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Episode 16: The Life Cycle

Organizational Life Cycle and Fivefold Ministry

Another way of viewing the fivefold gifts is through the lens of an Organizational Life Cycle. This and the Flow Chart are included as part of our MCNet CHEA, Church Health Evaluation and Assessment which you can download from our website, icmcanada.org. A shorter version is included here in the Resource Section of this workbook. If you are following along, we are now on pages 57-60.

The Life Cycle chart is a way of tracing the beginnings of an organization from inception to maturity and possible decline. Bullard suggests that there are four organizing principles from the DNA of a life cycle of an organization that can be applied to the church. These are Vision, Relationships, Programs, and Management. Vision is the current understanding of God’s strategic direction cast by leadership and owned by members. Relationships refers to the processes by which people are converted, assimilated, grow spiritually, utilize gifts, and develop as leaders. Programs refers to those activities and ministries that serve the church and Management is the administration of the physical resources, but also includes decision making, changing culture, and systems. It’s important to remember these definitions as we go through this.

As you can see from the diagram, in each stage there is a different emphasis and need. This is represented by the Capitalization of each letter, VRPM – Vision, Relationship, Program, Management –during each stage of development. For example during the birthing stage, Vision is most emphasized and important. As the church develops healthy relationships, the letter “R,” ministries are established and grow. As the church matures, effective programs that meet the needs of the Body are functioning, letter “P.” Eventually, healthy administration allowing for reproducing ministry and evaluating the organization, the letter “M”. However, the decline of the organization occurs if we focus on our past successes and fail to recast new vision. When vision starts to go, most people in the church or organization do not recognize the decline at this point. Things are still humming along pretty good, we are living off of all the successes in the past.

But as the organization ages, contentment invariably leads to a loss of vision and this eventually leads to a breakdown in Relationships, which means outreach slows and members no longer are growing. This is when people become discontent and notice that something has changed. If intentional steps to move the organization to a new life cycle are not taken at this stage of Atrophy, the death of the church or organization is inevitable. This does not mean the doors close, there can still be many programs and many systems are still there that were put in place during the church’s glory days . However, there is a loss of vision and purpose. Okay, I don’t have time here to get into this in too much detail here, if you want a fuller explanation, you can check out our Coaching Guide for team leaders or order our materials on this topic.

But for our purposes here, I would like to use a hybrid of this tool from some of Hirsch’s research. This can help us identify deficiencies in the fivefold functions by determining where the organization is on its life cycle. So let’s look at the same graph through this lens. The fundamental question regarding the fivefold ministry functions are which are needed along each stage of the life cycle? Identifying what stage our ministry is at will help us recognize where we are lacking in our fivefold ministry mix. The top of the curve of the graph indicates a healthy mature church, which is identified by looking at the four indicators of Vision, Relationships, Programs, Management, which I just briefly explained. Viewing the graph through the lens of the fivefold approach, it would make sense that at this stage of maturity all five of the equipping gifts are functioning in balance as is seen in Ephesians 4.

To get to this Mature-Adulthood Stage, at some time in the past the church began with a visionary, or a group with a vision. At the Birth stage vision is crucial, most typically accomplished by those who have apostolic giftings. The early vision stage nearly always is initiated and carried out by entrepreneurs and risk takers, they see a need and how to meet that need. This early stages also often includes those who see God’s heart and are passionate about sharing it with others. In this early stage there are also usually those with more prophetic giftings, those risk-takers, analytic strategizers, and out-of-the-box thinkers.

If the church is going to continue to grow beyond its relational base, it will be essential that those with evangelistic giftings are released to engage with the community and mobilize others in the fledgling body to join them as typically will happen in the Early Development Stage. These are the communicators who have the gifting to network people and gather others. As the believing community grows, for it to come to full maturity —the top of the graph—member’s needs will need to be met, which will require pastoral giftings. This, together with the teaching giftings will enable personal and organizational growth and reproducibility. At each stage of the life cycle, different equipping functions are needed to move it to the next level of maturity and growth. When all of these are functioning in balance, the church is at the top of the cycle; healthy, mature, and growing in depth and breadth.

However, churches and all organizations do not remain healthy left on their own. Left to themselves, they often become complacent, ingrown and self-satisfied, we have elsewhere illustrated this as the “hardening of the wineskin.” This is likely a function of human nature, but needs to be guarded against. This begins with the initial loss of vision or missiondrift as the organization loses its purpose and reason to exist. What often happens is that its mere existence becomes the purpose. The organization and leaders begin to rely on patterns of the past and previous solutions to solve new problems, which inevitably leads to the Aging Stage. The more successful a church or organization has been, the greater the tendency to rest on its past success, which leads to a quicker decline.

Without constant attention, ensuring that all of the fivefold ministry gifts are allowed to function, every church will become out of balance which, unfortunately, usually results in its decline. Once atrophy begins to set in, there may still be good relationships and teaching, after all structures have been developed to maintain these. In other words the pastoral and teaching gifts are still functioning. However, typically one or more of the fivefold functions are no longer present. The Atrophy Stage of organizational maintenance means that the apostolic, prophetic, or evangelistic gifts are no longer functioning.

By this point, the innovators and disrupters have typically become sidelined as the new value of the group is to ensure that all of the “success” that they had once achieved is maintained. Change has become a bad word in the culture of the group. At this stage of the church or organization you begin to hear a phrase that you never used to hear in the past. When people come up with new ideas you’ll begin to hear, “Well, we have never done it like that before.” Once you start hearing that phrase, you know the handwriting is on the wall. In this scenario , the apostolic, visionary entrepreneurs are sidelined; prophetic voices no longer speak truth to the organization, and the evangelistic gifting is constrained so as to not attract all sorts of “undesirables” who may mess up the new carpet in the church. Death of the church at this point is usually inevitable.

How does viewing the Life Cycle through the lens of the fivefold functions affect your perception of the health of your church and organization?

Fivefold Approach to a Healthy Church

By using the Flow Chart and Life Cycle we can indentify how the fivefold ministry gifts are indicators of a healthy church. “Health” being defined as a maturing community that is able to reproduce its ministry throughout the community. It is a ministry that is fulfilling its calling as part of God’s mission. Regardless of the church tradition, from Catholic, to Protestant, to Evangelical, to Pentecostals, and every variation in between, I believe that without a fivefold ministry approach, the church will not be healthy and will not be able to grow and reproduce. This is amplified if there is a culture of a clergy/laity divide. It is not enough to just ascribe to the theology of the priesthood of all believers, we must develop ministry structures that facilitate all believers being equipped to do works of the ministry.

Examples of this divide are not hard to find. In the Catholic tradition the sacraments can only be administered by the priest, while mainline Protestantism modified this to include only those who were “ordained.” As we have seen, the Western Reformation did very little to reform these structures. A new form of clericalism and religious sacraments were established that became as entrenched as the those from the ecclesiastical tradition they came from. Even in current Evangelicalism, “church” has come to mean attending a certain building on Sunday, from which the sacraments/ordinances are dispensed from an ordained, professional clergy. In light of this, it is no surprise that the church has become identified as a place, not a people who are on a mission.

In the last couple episodes we have been looking at two tools that can help us identify our effectiveness or the health of our ministries. Yet in order to implement this new approach, we need to develop new wineskins that will enable the functioning of this new vision (wine). Without new structures, we tend to revert back to old patterns, usually in the form of a reductionist approach of only two or three of the fivefold functions. In developing new “wineskins,” it is important to remember that these fivefold functions are not offices or positions. The goal is not to create a new structure of the church based on five positions rather than the one pastoral one.

Due to many factors that have developed over hundreds of years, as well as existing denominational policies, typical church governance structures, and so on, it is not likely that church structure is going to see widespread change any time soon. Call me a realist, I guess. But at the same time, I am not really pessimistic. We may not be able to change the whole world, but we can change our world. I am suggesting that in order to have a balanced ministry we do need to think of ways that we can incorporate a fivefold approach in our teams and our local churches in order to fulfill the mission of the Church. Ultimately, we have the promise that Jesus will build his Church. As I have presented in this series, I believe that as we allow the fivefold gifts to function we will be better partners with Jesus as he builds his Church.

It seems from Scripture that the fivefold gifts were expected to function in the early church. What is not quite so clear is a definitive structure as to how to best implement them. This ambiguity of application, seems to indicate to me that Jesus is wanting us to seek to be connected to him, the Originator and Source of the Church. All ministry flows out of a relationship with Him. It is not just about the task, but about a relationship he seeks with us. He wants to see each member, all of us, grow up and be equipped, so that we can be his hands and feet in this world. I think it also indicates the need for flexibility in how we apply these principles within our own time and our own context.

How can the use and implementation of the Life Cycle Chart help us maintain a healthy, balanced church or organization? Spend some time with your team discussing this.

I hope this study has been helpful as you partner together with the Lord of the Church in developing healthy ministries that will reach into our hurting world. As I have outlined here, I believe that the most effective way we can accomplish this is by releasing his fivefold ministry to function freely in and through his Body, empowered by his Spirit. What a privilege and opportunity to partner together with Him as we make disciples of all peoples.

Episode 15: Flow of Ministry

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We have been discussing the need for new wineskins in order to facilitate a balanced approach to the use of the fivefold ministry of the Ephesian equipping gifts. 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.

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Episode 15: Flow of Ministry

The Ministry Flow Chart

As we have been studying, the fivefold gifts have been given to the Body of Christ for its edification, so that it can do works of service within and outside of the local church. I would like to now introduce you to a tool our MCNet team has used around the world as we equip and consultations with church teams. The “Ministry Flow Chart” is a simple way to diagram the flow of ministry in a local church. We will begin by viewing the chart from the perspective of an individual. There are six columns in the chart, but it is important to understand that there is overlap between columns and so there is more of relationship between the columns than distinct separations between each. If you are following along we are now on pages 53-57 and the tools mentioned here are in the Resource Section of the workbook. It may be best to view this podcast so you can follow along with the diagrams.

Listed from the left to the right of the Chart are the six types of ministries needed in a church: Contact, Entry, Build, Identify, Equip, and Send. All the ministries of your church can be listed in one of these six columns. Moving from the left to right, for example, from #1 to #6, is the natural progression in which someone makes contact with the community of believers and then progresses in their spiritual life. Each column represents ministries that help a person become a believer and then mature in the faith until they are a “sent” believer—fulfilling their purpose as part of God’s mission. Note that on the chart, the letter “S” represents the pastoral function, as in “Shepherd,” while the “P” represents the prophetic role. So without further ado, let’s look at each of these ministry components from the chart:

Contact (Evangelistic Function)

The first column on the left, Contact, includes ministries, strategies, and activities that are designed to bring the Body of Christ into direct contact with people who are not familiar with the Gospel or connected to a church. These may include social activities, small groups focusing on reaching the unchurched, popular ministries such as Alpha, or serving the community by providing educational opportunities, recovery programs, or ministry to the poor, for example. According to the fivefold giftings, this is the church functioning in its evangelistic role.

Entry (Evangelistic/Pastoral Function)

The second column from the left, Entry, includes ministries, strategies, and activities that are designed to help new people feel welcomed and valued in the believing community. These may include visitation ministry, use of email and social media, small groups, and intentionally assigning friendly people to greet and assist newcomers at church events. The focus of any of these strategies is to help people be accepted, safe and cared for by the body of Christ. A sense of belonging to the community of believers will often encourage people to believe in the Gospel message. According to the fivefold giftings, this is the church functioning in its pastoral role.

Build (Pastoral/Teaching Function)

The third column, Build, includes ministries, strategies, and activities that are designed to help people become established in their faith and grow in their life in Christ. These may include any ministry that provides opportunity for instruction in the basics of living as a Christ-follower, as well as modeling Christian living for those who are new in their commitment to follow Jesus. A range of ministries that help people grow would ideally be employed, including groups and individual discipleship. According to the fivefold giftings, this is the church functioning in its teaching and pastoral roles.

