The Fivefold Ministry Podcast

Playlist Intro

In this series we will take a deep dive into the Fivefold Gifts from Ephesians 4. Should all of these gifts be functioning in the Church or have some been discontinued? Are these Five Equipping Gifts primarily positions or offices in the Church or are they more like functions? What would it look like if all five were functioning in a local church? Is this even possible in the 21st Century? To answer these and other questions we will lay a foundation of what authority should look like in the body of Christ and what role leadership is to play in the body of Christ. Practical tools will be provided to help the listener identify their own gift mix, as well as that of their team. The Organizational Flow Chart and Life Cycle will also help in implementing all five gifts in your ministry.

Scroll down to view all episodes or to begin watching Episode 1: A Biblical Context

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To view all of our series, visit our LEADERSHIPmatters Podcast page.

Free Resources

Listeners of our LEADERSHIPmatters podcasts have exclusive access to our free bonus leadership materials. For this series these include Fivefold Functions: Personal Survey, Fivefold Functions: Team Unity, Fivefold Functions: Organizational Flow Chart, Fivefold Functions: Organizational Life Cycle.

Get exclusive access to free Team Resources or download Workbook

Podcast Resources

Listeners of this Leadershipmatters podcast may want to download “The Fivefold Ministry” Workbook.  If you would like any of our other materials go to our Resources page. These are available in several languages.

Consider Helping

The majority of our work training new leaders in the church is international. In many cases, they cannot afford the material themselves. Please considering helping us reach those who can’t afford the resources by donating today.

If you can’t donate, you can still help by visiting our channel on Youtube and clicking Subscribe to tell Youtube that you value our content and they should show it to others like yourself!

Episodes

  • The Fivefold Ministry: Series Intro October 27, 2025The Fivefold Ministry: Series Intro

    In this series we are going to do a bit of a deep dive into the five-fold equipping gifts from Ephesians 4. Now before you think this may not be for you, let me encourage you that this will be very practical and you may be surprised to find out that you too have been gifted to serve by equipping others. 

  • Episode 1: Biblical Context October 27, 2025Episode 1: Biblical Context

    We are going to notice that these gifts are not primarily listed as positions. Paul is not establishing a new hierarchy in the Church. Some church traditions emphasized some of these gifts and over others, but what would it look like if each of these gifts were functioning in balance within the community of believers?

  • Episode 2: Headship in the Body October 27, 2025Episode 2: Headship in the Body

    Last time we saw that Paul used the analogy of our physical body to illustrate the Body of Christ, this new community. We want to now look at this concept of headship in the Body and why this is so important in how we apply the fivefold gifts within the Body of Christ. Is Paul  setting up a new hierarchy with the equipping gifts at the top?

  • Episode 3: Authority in the Body October 27, 2025Episode 3: Authority in the Body

    In spite of the history of the Church, in the original language and context it seems that these gifts were intended more as functions rather than positions or offices. So if servant leadership is the model in this new community, how is authority to be exercised and what will that look like? How can we safeguard against spiritual abuse by leaders?

  • Episode 4: Christ our Source October 28, 2025Episode 4: Christ our Source

    We will now continue on this theme and discuss what authority is to look like in the Body. We will look specifically at the concept of “headship” and how this terminology, if not understood within a biblical context, will lead to hierarchical structures in the Church, exactly what Jesus warned against.

  • Episode 5: Gifts Redeemed October 28, 2025Episode 5: Gifts Redeemed

    Understanding his servanthood in relation to his Church is important for it is a model for how leadership—and the fivefold equipping gifts – are to function of in the Church. Now we want to look at how these fivefold ministries are actually an expression of Jesus’ ministry here on earth and a model for us.

  • Episode 6: Leadership and Calling October 28, 2025Episode 6: Leadership and Calling

    How are the fivefold equipping gifts to be expressed in leadership? How do they function within the context of the “priesthood of all believers?” What we are going to discover in this episode is that these fivefold gifts are based on the attributes of God himself.

