Description
In the first five episodes we have been looking at the new way of relating in the Body of Christ. But specifically how are the fivefold equipping gifts to be expressed in leadership? How are they affected by our calling, personality and other gifts that we may have? 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.
If you find the content of this episode useful, it would really help us reach more people if you click the Like and Subscribe for this episode on Youtube.
Check out our full list of The Fivefold Ministry Podcasts
To view all of our series, visit our LEADERSHIPmatters Podcast page.
Podcast 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 Resources or download Workbook
For other valuable leadership resources
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!
Video Script
Episode 6: Leadership and Functions
In the first five episodes we have been looking at the new way of relating in the Body of Christ. But specifically how are the fivefold equipping gifts to be expressed in leadership? How are they affected by our calling, personality and other gifts that we may have? 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.
Fivefold Ministry and Leadership
We have been looking at the relationships within the community of believers, and particularly how authority and leadership is to be quite different than what we see in the institutions in society. They are actually to be based on Jesus’ model of servant leadership. Even though he was the head and source of the Church, he came to serve, not to be served. This is the context of the fivefold gifts which we will now look at more specifically. For those of you following along in the notes, we are now on pages 21-24. I have also provided a Fivefold Gift Assessment as a free download if you are interested.
In other series I have discussed various “intelligent quotients” as they relate to effective leadership. From EQ to CQ, which my MultiCultural Teams podcast series is based on. In my Mentoring Intelligence series I introduced MQ – which refers to our current capacity to invest in others. I also mentioned previously the book “5Q” by Allan Hirsch. In it he describes each of the equipping gifts/functions as AQ (apostolic intelligence), PQ (prophetic intelligence), EQ (Evangelistic intelligence), SQ (shepherding intelligence), and TQ (teaching intelligence). If you can get your hands on it, his book is definitely worth the read.
He observes that each of these fivefold functions are actually attributes that are identifiable throughout society, such as in education, arts, politics, health, engineering, business. More specifically for our purposes, each of these functions could be linked to various leadership attributes. For example, the apostle could be identified as the entrepreneur, pioneer, strategist, visionary, innovator; the prophet as the questioner, disturber, agitator, critical thinker; the evangelist the recruiter, communicator of the vision; the pastor the caregiver, social connector; and the teacher the systematizer, philosopher, trainer.
It would be ideal if each of these would be working together on the same team to fulfill a common purpose. However, the reality is that this may not always be possible, due to the limitations of the structural context we may find ourselves. As Hirsch, I would suggest that our goal should be to develop a team that embodies all of these gifts. It is important to remember that our goal is not to set up each of these five equipping functions as “offices” or positions in the church. These are function that have been given to the Body in order to work in balance to build up the Body to full maturity, so that it is capable of fulfilling the mission of the Church.
Again, as Hirsch points out, it may be helpful to view these functions within a larger societal context in order to expand our thinking beyond just the confines of the Church. The purpose of “equipping of the saints” is not just for an inward purpose, but should have an outward focus. Believers are to be built up and mature so that they may also be part of the mission of the church to minister to the world around them; they are to be the hands and feet of Jesus in every culture and in every society.
To separate the church from the marketplace is to limit the impact of the fivefold ministry approach. I would suggest that it would be helpful to realign our thinking to see how our these fivefold functions equip believers, enabling each of them to reach their world. After all every believers has a ministry, we are all ministers. If these are indeed a reflection of Jesus’ ministry, as they function together they will help believers fulfill the mission Jesus gave his Church.
In what ways could the Fivefold gifts be used beyond the wall of the church, in society?
Fivefold Function and Attributes of God
As we have discussed, the fivefold functions need to be firmly placed within a Christological context. They are ultimately an expression of Jesus’ ministry. And since the Son and the Father are one, each of these must originate with God the Father. The implication of this is that each of the fivefold functions can be identified within the attributes of the Godhead.
Though this may be a slightly new way of viewing these equipping gifts, Hirsch identifies each of the following attributes of God from the fivefold perspective. In the Godhead we see the source of all things, designer, creator, foundation, the sent and sending God, this is his apostolic function. In the Godhead we see the revealer, holy, covenantal, embodiment of truth, the source of meaning, worthy, transcendent, his prophetic function. He is also revealed in the Godhead as the Saviour, redeemer, pursuer of people, inviter into relationship with himself, he is evangelistic. His obvious shepherding or pastoring function is revealed in the Godhead in his role as the comforter, guide, righteous, merciful, forgiving, the Great Shepherd. Finally we see his teaching function as the all knowing One, the Word, whole and complete and wise.