Identify (Teaching/Prophetic Function)

The fourth column, Identify, includes ministries, strategies, and activities that are designed to help believers discover their gifts and talents and how they can effectively develop their ministry skills. This happens best in relationships between leaders and those they are serving. Developing an intentional approach to mentoring will be the most effective way to get to know individuals at a deep enough level to help them identify their gifts, talents and skills and discover how to best use them. This could take place through small groups or one-on-one mentoring relationships. According to the fivefold giftings, this is the church functioning in its teaching and prophet role.

Equip (Prophetic/Apostolic Function)

The fifth column, Equip, includes ministries, strategies, and activities that are designed to equip believers for the ministry God is calling them to do. These include formal and informal training opportunities that allow a believer to acquire the knowledge, skills and experience that will propel them into ministry. This can take place through classes, learning cohorts, mentoring, and supervised ministry opportunities. A leadership development culture that emphasizes equipping and releasing is essential for a church to be able to become effective as an equipping church. According to the fivefold giftings, this is the church functioning in its prophetic and apostolic role.

Send (Apostolic Function)

This column, Send, includes ministries, strategies, and activities that are designed to release believers to the ministries to which God has called them. This may occur in the local church as people are being discipled and trained, then released to function in the ministry of the local church. Sending also includes extending a church’s ministry and influence beyond their primary location. This includes planting new churches and ministries, as well as releasing those they have developed to work in other ministries, and participating in the global mission. According to the fivefold giftings, this is the “sent” church functioning in its apostolic role.

Considering the church or organization with which you are connected, does it have strategies in each of these areas?

Let’s take a quick break and on the other side we will use the chart as an indicator of which of the fivefold ministries are functioning in our church and which are missing or latent.

Flow Chart: Ministry Perspective

Before the break we were seeing how the Flow Chart can be used to illustrate how the church should express the fivefold functions in all of its ministries. Each one of the ministries or programs of your church will fit within one or more of the columns on the chart. Each column can also correspond to one or more of the fivefold gifts. By looking at the existing programs in your church, the Flow Chart can identify which of the fivefold ministry gifts are functioning and which are missing (remember that the letter “S” will be used to signify Pastor, as in “Shepherd” and “P” for Prophet).

So following the chart from left to right horizontally, as indicated by the arrow, represents ministries that an individual would encounter as they interact with the community of believers and what fivefold giftings are being represented in each. The first way most people make “Contact” with the church is through a relationship with someone from the church. The believer is functioning in the role of witness, perhaps with an evangelistic gifting. Then as they are welcomed into the community of believers they encounter pastoral ministry—represented by the second column, “Entry.” The next step of their growth should now include discipleship, which means they will interact with the teaching and pastoral ministries of the church—the “Build” column. This is the halfway point and I describe these first three columns as the Discipleship process. Most church have plenty of programs and ministries identified in these first three columns, but make the mistake in thinking that this is all there is to church, their job is done. The thinking is that this is sum total of our task – get ‘em saved and on their way to heaven, with a respectable amount of sanctification along the way. Our Discipling thru Intentional Relationships Guides are designed for this half of the process.

But this is only half of the process for a believer. The final three columns of the church’s task and individual’s growth, is the process of Mentoring. The fourth column represents the first step in this process. As they are growing in the faith we need to help each member Identify their gifts, the fourth column, and then be equipped in using these gifts, represented the fifth column. Finally, they discover their role in Jesus’ mandate for the church from Matt. 28:19-20. Each member is a “sent” one. Each has a part in participating in his purpose for his Body on this earth. This left to right progression is the natural progression of a person from being a seeker and not knowing Jesus personally, to being a disciple of Jesus and participating in the mission of the Church. Our Mentoring thru Intentional Relationships Guides are designed for this half of the process.

As I mentioned, many churches only focus on the first three columns (from the left) and, having accomplished this, consider the task of the church to be complete. This is often due to the fact that these are the ministry functions they are most comfortable with. In this scenario, the mission of the Church is reduced to only a few of the fivefold ministry gifts, which inevitably leads to lack of balance and health. However, for a believer to continue to grow in their participation with the mission of the Church, they must be Equipped and Sent as we see in columns 4 and 5. This requires the prophetic and apostolic gifts to be functioning in order to renew current wineskins. As believers are encouraged to exercise their gifts, this enlarges the church’s capacity to accommodate the new wine of new ministries.

In order to have a healthy balanced church, there must be functioning ministries in each of these columns. As we saw in a previous episode, “birds of a feather, tend to flock together,” in other words, what often happens is that those of similar giftings are usually attracted together. So a church that is, say, strong in teaching will inevitably attract a greater majority of members who value, and likely have, latent teaching gifts. A strong pastoral church tends to attract those who have these needs need and like to be nurtured and so on. As we are aware of this dynamic we can ensure that we have a ministry mix of all five gifts so that everyone in the body has opportunity to have their latent gift affirmed and developed.

Is your church healthy and balanced with regards to its expression of the equipping functions and gifts? If not what steps could you take to move in this direction?

Flow Chart: Organizational Perspective

We are looking at the Flow Chart viewed from the perspective of an individual and the functions, or gifts, that correspond with their personal spiritual journey. However, viewed from the right to the left, the view is from the perspective of the entire community or organization. Obviously there are some overlap in the chart relating to the functions, but this reflects the reality that those with equipping gifts usually have more than just one of the fivefold functions. Identifying the mix is important for the leadership so that they know which functions are missing and which are needed for the Body to be healthy. You’ll notice that this loosely corresponds to Johnstone’s pyramid turned on its side.

Each church, organization or movement has a beginning, but how does it start? Well it is usually initiated by someone functioning with some sort of apostolic giftings, ideally a team of individuals. These people are the initiators and founders of organizations and ministries and so they often have more than one of the equipping gifts. As a catalyst, they often gather other gifts around them. If they are mature, they recognizing their lack in some areas and so they bring others on the team in order to provide a balanced approach to the ministry. So the apostolic, prophetic, and teaching functions are needed first and are foundational in the establishment of a new work, ministry, or church plant. Building on these gifts, the pastoral gift, along with teaching is needed to build cohesive relationships and maturity. Finally the gift of the evangelist is needed to continue to reach into the community. Of course, these are not in isolation from each other, but should all be functioning at the same time in a healthy church. But due to the life cycle of the church, at different stages some of these are more crucial than others.

It would seem that apostolic and prophet gifts, and to a lesser degree, evangelistic gifts, function together more naturally, as they tend to be outward focussed, while pastoral (shepherding) and teaching gifts—and perhaps to a lesser degree the evangelist gift—have a greater affinity and ease of functioning together, as they tend to be inwardly focussed. This may explain the historic tendency for the ministries of the church to be reduced to only the pastoral and teaching ones. Often the evangelistic gifting is also included, but the apostolic and prophetic functions have often been marginalized or undervalued.

If Jesus was the fullest expression of the fivefold ministry functions, then for his Body to attain to the fullness of Christ it has to return to a full expression of the fivefold giftings. As with all diagrams, there are limitations to the Flow Chart, but it can help to describe what can sometimes seem like an abstract concept. Though there is not always a clear delineation of the gifts in each column, I think it helps us see how the fivefold ministry gifts should be dispersed throughout the ministries of the church. If all the equipping gifts are functioning in the church it will be healthy; sustainable, and reproducible.

A Team Model

At the very least I think it would make sense to look at our ministries and local churches to ensure that each of the fivefold gifts is functioning through the programs and strategies we use to serve others. Perhaps we could even consider staffing our teams according to the fivefold giftings. Those focused on the missional, strategic, organizational structures of the church, others on prayer and intercession, and evaluating the future direction of the church. Teams for developing strategies for outreach, as well inclusion and growth and so on. This would be preferable to a church that only emphasizes one or two of these gifts, the ones they are most comfortable with. While it may not be easy, the goal is to have a ministry that has a balance of the each of the fivefold functions.

What practical insights did you learn from looking at the Flow Chart through the perspective of the fivefold ministry gifts? Does your organizational have a balanced ministry according to the Flow Chart?

In our next and final episode, I am going to introduce you to another tool that we have used to help church teams understand where they are in the life cycle of the church and what steps may need to be taken. You may have seen a version of this, but here we will look at how each organizational life stage reflects the fivefold ministries. I am looking forward to having you join me next time as we wrap up our series.

Episode 14: Models of Ministry

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Description

As we have been going through this series, the obvious question in the back of your mind probably has been, “How can these fivefold giftings actually be facilitated within a local church or team.” 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.

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Episode 14: Our Mission

Three Structures of Ministry

Well, we are getting to the end of our study, but don’t worry, there is lots of good practical stuff ahead. Currently we are on pages 50-53 if you are following along. Okay, let’s get into this episode as I briefly discuss some organization theory, which I believe is crucial if we are going to be effective in adapting our wineskins to the new wine of the fivefold ministry application.

Now I am aware that some say that the fivefold ministry gifts are functioning within the whole Universal Church and so perhaps they don’t have to be represented in each movement, denomination, or every local church. According to this view, all the fivefold gifts are functioning within the universal Body of Christ, but each local church has its own emphasis and so does not need to have all five functioning. For example, mission organizations are apostolic, some churches are more evangelistic and others more pastoral, and so on.

While this may seem to make a certain amount of sense, it does not take into account how organizations tend to grow and develop. I am suggesting that all organizations, which I will define here as any group of people gathered together to fulfill a common purpose—which includes churches—tend to decline or lose their vision, if they do not make room for all of these gifts from Ephesians 4 to function. One does not need to look far to see whole denominations or organizations that were once vibrant, but are now struggling to survive with depleting members and resources.

The point of this series is to help us consider our own ministries and calling and evaluate if our current wineskins, or ministry structures, are adequate in facilitating the implementation of this fivefold model. If we believe that the gifts from Ephesians 4 are for the Church today, then we have to consider their application in a local church. I believe that they are not only a model for the universal Church, but are also applicable within the life of every local church.

Three Structures of Ministry

The late missiologist, Ralph Winter, used two broader categories to describe needed ministries in the church, modalities and sodalities. Don’t worry you don’t have to remember these names, and I still sometimes get the terms mixed up. But the important point he makes is that all organizations can be described by one of these. Modalites are structures in society that are inclusive and nurture-orientated, kind of like church congregation or institutions in a city or community. Sodalities, on the other hand, are organizations that are a subset of this and have a specific task or focus, for example mission societies or a country’s military. The point is that not all organizations are the same and they require different wineskins in order to fulfill their mission.

I’ve previously mentioned Patrick Johnstone, the author of the prayer guide, Operation World. In his book, The Church is Bigger than you Think, he explains the importance of structure, or the “how” of ministry, in order for the Church to fulfill its purpose. If you are listening to this podcast you may want to watch it later to follow the diagrams. He traces these structures right from the Triune God throughout history and how they have affected the mission of the Church. His focus is the Western Church but not to be left out, the Eastern Church also lost its missional focus during historic periods. From the meta-narrative of Scripture he identifies three such structures of ministry. There is (1) a nurturing structure, (2) a sending/expansion structure, (3) and a discipling/training structure. He begins by looking at the Old Testament and see these reflected in the (1) Priests who were the nurturing structure, (2) the Prophets who were the sending/expansion structure, (3) and the School of Prophets, the discipling/training structure.

Then in Jesus’ ministry we see the (1) Synagogue was the nurturing structure, (2) the Seventy were the sending/expansion structure, (3) and the Twelve being trained were the discipling/training structure. Then in the early church we see similar structures through the (1) Local Church for gathering and nurturing, the (2) Apostolic teams for sending out on the mission, and (3) Discipleship for training.

These early structures of ministry then developed—well actually regressed—in the Church in the Middle Ages. During that period of history we see the three structures of the (1) Church, (2) Monastic Orders, and (3) Universities. As the diagram illustrates, once these three structures were no longer in balance the Church lost its focus. For example, by AD 1500 the ecclesiastical structure became foremost, represented by the centrality of the Pope. Monastic orders still had a reaching out component, but this was on the fringe of the Church. By 1700 the three structures were further isolated from each other with no real structure for the reaching out or mission component. At this point, the Church was more inward than outward focussed.

