
concentrate on their calling and serve the Lord and His church.
The role of the teachers is vital because the
spiritual and doctrinal foundations of the church depend upon them. They are the
ones who do the grounding work. I can usually tell that a church is strong by
seeing the number of good teachers it has. Most pastors are gifted with teaching
ability and so they usually take the role of being pastor-teachers. However, the
pastor alone is never enough. He must activate other gifted lay members to take
on this teaching ministry.
Spirit-gifted and anointed teachers are different
from those who are teaching in the secular schools. This teaching gift is
divinely given and special because it allows the teacher to impart divine life
and at the same time reveal hidden spiritual truth. With the gift of wisdom, the
teacher speaks the mind of Christ to his students and thus stirs up further
hunger within them. The more the congregation understands the will of God, the
better it is in serving Him. Sadly, many modern Charismatic churches are missing
out on the dedicated teaching of the solid doctrines of the Scripture. The overt
emphasis upon the spiritual gifts has led to neglect in the didactic ministry.
No matter how much spiritual gifts that the Christian might have, nothing is
more important than the consistent studying of God’s Word under the guidance
of an anointed and gifted teacher.
For the modern churches to be powerful and effective,
they have to reactivate the ministries of the Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists,
Pastors and Teachers. The fivefold ministry is like the five fingers of a hand.
Yes, we can use the hand even though it has only three fingers but it is not
ideal. The handicap is obvious when we want to use it for heavier task.
The task of churches today is heavy indeed. We therefore have to restore the complete operation of the fivefold ministry by giving the rightful positions of the Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers. We must emphasize that for the fivefold ministry to be effective we must include the lay people. It should never be reduced to a domain for only a select few. The maturity of the Church of Jesus Christ is at stake and the fulfilling of Christ’s command to make Disciples of all nations has yet to be achieved. The churches cannot afford to play church games any more. Let’s arise and make every effort to allow God to use us effectively in whichever part of the fivefold ministry that He has for us. Let’s fulfill the Great Commission of the Lord without further delay.