Perhaps we could describe it like this: the apostolic represents the eternal purposes of God; the prophetic represent the holy covenantal heart of God; the evangelistic represents the saving mercy of God; the shepherding/pastoral represents the loving communal relationship of God; and the teaching represents the infinite truth and wisdom of God. I know we don’t usually describe the Triune God in this way, but as we think about it, I believe Hirsch may be on to something. While this may not be a conventional way of looking at the Godhead, it is definitely consistent with the meta-narrative of Scripture and provides another insight into the all encompassing character of the Triune God.
How does viewing God’s attributes from a fivefold perspective impact your view of him? Of yourself? Of the fivefold functions?
Fivefold Function and Personality
For those who are doing this study as part of our Christian Leadership Institute, you likely are already in some leadership role in your church or moving in that direction. But we have to remember that leadership in the body is not about position, but about function. It is not about being served, but about serving others. It is a role of equipping all members to be those “priests” who are doing the ministry in their society and communities, not doing ministry so others can observe us.
If you have not thought too much about this topic, you may still be on the journey of discovery what your gifts are. In my Mentoring Guide I have a while chapter on Gifts and tools to help you discover your gifts. But here I just want to just make a few comments regarding the gifts and our personality style. While there are many such personality test (Myers-Briggs and others), we have used a simplified version of the D-I-S-C model, again this is something you can find in our Mentoring thru Intentional Relationships Guide which is available in various languages.
So while there may be a correlation between a particular equipping gifting or function and a personality style, the benefit of personality theory is to appreciate that we can learn to adapt our default approach to life to fit more the situation more appropriately. Instead of a specific fivefold function being linked to a particular personality type, it is more accurate to see our personality style affecting whatever equipping gift mix we may have. For example, both Elijah and Jeremiah functioned with a prophet gifting, and yet they had quite different personalities. The same gift was expressed quite differently in their respective ministry. Elijah was outgoing, dominate and took initiative, Jeremiah was more reflective and withdrawn. This impacted how they expressed their prophetic function and how their God-given calling was manifested to others.
Hirsch, as well as others, see this fivefold typology as “personas.” While there may be some truth to this, in both theory and practise, I think we have to be careful to not put people in neat boxes, which is really one of the dangers of personality studies. The purpose of understanding our personality is not to excuse our behavior, saying “Well that is just the way I am, you will have to deal with it.” No, each personality type has strengths and weaknesses, we can learn to grow and adapt to mitigate our weaknesses – which I have personally noticed is a lifelong endeavor!
In my view, trying to align each equipping function with a personality style can cause us to see these fivefold functions as a person’s identity, rather than a function or calling. The result of this has historically created an imbalance in the Body of Christ, which has led to viewing these functions as positions (“I am an Apostle” or “I am a Prophet”), rather than viewing these giftings as functions working in unison to serve the greater Body of Christ.
How do you think our personality affects how we serve others with our gifts?
Fivefold Function and Calling
Many of the renewal movements throughout church history have had a recovery of at least one of the fivefold ministry functions. For example, within the Catholic tradition the Franciscans sought to recover the prophetic and shepherding functions, while the Jesuits’ emphasis was mostly apostolic. Within the Protestant tradition, William Carey, and subsequent mission sending agencies, were seeking to recover the sending or apostolic calling of the Church. Some of these “para-church” organizations focussed on evangelism, such as Campus Crusade, while others, like the Navigators, were more focussed on radical discipleship.
Various church leaders throughout history could also be seen as embodying these various functions. Francis of Assisi functioned in the prophetic and apostolic gifting, the great reformer, Martin Luther, was also prophetic and a teacher, as was John Calvin. John Wesley clearly functioned with an apostolic and prophetic gifting as did Catherine Booth. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was prophetic as well as a teach and of course Billy Graham had the gift of an evangelist.
So it is clear that these gifts have been functioning over the last few hundred years within the Church to some degree. My point here is that it is not particularly helpful to try to fit historical figures into just the pastor/teacher role, something which has become more common recently within the Evangelical church. I believe that each of these fivefold functions are still valid today. If this is true, then it would make sense that we would see them expressed in some way in the 21st century, as they were in the 1st century. If these fivefold functions are truly embodied in Christ and his ministry, then becoming more like Christ means that we will better exemplify his gifts expressed through his Body. As part of this new “priesthood,” discovering our gifts and identifying our calling is essential for each of us.
How do you think our personal calling relates to our fivefold giftings? How does this apply in your life?
So while these fivefold functions have often been viewed in Church history through the lens of “offices” and hierarchical “positions,” their true function in the Body is to facilitate organizational health as well as the health of every member so that we all can fulfill our calling. But how do these fivefold gifts interface with the other gifts mentioned in the New Testament? This is something we will look at in more depth in our next episode, but again you may want to do the Gift Assessment provided before then.