Johnstone points out that in the 20^th century, mission agency were formed to go into all the world and the local churches and training institutions were somewhat separated from the ultimate mission of the Church. Instead of working together, this led to a competition between churches, educational institutions and mission agencies. The denomination or local church (1) focussed on consolidating, protecting, and shepherding. The mission agencies (2) functioned more like “sodalities” to use Winter’s term. They were functioning in a more apostolic—and perhaps even a prophetic and evangelistic role. Then there was the Universities/Colleges (3), which focused on training and equipping, but often disassociated from the main mission of the Church, going and making disciples of all nations. Johnstone’s hope in the 21^st Century was that all three of these structures would be in balance again as they were in the first century.

I spoke to him years after he wrote the book and asked if he was seeing much of a change in the wider circles he traveled within in the church. I could identify with his response that it was not an easy message and widespread change remained a bit elusive. Proving again that wineskins are hard to change. His point is that each of these need to be in balance in order to fulfill the Great Commission. Out of balance, the mission of the Church is not possible and the Church becomes inept in its task, eventually ceasing to be the Church as Jesus intended it to be.

This underscores the importance of understanding the impact of wineskins and the need to design ministry models that reflect correct theology and relevant vision. It is not too hard to see the similarity of Johnstone’s three structures and how a balanced fivefold approach would be expressed in each of them. Each of these different models, which I have only briefly highlighted here, illustrate the same principle: Varied gifts are needed to have balanced structures that will fulfill the overall mission of the Church. If these gifts are functioning in the church, they will then be observable and measurable.

What do you see as the application of Johnstone’s Three Structures of Ministry throughout history for the Church today?

Sideways Pyramid

Before the break we were looking at a few different models of the Church, identifying structures or wineskins that are necessary if we are going to fulfill the true purpose of the Church. According to Winter’s model of modalities and sodalities, churches, or modalities, by their very nature, have a varied membership. They are more like families in this regard, in that we cannot really choose who is in our family. They are a cross-section of society, from gender, socio-economic classes, ethnicity, and so on. On the other hand, organizations or sodalities, tend to be more focussed and so can choose their membership. They are often specialized and have a specific, targeted purpose. The result is that most organizations make minimal attempts to have a balanced fivefold approach to their leadership, churches included.

In addition, or perhaps as an extension of his “Three Structures of Ministry,” Johnstone takes a unique approach to the fivefold ministries. His perspective of the equipping functions is that they are ordered according to timing, as to when they are needed in the Body. He illustrates the order of the fivefold gifts by turning the typical pyramid structure of leadership on its side. So rather than a top-down or hierarchical view of the fivefold gifts, as you can see in the diagram on the left, they are placed from left to right, as in the diagram on the right.

From this perspective, the fivefold functions are not about position, or in some order of predetermined importance, but according to function and when they are needed in the establishment of an organization or church. First apostles are needed, then prophets, then evangelists, and so on. It is not about a competition to be at the top, as often is the case in the zero sum game played out in most institutions in society, but rather it is about each gift functioning according to the role for which it was designed. Each gift functions within the community of believers in order for the Body to fulfil Jesus’ mission.

Do you agree or disagree with Johnstone’s view of the fivefold gifts arranged according to need rather than hierarchical position? Why or why not?

Fivefold Ministry in Society

So what if Hirsch is right and this fivefold approach is more universal in societal structures based upon attributes of the Creator himself? If this were the case then the application would be even more broad. Hirsch makes the case that the terms that Paul uses in Eph. 4:11-12 were actually drawn from secular sources in the Greco-Roman world. As with other topics, Paul draws upon these meanings and infuses them with specific theological meaning. In light of this, it is instructive to look at the fivefold ministry gifts in other aspects of society and life. He believes that these can be found within various disciplines and it would seem that there is also a natural connection between general spiritual giftings, abilities, personality and calling, and one’s equipping gifts or functions.

For example, individuals and organizations that are entrepreneurial and pioneering in nature could be said to be “apostolic,” while those who challenge the status quo and push for change could be seen as “prophetic.” “Evangelistic” individuals or organizations are those who inspire, mobilize others into action, while those in society that create community and protect society could be seen as “pastoral.” Learning and educational organizations would be a type of the “teaching” function. Viewing these gifts this way may indicate that these functions and callings exist throughout society. If you are interested, he explores this more thoroughly in his 5Q book.

But for the purposes of our discussion of these gifts given to the Church, it is clear that the fivefold model is a pattern that is part of the meta-narrative of Scripture. It begins with God’s pattern in creation, shapes a Christological approach, and then impacts personal discipleship. They are gifts that only function as we are connected to our Source, Jesus, and his Spirit lives in and through us. Then we will be that missional Church – making disciples of all people as commissioned in Matt. 28:19-20.

How has your perspective of the Missional Church changed through this study? How do you think this will impact your own ministry?

In our final two episodes I will introduce the Flow Chart and Life Cycle as tools to help you understand your own giftings as well as how each of these giftings can function within the church. If you have not done so yet, now would be a good time to do the relevant Assessments that are provided. I think you will find this insightful and look forward to having you join me in our last two episodes.

Episode 13: The Mission

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Last time we observed that in order to have a ministry that has a balance of the fivefold giftings, our values, as well as our culture—or how we do ministry—will likely also have to change. 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?

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Episode 13: Balance for Mission

Losing the Mission

I have been making the point that each of the equipping gifts from Ephesians 4 does not necessary reflect a position or even have a definitive leadership role. I am not advocating that the solution is to now go around calling people “Apostle” or “Prophet” – or for that matter “Pastor.” These fivefold gifts have a specific function. They have been given to the Body of Christ so that each member will be equipped to do the work of the ministry. Ministry is not something for just leaders, while the rest of us watch, as a believer, we all are ministers. For those using the notes, this episode will be based on pages 47-50.

Often, however, those serving the Body with one or more of these functions, provides them some sphere of leadership in the Body. Again it is important to be reminded that what we mean by leadership in the Body is more about serving others than being served. Jesus is our model. It is not about position and power. With that foundation let me make few comments regarding leadership and the fivefold gifts. For good or bad, history indicates that most, if not all, movements are started by a strong charismatic leader. Someone whose values and assumptions have a huge impact on the culture of a group that can last for generations.

Yet for the movement to grow beyond the founder stage, these values must be passed on to others in the organization and become part of the life of the community. If this does not happen, the movement and resultant organization will not survive past this initial stage. While the organization may continue to exist , it will never truly fulfill its mission or purpose. Death of a movement or organization does not mean that it will necessarily close its doors, but rather that it will no longer fulfill its reason to exist. You might still see the lights on through the window.

As we have seen, the fivefold ministry of Jesus—our founder—should be reflected in the values and culture in the movement that he initiated. While we know that the universal eternal Church (remember, large “C”) will not end, there is a danger for local expressions of this movement – as in the local church—to lose its way. Within less than one hundred years after Paul founded and wrote to the church in Ephesus, it was in decline, and if you visit the ancient city today there is not much left. What happened? They definitely had a good founder in Paul. Well there were many factors, but for our purposes here, let’s look at the leadership dynamic.

Hirsch makes the case from history that a man like John Wesley functioned in several of these fivefold gifts. He was apostolic and founded a movement, prophetic in that he spoke to the social issues of his day, and travelled tirelessly on horseback to preach the good news. Though not as strong in the pastoral gift, he did believe in the importance of the church and its mission, designing a system to care for the poor. While teaching was not as prominent, he designed a discipleship system—one of the first modern small group movements—and his teaching remains with us until this day. Of course, this became known as the “methodical” or “Methodist” way.

Is it possible for churches who suppress the first three equipping functions (apostolic, prophetic and evangelistic), to continue to grow over the long haul? Or is it inevitable that, like many previous church movements, they will cease to fulfill the ultimate purpose of the Church and eventually have to close their doors? “Closing the doors” can take some time depending upon how much momentum they began with—from weeks to decades. Typically the organization or church just drifts and can even become a completely different type of organization. Harvard and Yale come to mind as example of this “missiondrift.” No one would confuse them today with a ministerial training college, for which they were first formed.

In the case of Wesley, we see a strong leader who started a movement which was based upon his strong values and vision. Certain activities and behaviors were then developed—a Methodist culture—that reinforced these. Over time, the form, or way they did things, began to solidify and become entrenched. Actually, the more successful a group is the more likely that this will happen. Inflexible wineskins always make it difficult to contain the new wine. As with all organizations, if the vision is not revisited, and corresponding new structures developed, all that is left is the old structures. Regardless of how vibrant they once were or how grounded they were on good values, if constant renewal does not take place a movement no longer fulfills its purpose and may even cease to exist completely.

It’s important to remember that all denominations and churches once started as a vibrant movement. It would seem that the apostolic function and gifting is essential in initiating new movements. Remember, I am using this term as a function not necessarily as an office or position. While this apostolic function is obvious in pioneering new mission endeavors, I would suggest that it may also have a role in established denominations and churches if these ministries are going to remain vibrant and healthy over the long haul. Facilitating the functioning of this gift, maintains a focus on vision and mission rather than reverting to the natural life cycle of merely focussing on maintenance and control.

As Snyder points out in his classic book, The Problem with Wineskins, “. . . the church was born without priesthood, sacrifice or tabernacle because the Church and Christ together were all three.” The foundational apostolic function should serve the Body by keeping the “sending” function of the church foremost and continually pioneering new areas for the Gospel. It also has a role to play in keeping the Church true to apostolic teaching. Those with apostolic giftings are not just visionaries and dreamers, they also should be involved in helping others apply corrective theology and cultivating biblical leadership.

What are the challenges or obstacles in implementing a fivefold balanced ministry approach in your church/organization?

Balance in Ministry

The reality seems to be that most churches, or organizations, tend to have one or two of the fivefold functions that are dominant. This is often the result of a leader, or leaders, who have a similar ministry emphasis, based on their gifting. Certain gifts become valued over others. For example, groups that are always starting new works, forging ahead breaking old wineskins (if they need breaking or not!), likely have a strong apostolic focus. A culture develops that prides itself on constant innovation and change. But this can lead to the organization being task driven, demanding, and usually relationally unhealthy. There are usually “bodies” laying in the ditch on either side of the road as they have been run over in the name of progress.

On the other hand, those with a strong prophetic focus speak the truth and emphasize social justice, unfortunately sometimes they can be rather tone deaf in hearing others. There is often passionate worship and prayer and focus on spiritual warfare. Yet if this is the only focus, it can lead to a group that is hypercritical, judgemental, and a culture that lacks grace and mercy. They usually have a sense that they are the only “right” ones, the last bastion of truth.

Groups dominated by the evangelistic function focus on going to those who don’t know Jesus and a culture can develop that equates true spirituality with evangelism and telling others about the Good News. Sharing the Gospel is vital to the mission of the Church, but these groups can feel like motivation sessions and can have a reliance on charismatic types of leaders. This usually leads to a certain shallowness, as taking the time to go deep into the Word is seen as a “waste” of time in light of the great task ahead. This can then lead to a church that is aggressive and opinionated.

Churches led by leaders who are strong pastoral shepherds are usually stable and relationally healthy. They are characterized by people loving each other and caring for one another. Spirituality is equated with relational health and community. While this is a very comfortable place, it can lead to an ingrown culture that rejects all change, and is no longer willing to take any risks. Ironically, it is this lack of risk, that eventually leads to unhealthy relationships that are so valued. Overprotection, overly cautious, and codependent, these churches can cease to fulfill the ultimate purpose of the Church.

Churches with only a strong teaching function are similar to those with only a strong pastoral function, in that they tend to be stable places where people are growing and committed to discipleship. Which is great, however, this can lead to becoming overly intellectual, dominated by right doctrine at the price of right living. This can also result in controlling others and a focus on petty doctrines. Spirituality becomes more about acquiring biblical facts and knowledge than living these out in everyday life. All that is a nice way of saying this emphasis out of balance can lead to pride.