  • Episode 7: Leadership Functions October 28, 2025Episode 7: Leadership Functions

    How do these five gifts correspond to the other gifts mentioned in the New Testament? If these fivefold gifts are not primarily positions, how are they to be expressed within leadership and how will this impact the overall Church? This is the topic of this episode.

  • Episode 8: Ministry Functions October 28, 2025Episode 8: Ministry Functions

    I believe a misapplication of these gifts results from too narrow of a view of how they could function within the Body. We will also discuss these gifts from a more organizational or church perspective. If the Church is to function as the Body of Christ within the community, what would an apostolic, prophetic, pastoral, or evangelistic church look like?

  • Episode 9: A Balanced Team October 28, 2025Episode 9: A Balanced Team

    In a perfect world each of these fivefold gifts would be functioning in every local church. We often think our gift is most important and view the others with a bit of skepticism. So how can these fivefold gifts function in balance in the Body of Christ and how does the historic imbalance in the Church continue to still affect us?

  • Episode 10: Two Extremes October 28, 2025Episode 10: Two Extremes

    Have some, or all, of the equipping gifts ended, now that we have the canon of Scripture? We will look at the other extreme view that these gifts are actually “offices” or positions, perhaps even organized as a hierarchy. Rather than just an abstract theological discussion for wonks, we will see that it has real implications for the us today.

  • Episode 11: Fivefold Ministry of Jesus October 28, 2025Episode 11: Fivefold Ministry of Jesus

    Did Jesus function in his ministry with all five of the equipping gifts? If he did, what does that mean for his Body, this new community of believers? In order to be his hands and feet on this earth should the Church also function with all of these today? Is it even realistic to think that a church can function with all five of the equipping gifts in balance?

  • Episode 12: New Wineskins October 28, 2025Episode 12: New Wineskins

    It’s pretty clear that Jesus’ ministry reflected the fivefold ministry gifts—they are actually a reflection of who he is. So it would seem that His Body should also reflect all of these fivefold gifts. But in the real world is it possible to have each of these ministries operational within our current ministry wineskins or structures?

  • Episode 13: The Mission October 28, 2025Episode 13: The Mission

    In this episode we will look at how important the wineskin is in order to fulfill the mission of the Church—this is the how of implementing the fivefold ministry. With the reality of our existing structures, what would need to change in order to see the fivefold ministry functioning in our church?

  • Episode 14: Models of Ministry October 28, 2025Episode 14: Models of Ministry

    In our discussion we have discovered that  without new wineskins, new wine is often spilt on the ground. To keep our ministry wineskins flexible we will now look at a few organizational principles that will lay the foundation for being successful in bringing about change.

  • Episode 15: Flow of Ministry October 28, 2025Episode 15: Flow of Ministry

    How can we now put these principles into practise? How can the Ministry Flow Chart be used within the context of a local church? In this episode we will look at this practical tool and see how it can help us identify which of these ministries are functioning in the church and which are missing.

  • Episode 16: Healthy Life Cycle October 28, 2025Episode 16: Healthy Life Cycle

    In this final episode we will look at another tool, the Organizational Life Cycle. Every organization is like a living organism, it has a birth, life and eventually it can also come to an end. How can an understanding of the fivefold functions help us identify what stage our church is at and the steps that may need to be taken in order that we don’t decline?

Podcast Resources

Listeners of this Leadershipmatters podcast may want to download “The Fivefold Ministry” workbook.  If you would like any of our other materials go to our Resources page. These are available in several languages.

Consider Helping

The majority of our work training new leaders in the church is international. In many cases, they cannot afford the material themselves. Please considering helping us reach those who can’t afford the resources by donating today.

If you can’t donate, you can still help by visiting our channel on Youtube and clicking Subscribe to tell Youtube that you value our content and they should show it to others like yourself!