Okay this may be a bit of an oversimplification, but hopefully you see my point for the need of balance in our ministries. And what keeps the balance is an appreciation of each of the fivefold ministry functions.

Are there any of these imbalances in your ministry? What changes would be helpful? Our Assessment questions can help you discover not only your gifts but how to bring a balance in your ministry.

Old Patterns

As our church or organization plateaus in growth, or encounters a crisis, we usually respond according to our strengths, and these are typically grounded in our gifts. As the saying goes, “If the only tool you have is a hammer, then every problem starts to looks like a nail.” It is just natural that we use our primary strength or gift to “fix” the situation. In attempting to bring about change in our churches or organizations we typically see problems or obstacles as originating from our inability to function more effectively in our primary gift.

So in a crisis, those with a teaching emphasis will teach even more and deeper; those with pastoral giftings will care even more deeply for people and attempt to protect them even more; those with apostolic emphasis will seek to start new things and bring even more change; and those with a prophetic leaning will see the solution to the crisis as needing more intense prayer, fasting, and perhaps even calling out the “sin in the camp.” Let me suggest another approach. Instead of looking to our inherent strengths, the solution may actually be found in returning to a more balanced integration of the fivefold functions, so that the team can identify what gifts, or functions, are needed to actually address the crisis.

Now I get it, we are all more comfortable with certain kinds of ministries, not because they necessarily meet the need most effectively, but because that is using our own gift is within own comfort zone. We all have certain values based upon our theology and experiences and so our ministry programs are designed around these gifts, rather than utilizing all of the equipping functions within a fivefold approach. Again, at the risk of oversimplification, let me explain this approach from history.

The western Church model that originated in Europe has generally been the Bishop-Priest-Deacon one, or perhaps the more simplified Pastor/Teacher model, while the Reformed tradition followed a Preacher/Elder model. As we discussed last episode, structures that become institutionalized tend to become inward, rather than outward, focussed. The Eastern Church was also not exempt from this. Since the Reformation, and the reforms and revivals over the last few hundred years, the focus has seldom been on reforming ministry values or wineskins. The result has been that many once vibrant movements either became rigid and part of the institutionalized church, or ceased to exist altogether.

What I am suggesting is that in order to maintain a healthy movement, we consider a return to a balanced expression of the fivefold ministry functions. To do this, I think we would all have to become more intentional in identifying and developing teams that have a balance of these fivefold functions. Rather than just focussing on offices and positions—you know, giving people the title of “apostle,” or “prophet,” or dare I say “pastor” – instead we focus on creating a culture based on Kingdom principles and initiate ministry programs that allow all of the equipping gifts to function in the Body.

Has your ministry become reliant on certain patterns of ministry or only focusing on certain gifts to the exclusion of others? How could this be changed?

In our final episodes together I will provide you with a few tools to help you evaluate your current ministry programs and steps that may be helpful in bringing about the necessary change. If you’ve studied some of our other MCNet materials, you have already been introduced to our “Ministry Flow Chart” and “Organizational Life Cycle.” But for this series I have adapted these to show how they can be specifically applied to the fivefold ministries. It’s going to be good and so I am looking forward to having you join me.

Episode 12: New Wineskins

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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? What would we have to change in order to see all five of these functioning with the community of believers, the called out ones?

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Episode 12: Changing Culture

Reductionism

In this episode we are going to begin to look at what a fivefold gifts would look like within a healthy, balanced church ministry or wineskin. What would ministry in the body look like if we were committed to all five of these equipping gifts? If you are studying the workbook with us, we will be on pages 43-46. As we have discussed previously, some – or maybe even most—have become uncomfortable with how the apostolic or prophetic gifts are often expressed and so it has become common to reduce the fivefold functions to just the two or three that we are most comfortable with – namely the pastoral, teaching and, to some degree, evangelistic functions. Let me be clear, I am not advocating for a return to an elite office of apostles and prophets, as some more recently are proposing. I think I have been pretty unambiguous that we are talking here about returning to all of the fivefold gifts as functions within the Body or Christ.

It is precisely these excesses that have developed in some church circles, that gives the rest of us pause. No matter how spiritual they make it sounds, once these gifts become positions of power and authority over others—instead of equipping and releasing—it makes sense to downplay some of these gifts that we see an inherently. However, as Hirsch points out, if any of these gifts is implemented in isolation from the others, the result is a Body that is dysfunctional, at best, and destructive at worst. At the very least, with a reduction of the fivefold functions, the Body will not be able to fulfill the purpose for which it was intended as an ambassador for Christ here on this earth.

By their very nature, the pastoral and teaching functions tend to create and function in structures that are more stable and reserved and more inward focussed. This is what the missiologist Ralph Winter calls modality cultures—those intended to foster discipleship and personal growth. Consequently, the church led by those with pastoral and teaching gifts resist change and gravitate toward establishing long term stability. This limits growth and expansion over the long term. Outward or sodality cultures are also needed. These are generalizations, I realize, but I would suggest that churches that do not have a fivefold ministry balance tend to become ingrown and inevitably begin the process of decline.

Of course, there is nothing inherently wrong with desiring stability. All communities made up of people—that’s all of us—tend towards stability in order to have a safe place to heal and grow. However, if the church becomes isolated from either the initiators and catalysts, the critical thinkers and truth tellers or the communicators —which are the apostolic, prophetic, and evangelistic functions—it will stagnate. Without renewal, it will no longer fulfill its vision and purpose. Left unattended long enough it will eventually cease to exist.

Evaluate your church or organization, do you have a balance of the fivefold gifts?

A Balanced Approach

In order for a church, or organization, to have a healthy life cycle, there needs to be a balance of these fivefold functions. Together, they provide for both the modality (nurturing) and sodality (sending) structures that are needed to meet the needs of those within the organization, as well as maintain an outward focus that keeps it moving forward as a healthy, growing organism.

It is possible to rekindle these other functions without invalidating or diminishing the pastoral/teaching ministry. If leaders with the pastoral or teaching gifts do not have any of the other equipping gifts, they typically do not have the capacity to recast vision, initiate change, or provide the critical analysis necessary for the church or organization. Throughout church history there have been movements that have restored one or more of these gifts. Missional movements have attempted to recover the apostolic fervor, while prayer and justice movements have renewed the prophetic, and revivals have renewed the evangelistic functions. Again, functions not positions.

The ideal would be a movement to renew all of these together so that they are expressed within leadership teams where there is a balance of all five. One of the major functions of leadership is to keep the church on track in fulfilling its mission and vision. Having this balance on a team ensures not only the sustainability of the organization, but also its reproducibility. As we have seen, the initiator and source of the Church, Jesus, embodies all of these gifts, so it would make sense that His Church reflects his fivefold ministry as it serves a 21^st century world. It would follow then that those with these equipping gifts should function together in order to fulfill God’s purposes on this earth. Without a foundation of servant leadership, it is impossible to renew the fivefold approach without resulting in power based leadership, a leadership model that does not have the foundation of Kingdom values.

Reflect on your ministry to determine if you have a balanced approach or have a more reductionist approach. What changes could you make to become more balanced?

Developing a New Culture

Before the break we were discussing the importance of not getting hung up on historical misapplication of some of these gifts and by so doing sidelining some of these functions. But it is not enough to just believe that all five equipping gifts are important. In order to see them function, we will need to design or adapt our current ministries in order to facilitate their use in the Body. What kind of wineskins will be necessary in order to encourage a fivefold ministry approach?

I have been using the word Church with a capital “C” to describe the universal, eternal Body of Christ. But this universal Church of believers—the real members of which only God knows—is then expressed in time and space in the form of local churches, which I have signified with a small “c”. In some ways, a local church is also an organization – which is basically a group of people organized together to fulfill a common purpose. It is a mystery and eternal, but it is also made up of very human members. It is this interface between eternal and temporal that subjects it to some of the same natural laws that impact all organizations. A simple analogy would be that even though we are eternal beings we are currently influenced every day by something as mundane as gravity.

These influences are both seen and unseen. The visible aspects of an organization are its activities and these are a reflection of its “culture.” The culture—which can be defined as “just the way we do things around here”—is based upon the values of the group as a whole. Culture is the environment, or conditions, within which acceptable behaviors are encouraged and values and vision are translated into tangible activities and actions. While it is invisible, like gravity, it has an impact on everyone and everything in the organization.

The culture of a group is actually more influential than new vision, which I know is hard to believe. If you want to hear my teaching regarding culture and change be sure to check out my Mentoring Intelligence or Multicultural Teams podcasts or our Coaching Guide workbook. Healthy organizations, including churches, that have a systems in place that empower and release others, are a result of a healthy culture. The opposite is those that have hierarchical, competitive, and unhealthy relationships, create unhealthy organizations and churches.

To state the obvious, each of our cultures and society structures have been tainted by sin and the fallenness of humanity. But the Gospel is transcultural, it is above culture. It has the authority to speak into every culture. So while some ways of doing things are clearly wrong from Scripture, others may be neither right nor wrong, they are just the way things are done within a certain group. However, when a group gathers to fulfill a common purpose, their activities may actually be working against their common values and goals – and they may not even be aware of it and may even be frustrated as to why they are struggling.

It is important for us to understand this dynamic, for without identifying the culture and underlying values, change is impossible. Instead of changing the culture that is destructive for the organization, we will actually be controlled by that culture. To move a group of people to a new way of seeing things and new ways of acting—as will be necessary to move towards a fivefold ministry model—will require us to understand the current values of our group and how to make the necessary changes on a values level. Only then can changes be made on a behavioral level. For this to then be maintained long term, new structures, or wineskins, will need to be formed.

What do you think is the role of leadership in creating good culture and destroying counterproductive culture in an organization?

Form and Function

Confusion occurs as we fail to distinguish between “form” and “function.” Those in positions of leadership tend to be “doers” and so they focus on behavior, not always fully appreciating how powerful the unseen culture influencing the “form” is. Studies seem to indicate that the form is a stronger indicator of future behavior of an organization than even vision or aspirational values. To use Jesus’ metaphor in Matt. 9:17, without new wineskins (the form) the new wine will be wasted on the ground. He does not dispute the quality of the wine, but rather the need to keep the wineskin flexible in order to contain the new wine. Flexibility means being able to change.

The culture of a church or organization, is the outer expression of its values. Over time this culture has a tendency to solidify and the forms become institutionalized. This inevitably causes the organization to stagnate and no longer fulfill its purpose. This is why it is important to regularly revisit the “how” of ministry to make sure that the way we do things is coinciding with our values and purpose. To just rely on the way we have always done something—of course another word for this being “tradition”—means that our structures or wineskins are no longer flexible.

One of the key functions of leadership is to change culture that is becoming destructive to the organization and then create a culture that reflects the new values and resultant vision. In our next few episodes I will be introducing some tools that will help you do just that. But for now let me just reaffirm my point that those who God has called to serve the Body with an equipping gift, have a responsibility to align the culture with appropriate values. This is accomplished through what we measure; how we react to crises; what we fund; what we model, teach and coach; what activities are encouraged and rewarded; and who we recruit and promote.

Culture is reinforced by the way the ministry is structured. What systems and procedures are implemented? What traditions are developed and encouraged? What is the design of the physical, observable facilities? What are the creeds, philosophy and narratives that are repeated among its members? The danger, of course, is to confuse form and function and assume that the form—the wineskin itself –is sacred and therefore not changeable. Once this occurs, the church (and any organization) has taken its first steps towards decline. I am not talking about compromising the Gospel or even necessarily changing values, but changing the forms in which they are expressed.

It takes some time to internalize these principles and determine how to implement them in the real world of our church or organization. Creating appropriate wineskins may seem abstract, and hard to pull off, particularly in light of the long and sordid history of inflexible wineskins in the Church. Yet it is possible. It begins with an internal change of values and thinking. Specific to our discussion: a biblical view of the fivefold ministry gifts. The next step is to begin to design relevant ministries that will facilitate these truths. If we believe the biblical truth and principles, but do not change the wineskins of ministry, it is unlikely that any change will be lasting. Changing values and vision is never enough to bring about long lasting change at an organization level, including a local church. Without structural change the organization will pretty quickly revert back to the previous ways of doing things. This return to old forms then results in the death of any new values or vision.

Are the wineskins of your ministry/organizations flexible or have they become so sacred that you are not able to change them?

I hope that you have been tracking with me as I have tried to –in a very short few minutes—emphasize the need to change our ways of doing ministry, or wineskins, if we are going to implement a fivefold approach in our churches. I know I am being repetitive in saying that we are talking about functions and not positions here, but it is important that I make this clear, in light of our human tendency to gravitate towards power and position – yes even by some “bible-believing” evangelical groups. In the next episode I am going to expand on how to change the wineskins, so I hope you’ll stay with me, as we put the pieces together.

Episode 11: Fivefold Ministry of Jesus

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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? In our remaining episodes together we want to consider what healthy models of ministry would actually look like.

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Episode 11: Reflecting Jesus’ Ministry

Fivefold Functions and Jesus

Well if you are following along in the workbook, we are now on pages 39-42. To get the most out of our remaining episodes it will be helpful if you were to do the Organization Flow Chart and Life Cycle Assessments. So far we have laid a biblical foundation for the fivefold gifts from Ephesians 4, as well as discussed some of the realities that have occurred throughout church history. We have considered how these equipping gifts relate with Jesus’ Kingdom teaching on servant leadership, as well as our personality, our calling and our role. Moving beyond the Reductionist or Hierarchical extremes, what would a church with a balance of these foundational equipping gifts look like? This is what we will be discussing in our final episodes together.

Since the Beginning and Source of the Church is Jesus, I think it would make sense to begin our discussion by looking at his ministry and how it can be a model for the application of the fivefold ministry functions. A three part model of Jesus’ ministry was originally developed in the first few centuries after Christ by Eusebius and much later adopted into Calvin’s theology. This model portrays Christ as fulfilling the Old Testament offices of the Prophet, Priest, and King. More recently, some have applied this for each believer as they fulfill one or more of these in their ministry. While this may be an improved expansion over the twofold approach of just the pastor and teacher, it is a bit problematic in a New Covenant context. For example, what would it mean for a believer to fulfill the office of “king” in their ministry?

So while there has been a historical motif in describing Jesus’ ministry as Prophet, Priest, and King, I would like to suggest that it may also be a slightly reduced depiction of Jesus’ true ministry as related to the fivefold functions of Ephesians 4. Though the three fold model may be an improvement, it would seem that the fivefold approach would be a superior way to look at the ministry of the believer based upon the ministry of Jesus. As we discussed earlier, the passage in Ephesians 4 has a remarkable Christological feel. As Hirsch points out, it would seem that the fivefold functions are somehow intertwined with who he is and what he does. As his Body we are to now carry on his work on this earth.

Jesus’ Fivefold Ministry

What did each of these fivefold functions look like in the life and ministry of Jesus? We usually avoid referring to Jesus as Apostle, but did he have an apostolic ministry? Well the answer to that seems rather obvious doesn’t it?

Jesus identified himself as having this ministry on many occasions throughout the Gospels (Lk. 4:18-19, 4:43; Mk. 9:37; Jn. 3:34, 4:34, 5:23-24, 5:36-38, 6:29, 7:29, 11:42, 12:45, 17:3, 20:21, and so on). In the Old Testament we see a God who commissions and “sends.” This is mentioned over 200 times. Then in the New Testament, particularly in the Gospel of John, “to be sent” – which is the Greek word being apostello—is attributed to Jesus over 60 times. At the core of the apostolic gifts or ministry is the idea of “sent-ness,” as in an ambassador sent to do the work of another. Referring to Jesus, it is obvious in Scripture that He was sent by his Father. He was on a mission sent by his Father. In John 20:21 he clearly states “as the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” The writer to the Hebrews (3:1) concludes, “Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest.” So I think that pretty much settles any questions as to his apostolic function. Jesus has an apostolic role.

Now the prophetic function and ministry of Jesus is also beyond dispute. Throughout his ministry he reflected the work of a true prophet. While it is clear that Jesus was more than a prophet, he did indeed function in a prophetic role. This began with his declaration that he had arrived in the fullness of time to usher in the Kingdom of God. We see that in Mark. 1:15. He was sent to break the power of sin and evil and impart justice and righteousness (Lk. 4:14-20). We read in John and Acts that he was bringing God’s salvation (Jn. 2:15; Acts 10:42, 17:31). He was sent to fulfill God’s will (Jn. 5:19, 5:30, 12:49), and this new covenantal relationship was actually being redefined by him, as we see in Matt. 5-7. This new relationship was brought about through his death and resurrection, based upon repentance and faith (Mk. 1:15). Unique to Jesus, he was the message; the Word that became flesh. He then calls all people to turn to God and live righteously (Heb. 2-5). So it is clear that Jesus functioned within the classical prophetic role.

How does recognizing Jesus’ fivefold ministry impact our own ministry and that of your church?

Jesus’ Fivefold Ministry

Before the break we were looking at the degree to which Jesus’ life reflected the fivefold ministry. So far we saw that he clearly functioned in both an apostolic and prophetic role. But how about the other three? Well when it comes to the evangelistic gifting, it is again pretty obvious that this was central to his earthly ministry. He came to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom, He was the world’s Savior and Lord (Lk. 4:18, 4:43, 7:22, 16:16). The very resurrection serves to proclaim this new era of salvation; this good news for the whole world. In Luke 15 Jesus identifies this evangelistic ministry using the analogies of searching for the lost coin, leaving the 99 sheep to find the one lost one, as well as the parable of the prodigal son and loving father. This culminates in Jesus’ own declaration in Luke 19:9-10 that he had come to seek and to save the lost. What is unique about Jesus, is not that he functions in an evangelistic role, but rather that he is both the messenger as well as the message. Jesus IS the Good News.

His shepherding function is perhaps the most obvious characteristic of Jesus’ ministry. This is associated with the pastoral function. He has been depicted throughout the history of the Church as the Good Shepherd. This aspect of his ministry has perhaps been one of the most emphasized over all the others (Lk. 10:7-18). In John 10:11 and 14 he clearly declares, “I am the good shepherd.” He is our healer (Lk. 7:22), our reconciler (Eph. 2:14; Heb. 1-4), providing compassion for the broken (Matt. 20:34; Lk. 7:34) and protecting and defending the weak. In establishing this new ecclesia, or called out community of believers, he takes on the role of caring, directing, and protecting. He is the Shepherd and Overseer of his people (1 Pet. 2:25). It is clear from Jesus’ own words that he is the ultimate Shepherd and this signifies his true pastoral calling.

The Scriptures and Church history also clearly portray Jesus as Rabbi, Guide, and Teacher. Of course, what is unique about Jesus was that he not only taught the way – He was the Way. His very life was based on Truth (Jn. 1:17, 14:6)—he not only taught truth, but his very life exemplified the Truth. As a rabbi or teacher, he then led his followers in the way of truth. While it is obvious from his own assertions and ministry that he was a teacher, again, he was so much more. As the Word was made flesh, he was not just the revealer, but also the very one being revealed. He was God’s Truth (Jn. 1:1-14, 14:6, 17:25-26). Paul in his writings affirms Jesus as the source of all truth knowledge and wisdom and makes the connection to the ecclesia (called out ones) that he is the only source of their complete understanding of this mystery (Col. 2:2-3).

So from just a quick look at the life of Jesus it seem pretty obvious that he is the perfect representation and expression of the fivefold ministry functions. As the source and sustainer of this new Body, the Church, if Jesus’ ministry cannot be viewed separately from the fivefold ministry functions, then it would make sense that the Church –which has been sent to do his work on this earth –would now also reflect these same fivefold functions as outlined in Ephesians 4. While I am not really breaking any new theological ground here, what may be unique is stating this mission of the Church as reflecting the mission of the very life and ministry of Jesus. This is expressed in his Body, through these fivefold functions, of which he is the sustainer, provider, and source. Simply stated: The Church is the means by which Jesus extends his ministry in the world today.

How has this overview of Jesus’ ministry through a fivefold lens broadened your perspective of his ministry as well as the implications for the Church?

Implications for the Body

Well what are some of the implications of this? The “Body of Christ” is the primary metaphor that Paul uses to explain this mysterious union with Christ and mission of Christ. Of course, as its head, Jesus is divine and separate from his Body, the Church. In defining “headship” earlier we saw that Jesus is the source, sustainer, and life-giver of his Body. As the source he is not just a figure head or authoritarian figure, but his actual image is to be imprinted on his Body. I would think that his imprint or stamp on the Church should reflect his fivefold ministry functions.

While Jesus was the incarnation of the Godhead, in some mysterious way, his Body is now the incarnation of Christ on this earth. This ecclesia is the conduit of the presence of Christ in the earth as they embody his Spirit. The head and the body, as in our physical body, cannot be separated. If the head is separated, the body dies. But we also cannot have a different identity, or a different purpose or mission. Let me go one step further and suggest that we, the Body, cannot have a different strategy as we fulfill the purposes of Christ, who is the head of his Body. The impartation of mission and strategy must come through the head.

Frank Viola has identified five aspects relating to Christ as our source. Christ expresses his very nature through his Body and he also continues his earthly ministry through his Body. He directs both the Church and the work, as well as nourishing his Body, and is the very source of the Church’s life. Without Christ there is no Body of Christ; no Church. Without connection to the head, there is no source of life for the Body. Within the Body itself there is diversity as Paul teaches, but there is a transcendent unity which comes from connection to the same head, the same source; the author and perfector of our faith, Jesus Christ. It is Christ’s Spirit in us that enables us.

Even though our physical body has many diverse members as Paul taught, it still exists to fulfill a unified function or purpose. The Body of Christ, as a whole, also has a common purpose or mission which originates from its source, Christ as its head. It was established and designed to fulfill Jesus’ purpose in the world. To accomplish this, the Body needs to reflect and implement the very fivefold functions that Jesus modeled in his life and ministry. These are the very functions that he redeemed and then provided for the Church as part of his victorious ascension back to the Father as we saw in the verses preceding the fivefold gifts in Ephesians 4.

What are the implications for the Body of Christ (Church) of Christ as its source of the fivefold functions?

A Reflection of Jesus

As you have probably noticed, our goal in this series is to show that the Church needs to have a balanced expression of these fivefold functions if it is to fulfill its purpose. We are to reflect the ministry of Jesus. As a community we are to be involved in the redemptive, transformative mission of God in this world—this is our apostolic function. We should also be committed to Christological worship, obedience to the Word, prayer, and calling others to this covenantal relationship—this is our prophetic function. It is also essential that we are a witness in word and deed to the central message of Jesus as the Good News—this being our evangelistic function. Then as an authentic New Testament Church we are a family of redeemed, called out ones who are engaged in healthy, discipling relationships as we meet each other’s needs – this is our pastoral function. Finally, we should be committed to the study of the Word through wisdom and knowledge, communicating truth to the world around us—this being our teaching function.

In what ways do you think our ministries and church needs to grow in order to more fully reflect the ministry of Jesus through his Body?

While these will be expressed in different forms—according to our particular context, season of life and ministry, as well as a host of other factors—in some form they should be present in a balanced, healthy church. They should be reflected in this new community of believers. In our next episode we are going to discuss what this would look like within the context a local expression of the Body of Christ. Looking forward to having you join me then.

Episode 10: Two Extremes

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Have some, or all, of the equipping gifts ended, now that we have the canon of Scripture? I started discussing this last time and in this episode we will conclude that discussion. We will look at the other extreme, which is that these are more than just gifts, but 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.

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Video Script

Episode 10: Two Views

Reductionist View Continued

We are now carrying on with our discussion from Episode 9 on the two extreme positions regarding the equipping gifts that have historically developed within the Church over the last two thousand years. We began by discussing the Cessationist view that some or many of these gifts ended with the coming of the canon of Scripture. I provided a rationale as to why this does not line up with the most plain reading of the Ephesians 4 text. If you missed that I would encourage you listen to Episode 9 before you continue. For those following along in the workbook, we are now on pages 35-38.

Another rationale for Cessationism, or Reductionism, is that the primary role of the Apostle was to be a witness of Jesus and his resurrection. And because this was so exceptional a role, once those witnesses died, this function died with them. Again, the problem with this reasoning is that, while the original Apostles did have a unique, irreplaceable role to play in establishing the early Church, there were other apostles listed in the early church, at least one of which was even a woman (Junia in Rom. 16:7). So if the early church calls others who had not been a witness to the resurrected Christ, “apostles,” then it seems this designation was not limited to them then or now.

Another problematic issue for this view is the fact that Judas, as one of the “Twelve,” was replaced. Additionally, one of the best known apostles, Paul, was not part of the original Twelve and yet foundational to the early Church. As Hirsch points out, this doctrine, “dies the death of a thousand qualifications.” As to the resurrection, we know that there were at least 500 people who witnessed the resurrected Christ and so this, in and of itself, does not make the Twelve unique. The better question may be to ask, “To what degree do subsequent apostolic functions and callings reflect the foundational functions of the original Apostles?”

What becomes difficult to explain for those who hold the Reductionist view is as to why these gifts are evident in the early church—as seen throughout the New Testament writings, as well as throughout subsequent church history—but yet are absent today. It seems like a somewhat arbitrary exclusion of apostolic (and to a lesser degree prophetic and evangelistic) functions from the fivefold ministry gifts for the Church today. Hirsch and many others suspect that this rewriting of the fivefold theology, which is at odds with first century Christianity, was originally motivated to consolidate power in an ever increasing bureaucratic hierarchy. The real goal may have been to control the church and increase the influence of the administrative structure of the bishops and priests. A more gracious view would be that it was necessary to eliminate and isolate potential false apostles, so at to protect the integrity of the Gospel from heresy.

Within a few hundred years, the office of Bishop had developed in the Church and was seen as all encompassing, or at least overseeing, all of the other ministries. But what this also seemed to eliminate, or at least invalidate, was the pioneering aspect of the apostolic function. What eventually developed was an institutionalization form of hierarchy that emphasized the pastoral role based on a diocese model. This developed into a clear governance structure in some churches, that was not reflected in the 1^st century church or intended by its early teachings.

As discussed previously, the Western Reformation, for all its good and radical return to a biblical understanding and practice of salvation, did little to reform the structures of the Church. Little was reformed in terms of leadership structures and in particular the redemption of the fivefold ministry functions for the Church. The Reformers had different issues with which they were preoccupied with at the time.

Due to the exegetical, theological, and even historical inconsistencies with the Cessationist arguments, in more recent years scholars and leaders have abandoned, or at least watered down, extreme Cessationism. The text in Ephesians 4, as well as Paul’s other writings, affirm that each of the fivefold gifts are for the edifying and equipping of the Church; it was not only normal in the first century, but normative for following generations. This reveals a troubling problem in the Western Church—and the Eastern Church also has its fair share of this—it is the problem of placing Church tradition and the practices of the early Church fathers on the same level as the Scriptures. Yet church tradition is not infallible nor binding; it was often a product of its time and limited to the current revelation available. A key figure of this train of thought was Clement—who contributed many positive teachings to the church, but not so much on the subject of church governance.

Has the Reductionist view affected your own particular church tradition? Has it had an influence on your own theology?

A Hierarchical Approach

Before the break we were discussing the short comings of the Cessationist view that believes that all or some of the fivefold gifts are no longer needed in the church today. Now let’s switch our attention to the other end of the continuum. Some who adhere to the tradition that all of the gifts are for today, including the fivefold giftings, can slip into the ditch on the other side of the road. While they recognize these as gifts for the church today, they tend to view them through the lens of a hierarchical authoritative position. This view has primarily developed within the 20^th Century, originating from within some branches of the Pentecostal-Charismatic tradition.

While limiting the gifts is counterproductive to the mission of the Church, seeing these equipping giftings as a top-down hierarchy is equally damaging. In this tradition, these gifts are usually seen in terms of power and positional authority. As has been discussed in earlier episodes, superimposing a view from church history that overlays the idea of position and titles on Eph. 4:11-12, contradicts Jesus’ and Paul’s clear teaching on authority and power within the Body of Christ, and particularly the role of leaders as “servants of all.” So what developed in some circles was to infer on apostolic or prophetic functions an almost patriarchal status and authority. Those who had these gifts, or could fake it really well, were able to gather a following and instead of equipping and releasing others, built their own kingdom and ego.

The end result is obviously something quite different than what we see in Ephesians 4 and the early church. Instead of a mature body working together to fulfill the mission, those with the “lesser” gifts – you know serving, mercy, hospitality—were then expected honor and obey the truly gifted ones – that would be those at the top of the food chain: apostles, prophets and so on. In this scenario, ministry becomes a spectator sport. Actually this is the best case scenario. In the worst case scenario the “apostle” or “prophet” uses their gifts for their own good and not for what the gifts were intended – the benefit and edification of others.

This highlights the flaw of this approach and how it is contrary to Jesus’ model of “the greatest in the Kingdom is to serve others and not be served.” The five-fold functions as listed in Ephesians 4 are similar in this regard to the other gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12. All these gifts are to be used for the edification of the Body and others, not to elevate to a position the one exercising the gift. I think our study so far suggests that these gifts in Ephesians 4 are no exception. They were never intended to just be a position in the church, but gifts related to functions and callings within the Body of Christ.

To see these equipping gifts as positions of authority changes the meaning of the original text and creates boss-hood not servanthood type of leadership which is common in many churches that hold this view. As we saw in our last episode, all five of the gifts are to function in balance together. They each have an individual function, but also have a part to play within the Body as a whole. For individuals or groups to view leaders with these gifts as a “super-anointed,” or as Paul called them, “super-apostles,” — you know just a bit above the rest of us and never to be questioned—contradicts Jesus’ clear teaching on the upside-down nature of leadership in this new Kingdom. The values of this New Kingdom are to expressed in and through his Church.

Jesus was pretty straightforward in his teaching, we were not to aspire to position and title. According to Matthew 23 we are not even to allow someone to call us, “teacher” or “rabbi,” since we all are equal brothers/sisters. The correct attitude of the church leader is to lay one’s life down for others. When the equipping gifts are functioning as they should there will be a unity in the Body and believers will grow and be mature. They will no longer be like infants, dependant on the manipulation and craftiness of others. Unfortunately, this is what occurs in churches where apostle or prophetic-types are dictatorial and authoritarian. This can be expressed overtly or more likely in subtle manipulation like, “If you were really godly you would listen to me his humble servant!”

The results of this approach is always similar, an unhealthy, weak Body were members are not fulfilling their calling and have an unhealthy dependence on others. It creates a co-dependency between leaders and those they are called to serve. People who like co-dependency stay and the rest head for the exits. I may probably be entering a minefield here, but I have come this far so I may as well continue. Here in the Western evangelicalism – and much of the evangelical church around the world that is influenced by western theology—this misguided teaching has also developed into the model of leadership based on a business CEO model. Rather than Jesus’ model of leadership as the suffering servant, it has become one of position and power.

The knee jerk reaction of other groups to this power grab by some church leaders is to eliminate the most problematic gifts – as they see them – or at least sideline them from functioning. I would suggest that a better approach would be to seek to understand how they should function within the context of balanced New Testament Church. Many want the perks or at least the results of Jesus’ leadership, but fewer are willing to accept the level of suffering that is required of that level of calling. Now I am fully aware that this is not the kind of message this is likely to make my likes blow up—ya, no chance of this message going viral. Yet maybe in our consumer driven, modern church this is part of the problem.

As I mentioned, this unbalanced approach to the equipping gifts and leadership has created a bit of a cult of charismatic personalities in the Western church, particularly in the last decades. Unfortunately, this approach has also been exported around the world. It can take many forms, from a gifted Apostle or Prophet, famous writer/speaker, or a business CEO style of leadership. Whatever form it takes, the distinguishing feature is that these fivefold functions are used to create a hierarchy that is intended to enhance—or even demand—religious authority over others. This –and let’s call it what it is, spiritual abuse – always results in hurt and disillusioned members in the Body.

These extremes, are not the result of a flaw in the fivefold ministry model, but rather a failure to understand how they are to function within the Body of Christ. Add to this the failure of leadership to live by the Kingdom value of servanthood and mutual submission and you have a church that looks quite different than Jesus intended. To superimpose the CEO, or ultra-spiritual guru, model on the fivefold equipping gifts leads to unbiblical and life-sucking structures that were never intended—or practiced—in the early church. Ministry is intended to be given to the whole Body; everyone can, and should, participate. It is a new priesthood where the Spirit of Christ lives in each member.

The fivefold model of Ephesians 4 reflects giftings and calling. Although most of us would theologically agree with this, our models of ministry far too often perpetuate a clergy-laity divide. It is this misuse of some of the fivefold functions that has led some to reject the more controversial of the fivefold gifts – typically the apostolic and prophetic – all together. What seems to have happened is that since there has been so much misuse and abuse, a reduced model, which only emphasizes the evangelistic, pastoral, and teaching gifts, has been adopted in many churches.

So while the theology of the fivefold ministry is agreed to in most evangelical circles, fewer seem to know how to implement all of them in the church. In the last five episodes we have discussed how viewing these gifts through a Christological lens can help us come back to a balance in the Body of Christ. Fundamentally, these are a fivefold expression of Jesus’ ministry, which he then gave his Body to fulfill his mission on earth (Matt. 28:19-20).Yet, without appropriate wineskins of ministry, we have been left with a model first articulated by Clement, namely that of the pastor-teacher model.

How has this particular view influenced your own ministry? Are there any changes in thinking, attitudes or actions that you may need to make?

In the remaining episodes we want to look at some models of ministry that can help us implement this fivefold approach in our ministries and churches. I think you will not only find it thought provoking, but helpful in your particular context. Thanks for joining me.

Episode 9: A Balanced Team

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In a perfect world each of these fivefold gifts would be functioning in every local church—equipping each believer and meeting the needs of the Body. However, in reality it usually doesn’t work out quite like that. We often think our gift is most important and undermine others, or at least view them a bit skeptically. 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?

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Video Script

Episode 9: Balance in the Body

How our Gifts are Viewed

We have been discussing the fivefold gifts from Ephesians 4 from both the perspective of the individual as well as from the perspective of the Church. In this episode I want to circle back and made a few more comments regarding the expression of these gifts through individual. Again, if you are following along we are in pages 32-35 of the workbook. In preparation, you can use our Assessments to identify your own gifts.

An individual does not typically just have one of these five foundational gifts functioning in their lives. It is more common that a person usually has a primary or main gifting and secondary or even other latent gifts that may only come to use when presented with a need. I made the case that Jesus likely operated with all of these gifts, but for the rest of us this is probably not the case– which is why it is so important to have a balanced ministry with a team approach. As we saw last time, this seems to line up with how ministry occurred in the early church, it was a team sport.

Over the course of church history, these equipping gifts have come to be recognized as a leader’s identity—I am a “teacher” or a “pastor.” This has then led some of them to be seen as official “offices” or positions. I would suggest that this is a bit problematic. Reducing the fivefold functions to “pastor,” or any other one equipping function, will lead to imbalance in the Body. This one-sided approach was non-existent in the early church and something that occurred later in church tradition. As I said previously, we are likely not going to be able to completely change this wineskin or perception, but I think we can restore the fivefold balance of ministry within each of our own contexts.

Restoring a balance of the fivefold functions is not easy since each of the gifts has a different emphasis. This is likely why Paul emphasized the need for unity, in the passage preceding his listing these gifts in Ephesians four. Though balance is not easy, it is possible. As we learn to view each of the other gifts in relation to what they bring to the Body, we can value them more—rather than seeing them in competition with our own gifts. Let’s look at a few examples based upon the description of each that I provided last episode. Again if you have not done so yet, our Team Unity Assessment would be helpful to do now. Note that the higher you score in each of these tables signifies the less you identify with that gift and likelihood that you do not have that gift.

For example, if someone has some apostolic giftings, they will always be seeking to move forward, shake up the status quo and reach beyond cultural, societal, and ethnic borders. They will likely find a natural affinity with those with prophetic gifting, as well as the evangelist who are helpful in the spread of the Gospel. However, they may tend to view pastors as those who only seek to maintain the status quo and see teachers as too focused on growth and learning, rather than doers of the mission that God intended for the Church.

On the other hand, if someone has prophetic giftings, they will likely view the organization with constructive—and sometimes not so constructive—criticism. With their greater insight into the current situation and what changes are necessary, they are more inclined—some would say driven—to move in a new direction, rather than merely maintaining the status quo. This gives them a greater affinity to apostolic and even evangelistic types, but again they may see pastors and teachers as too comfortable—you know just keeping the community as it is and meeting personal needs, when there are so many big picture issues to deal with. They are likely more interested in organizational change and aligning with God’s purposes than with making sure people’s immediate needs are being met.

Now if someone has more evangelistic giftings, they will be highly motivated to get the Message out, regardless of the cost. If they are mature they will recognize the need for people to be discipled and will see the need for pastoral care, even though they may not have the patience or skills to do this themselves. Immaturity in using this gift means they just focussed on “getting people saved.” They will usually identify with the apostolic/prophetic giftings since they have an outward rather than inward focus. Their desire to see the expansion of the ministry often means that they don’t fully appreciate those who want to take the time to go deep in the Word, or discuss the nuances of Scriptures. Their primary goal is to get out there and share the Good News.

If someone has pastoral giftings—and remember we are talking about giftings, not just a position—they will be driven by creating a healthy community of believers. This usually means that those with this gifting view the apostolic and prophetic giftings as a threat to this health and stability. They are often keenly aware of the lack of capacity for change of those going through the difficulties of life and so it is natural that they would not appreciate the critical analysis of the prophetic style that is wanting to always bring about change at an organizational level. They accurately recognize the need for the church to also grow numerically and so will likely appreciate those with evangelistic giftings. They will also have a natural affinity with teachers, since part of this gifting includes the ability to teach.

Finally, if someone has the gift of teaching, they have a desire is to research, go deep into the Word, and then share this with others. While their goal is life transformation, they may be more comfortable with ideas and concepts than with getting involved in the messiness of daily caring for others. They may see the need for change, but may not be as comfortable with the apostolic or prophetic approach to change “at all costs.” This is because they don’t usually identify with those who see most issues as black and white, they tend to see issues from both sides, a more nuanced approach.

Of course this is a bit of an oversimplification, but I think it is helpful for us to consider our view of the other gifts and why we have come to those conclusions. Now, those with equipping gifts functioning in their lives do not usually have just one of these gifts, but have a mix. As with personality styles, our particular mix will affect our calling and our role in the Body. For example, a person who is particularly strong with the pastoral or teaching gifts will offer the Body something different than someone who is stronger in the apostolic or prophetic gifts. If a person with a gift mix of apostolic/prophetic/ teaching will also have a different gift set than someone with the pastoral/teaching ones, and so on.

With which of these do you have a greater natural affinity with and which ones do you have less affinity with? Our Assessments can help you identify your own particular gift mix and how you relate to the other gifts.

Two Extremes

Before the break we were discussing how the fivefold functions or giftings relate to each other and the need for finding a balance in the Church. This is all within the context of previous episodes where we looked at how our personality, our other gifts, as well as our roles and calling all relate to our service in the Body of Christ. I think it will be helpful at this point spend a few moments considering how we got here and specifically the two extreme positions that have historically developed over the last two thousand years. This misunderstanding of the balance of the fivefold ministry in the Church has typically led to two positions. On one hand there is the Reductionist approach, and on the other, a Hierarchical approach. In one of our first episodes I mentioned these, but I would like to take a deeper dive at this point.

Most church traditions find themselves somewhere on the continuum between these two views. On one hand some believe that some of the fivefold functions—particularly the apostolic, prophetic and perhaps even evangelistic – have ceased, while others view these fivefold functions as distinct offices with a hierarchy that validates leadership and power. Hirsch has identified these two groups as being either Cessationists—believing some functions have ended—and Hierarchical, who see these fivefold functions as positional offices for the Church. I would suggest that either of these positions taken to the extreme creates a problem. If a church holds to a Reduced ministry model will it be able to produce the same results as Jesus’ fivefold ministry model? What are the results of such an approach to fulfilling the mission of the Church?

Now there are varying degrees to which church groups hold to the Cessationist approach, but generally they believe that with the coming of the canon of Scripture, the apostolic, prophetic and sometimes even the evangelistic gifts are no longer necessary. This usually coincides with a greater emphasize on a priestly role and relying more on church tradition than others would be comfortable with. Some groups in this tradition may accept some prophetic ministry, and more would be open to evangelism, yet most would be in agreement that the general apostolic function has ended.

This view seems to have developed based upon concepts of ecclesiastical authority and power which many do not see within the New Testament. Later concepts of ordination, clergy/laity divisions, and ecclesial power that developed in the tradition of the Church are then read back into Scripture. Many evangelical scholars believe that the meaning given to these passages have a different meaning that what is found in the original texts in the New Testament. These passages have taken on meanings that could never have been understood by the original readers, which, as we saw earlier, is a red flag that this could not have been the meaning of the original authors.

The reasoning of this approach is that the primary role of the Apostles was to write the Bible and, after this was done, they passed on the apostolic baton in the form of the New Testament to the priest or pastors and teachers to study and interpret it for the rest of us. The problem with this reasoning is that only a maximum of six—likely five—of the original Twelve Apostles wrote canonical material and so it begs the question, “Were the remaining non-writers therefore not apostles?” The belief is that once the apostolic writings had been reduced to the canon of Scripture, there was no longer any need for the ongoing functions of the apostles and prophets. Again the problem with this reasoning is that the role of the early apostles was far more than just creating Scripture. They were engaged in vision casting, church planting, networking movements, and so on.

Often Ephesians 2:20, “…members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone,” is used to prove that the apostles and prophets function is now embodied in the Bible. But to say that this function is no longer needed according to the coming of the canon of the Bible doesn’t make much sense since Paul did not even have the canon of the New Testament at the time. So back to basic hermeneutics, the original readers could not have understood the passage to mean the Bible replaced these gifts. Paul actually contradicts this view only two chapters later in Ephesians 4, where he lists these gifts as being given to the church, with no linguistic clue that they would be rescinded at some point. This is why, in my opinion, the most simple, plain interpretation should be used: they are still for today.

The role of good doctrine does not seem to be a credible reason to replace the equipping functions. To carry this reasoning to its logical conclusion, all five of the equipping gifts should have ceased, as they cannot be linguistically, theologically, or even practically separated from each other in this verse. So, if one or two have ended, to be consistent, they all must have ended. The text does not allow for picking and choosing which to keep and which to discard.

What problems do you see with this reductionist approach to the fivefold gifts? In what ways do you agree/disagree?

Okay, at this point we need to bring this episode to an end and perhaps give your brain a needed break. But we are kind of in the middle of our discussion here, so next time I will continue with a few more thoughts regarding Reductionism and then look at the extreme on the other end of the scale, where each of these gifts is seen as an actual hierarchical position of authority. I think you’ll find it helpful as I pull some of these loose pieces together.

Episode 8: Ministry Functions

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Description

In this episode I would like to define each of the fivefold gifts from Ephesians 4 in greater detail. 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?

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Episode 8: Ministry of the Church

Fivefold Function and Leadership

As we look at organizational functions, we are now on pages 28-32 of the workbook. While it is unlikely that one individual will have all of the fivefold functions, it may be plausible that the more mature we are, the more we are likely to have several of these expressed in and through our lives. Having said that, it seems that in some way these gifts seem to be connected to a person’s calling and role. It is important to remind ourselves that these are not offices or positions, as has often been the case in some traditions in church history. Rather, these are specific functions and ministries given by Jesus to equip all believers to fulfill the purpose of his Church on this earth.

Each of these fivefold functions is a gift that serves to equip all believers for the work of the ministry. Yet what I have also noticed happens is that we tend to particularly appeal to, or “equip,” those who have a similar gift to us. At the very least we model for others how to use their gift. For example, a teacher will attract those with a teaching gift and is best suited to help them develop their teaching gifting. We tend to attract and draw out those in the Body that share our similar gifting.

In what ways do you think the fivefold gifts function with leadership in the Body?

Equipping Leadership Functions

We all could probably give a general description of each of the fivefold gifts listed in Ephesians 4. Of course, this description is usually informed by our own study and specific church experience and so may be limited. So I would like to now present a broader description of how each of these could be expressed through an individual. Again, you may find it helpful at this point to refer to or do the Assessments that are provided.

Apostolic Individual

The person with apostolic giftings is a person who has a sense of the big picture and purpose of the whole organization or church. It is more than just starting churches. They tend to be the catalyst for the extension of the church through mission and church planting. They are typically entrepreneurial and pioneers; willing to take risks. This is usually combined with the faith necessary to innovate, make changes, and reinvent the wineskins necessary to achieve the overall purpose of the church or organization. Those who are involved in cross-cultural ministry as “sent out” ones are also likely to have some measure of this gift working in and through their lives. Founders of organizations, networkers, and consultants who work across denominational, cultural and geographic lines, are also usually apostolic in gifting.

Prophetic Individual

Those with a prophetic gifting are those who are catalysts for change. In this context it is not about foretelling the future. They are always looking at the system, seeing flaws, and trying to motivate others to change the status quo. They are those that ask difficult questions and seek organizational and cultural change, as well as seek change within broader community structures. Prophetically gifted people tend to be the innovators of new forms and often have greater insights. They are those who are problem solvers, although they often seen by others as ahead of their time. They are more ready for change than those around them, which can cause some conflict.

Evangelistic Individual

While all believers are called to be witnesses of the Good News, the evangelists among us are those who are uniquely equipped to take the message beyond their own immediate circle of influence to the greater community. It is not just about preaching to the masses. They seem to see the community with different eyes than those in the rest of the Body. They are also uniquely equipped to draw out those who also have this gift and are able to train them in evangelism. They have a way of increasing the capacity of all members to become more effective witnesses. They tend to be outgoing, persuasive people who have greater communication skills and can motivate others to make a decision. In addition to being able to share the Gospel on an individual level, those with the gift of an evangelist have a greater capacity to address larger societal, cultural context with the message.

Pastoral Individual

Those with the pastoral equipping gift are those who seek to create and maintain healthy community; they are those who encourage others in the faith and care deeply that they are doing well in every area of life. It is not just about being in the pulpit every Sunday. They tend to very aware of their environment and how this is affecting others around them. They naturally empathize with the hurting and have deep connections with others. This often leads them to wanting to maintain the status quo, so as to not upset others. Those with this pastoral gifting are those who “see” the vulnerable, others many of us do not “see.” For them, all people matter and it is their mission to bring them all to health. They tend to be the defenders of the community, providing pastoral care and direction.

Teaching Individual

In the community of believers, the teacher’s main function is to impart practical wisdom, based upon a biblical worldview. It is not about teaching seminars. They are not just concerned with knowledge, but have a desire and ability to take concepts and make them practically applicable in people’s lives. While they are immersed in the interaction of ideas and concepts, their focus is on life change and transformation. The individual with a teaching gift within the community of believers is also instrumental in the development of materials that others can use as they develop their own teaching giftings. It is this function that often leads them to be good mentors and coaches of others, writers and developers of materials, researchers, theologians, and trainers.

Which of these leadership functions do you identify with and see functioning in your own ministry? The Fivefold gift assessment provided may be helpful for you to do that.

The Church’s Fivefold Function

Before the break we were discussing characteristics of each of the equipping gifts as they are expressed within individuals. Let’s shift our attention for the remainder of this episode by looking at these gifts as expressed in the Church as a whole. I think we all could agree that the core mission of the Church is to expand the message of Jesus to everyone, as well as be a witness of Christ in the community. So if every local expression of the Body of Christ should in some way reflect each of the fivefold ministries of Jesus, what would that look like?

Apostolic Church

A local church that is functioning with an apostolic gifting will be engaged in Jesus’ Mission. This is a key function of any church that serves to maintain its core mission. This will includes developing innovations at the structural level in order to always be relevant in the culture in which the church in located. In seeing the big picture, the missional church is committed to local and global extension. A church that is not involved in planting new expressions or communities of Jesus followers has a deficit in the apostolic function of Jesus (and the Church). The apostolic function also includes constantly redesigning the forms of ministry in order to meet new cultures and subcultures, as well as expanding beyond the primary cultural context of the church. To do this, it needs to always be redesigning its wineskins as an organization. This requires systems thinking and how the various parts fit into the whole of the mission of the Church. Churches functioning in this gifting typically have a greater diversity and are part of networks of those with similar vision and like mindedness.

Prophetic Church

The Church as a prophetic community is also expressing the very core of Jesus’ purpose. There are essentially two aspects to this New Testament ministry. There is the maintenance and focus on keeping the covenant with God. This seeks to keep a God-focus on all aspects of the church’s ministry. The goal is to encourage an emphasis on a relationship with God. Secondly, there is also the aspect of the prophetic in relation to others. Being in a relationship with God means that, as a people, the church seeks holiness, justice and righteousness. So a church exercising this function is a church that calls others to repentance and change. It has a focus on true worship and calls all believers to be engaged, based on a relationship with God. A balanced prophetic voice of the church is both mystical and charismatic, as well as focussed on local social justice. Focussing on just one of these will make the church imbalanced and misaligned from its original mission.

Evangelistic Church

The people of God are to be messengers, or witnesses, of this Good News. An evangelistic Church provides every community with a witness of Jesus through both word and deed. This is the function of the Church that communicates in relevant and meaningful ways. As Jesus displayed in his ministry, the church should be calling others to respond to the Message. Without this function, the Church will inevitably decline, as this is where the new life comes from. This witness is in word, but also in demonstrations of this good news. A community of believers with this functioning gift will be developing every believer to be relevant witnesses of the Message. It is not so much about getting people “saved,” as it is helping them become disciples of Jesus and joining him in his mission.

Pastoral Church

The pastoral Church has its roots in the Old Testament as we see in Psa. 23, 2 Sam. 5:2. It culminates in Jesus, the Great Shepherd. This pastoral function has a focus on nurturing and so seeks to develop healthy bonds within the community. This requires a ministry of healing which will take many forms, from praying, to counselling, and relational reconciliation. It also provides a protective function from both internal and external dangers. The “called out ones” are placed into a community of believers from which they are to be healed, trained, and equipped. Every new community of believers is diverse, including many socio-economic classes, ethnicities, and so on. Yet within this diversity there is to be a unity as each member grows into maturity through the process of discipleship. The church with this pastoral function helps to create a family of God out of those who were once enemies of God. It is this loving community that then becomes a witness to the community of the love of God.

Teaching Church

The primary function of the teaching gift in the Body is to acquire and live with wisdom. This begins with accurately interpreting and applying the Scriptures, but in a way that is not disassociated from everyday life. So while teaching in the Body is centered on the Scriptures, it has far reaching implications. In addition to the Scriptures, other resources and materials will also be used to build up and equip the saints. A teaching church includes every area of life, not just within the walls of the church. At its core it is about discipleship, not just providing information. To be effective, structures of training will eventually need to be developed in order to pass on the baton to coming generations.

How does seeing the church as fulfilling each of these fivefold functions affect how we view the mission of the Church?

I hope that this quick overview will expand your own perspective as to how these equipping gifts can be expressed within members of the Body, as well as expressed through the local church to their community. As Paul pointed out, it takes effort for this diversity to create unity rather than division. We often focus on our particular strengths and so churches we serve tend to reflect our specific emphasis. So how can we as a church have a balanced fivefold expression of Christ to the world? The Team Unity Assessment provides questions that identify our view of the other gifts and this helps us determine those gifts that we value most. If you have not done so yet, it may be helpful to do that before the next episode, as this will be the focus of our discussion next time. I hope you’ll be able to join me then.

Episode 7: Leadership Functions

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Description

Welcome back to our series on the fivefold ministry gifts. So far we have seen that these gifts are functions—not positions—their purpose is to equip each member of the Body to mature and help each of us fulfill the mission of the Church. But 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?

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Episode 7: Ministry and Functions

Fivefold Functions and Gifts

So in our last episode we were noticing the fivefold giftings corresponding to God’s attributes and reflected in the ministry of Jesus. Even though they have all been historically present in the Church, in many circles today there has been a focus on only the pastoral or teaching functions. And these usually function only within a particular church position. We are now on pages 24-28 of the workbook and want to now look more closely at other gifts and how these relate to the fivefold functions.

The two other main “gift” passages are in Rom. 12:6-8 – where we read of prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, giving, leadership, mercy – and 1 Cor. 12:8-11,28, where Paul lists gifts of wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues, and apostle, prophets, teachers, miracles, healing, administration, tongues. It is important to remember that none of the gifts are rewards or proofs of spiritual maturity, actually the early church in Corinth had many gifts functioning, but was still very immature.

As I have been considering and studying this topic over the years, I have come to realize that these lists may be more descriptive than prescriptive. In other words, these lists are probably not exhaustive, but merely listed as examples of possible gifts. The text seems to bear this out, as Paul never states the gifts the same way or in the same order, something a man of his scholarship could easily have done. As we saw in an earlier episode, even the fivefold gifts have a slightly different order in 1 Cor. 12 than they do in Ephesians 4. This seems to reinforces the idea that the gifts are about function and service, not a positional hierarchy, based upon which is perceived to be more important or impressive at the time.

All gifts, including the fivefold ones from Ephesians, are given to meet a need and not something the user possesses. Of course, particular ministries are characterized by certain gifts. For example, the teaching ministry relies on the gift of teaching, wisdom, and discernment, while the pastoral function would also include gifts of mercy, hospitality, encouragement, and so on. It would seem that our function in the Body is related to our gifts. But though some of these gifts may seem like natural abilities, they all are given by Christ and it is only through the inward working of his Spirit that they will meet the needs as he intended.

It is also important to remember that they are not “our” gifts. They are gifts of the Spirit which he gives to the Church for the service of others through us. This is another reason we should not get proud in the use of “our” gifts.

This is true even for those gifts with which we function regularly, those that could be seen by others as our “identity” or role. Regardless of what our gifts in the Body may be – which includes leadership – we are to have an attitude of servanthood, seeking to build up the Body of Christ, not stroke our own ego.

Fivefold Functions and Leadership

So how should these gifts function within leadership? It would seem from the New Testament that leadership in the Body was based upon spiritual gifting and yet there was a flexibility in how these functions operated in the early church. As we have already discussed, this is quite different than other institutions in society, then and now. I think we can make several other observations from the record of the early church in the book of Acts.

As we read the text, we see emerging structures, or wineskins, developing in the early church. However, leaders were chosen, patterns of meeting occurred, and decisions were made, with seeming little or no clear formal teaching or explanation of these structures – or for that matter directives as to exactly how they were to develop. It is obvious that some structures and leadership terminology was borrowed from their Judaic traditions, such as the synagogue model. Yet new structures were also created to meet new needs, as we can see in Acts 2, 4-6, 12, 13, 15).

And yet it is not clear if these were one-time solutions—just the way they did things—or formalized patterns that all believers were to follow. In other words, were they just “normal” or “normative.”? What is clearly missing from the book of Acts is a formal, ordained clergy, a formal constitution, or a book of rules and regulations. Even when a large group of priests come to the faith, as in Act 6:7, there is no indication that they were to now became leaders in this new Christian community. It was to be about gifts and calling, and not position.

Unlike the Old Testament record that featured special people who intervened to God on behalf of the people – the priests – in this new Kingdom (this the New Covenant), all believers were to be such “priests” to God. We see this in 1 Pet. 2:9-10. Jesus Christ is our high priest and the church is a kingdom of priests (Rev 1:6; Heb 4:14, 8:1). In other words, all members of the Body were to now have this role, not just a few gifted people. We also observe in the book of Acts that there were different structures in different locations. While there were similarities, we are not told that the Jerusalem pattern was to be followed in Antioch, or the one in Ephesus the same as the one in Corinth. The New Testament record actually gives very few directives with regards to church structure and leadership. It would have been easy enough for the writers to do, which looking back we think would have been very helpful, yet this lack of clarity seems to indicate that there was flexibility in how the church was to be organized. Perhaps the goal was not to set up a clearly defined wineskin but allow for flexibility in the coming centuries.

While there does not seem to be one clear definitive structure, there were several principles that did emerge that any leadership structure needed to be based upon. Whatever the structure, it had to be aligned with Kingdom values, such as servant leadership. It also had to be culturally relevant in every context, without violating Kingdom values, and it had to remain flexible and change as necessary, which is back to our discussion on wineskins.

How do you think the other gifts relate to the fivefold functions? How have you seen this function within your own ministry?

Fivefold Functions and Leadership cont

Before the break we have been looking at the equipping gifts in relation to the other gifts and more specifically how they are to function within the emerging wineskin or structure of the early first century community of believers. In Paul’s Pastoral Letters, we see the organic development of leadership functions in the early church. We read of elders, deacons, bishops, superintendents, overseers. Yet, as with the other gifts, these seem to be more descriptive than prescriptive. They seem to describing functions, rather than instituting offices or titles that are to refer to specific position to be set up in all places for all time.

For example, the term “deacon,” in New Testament language and usage, clearly refers to one who serves, not as an official office or position. As the early church appointed certain men as deacons in Acts 6:1-6, certain principles seem to emerge. First, there was to be order and a division of responsibility and they were to meet a specific need; there was a plurality of leadership, something that we observe throughout the early church. It is also interesting to see that there did not seem to be a hierarchy of spirituality. Regardless of how menial the task, they were to have spiritual qualifications. Doing the menial tasks, deacons did not have to be just a bit less spiritual than the elders.

The deacons actually seemed to function in roles according to their giftings and the need, as we see with Stephen in Acts 7 and Philip in Acts 8:5 and 21:8. Both were deacons, but ended up functioning as prophets and evangelists. They were not locked into one position. There did not seem to be an attitude in the early church where leaders said, “Hey you guys are supposed to ‘wait on tables’ while us more spiritual types are to be the real ‘minister the Word of God.’”

In Acts 20, as well as in 1 Pet. 5 and Titus 1, we see that the terms “elder,” “overseer/bishop,” and “shepherd” being used. Particularly with the phrase, “Be shepherds of God’s flock,” the language being used is one of function rather than that of title or position. In their usage throughout the New Testament, these terms seem rather synonymous and interchangeable. As I said earlier, it’s hard to find a clear list that is consistent in every local church. Actually, in the original Greek, the term “elder” means to have the function of oversight and teaching. As Paul instructed the elders in Ephesus (Acts 20:28), they were to watch their own life, watch out for others, shepherd the church and protect it from internal threats. The term “elder” then seems pretty synonymous with what we would call a “pastor” today.

It is also important to note that leadership in the early church was always plural; leading was a team sport. The terms elders and deacons were always in plural form, even as we have seen with the fivefold equipping functions.

A clear consistent hierarchy is not developed in the New Testament writings, as there is much overlap between elders and deacons, for example. However, the spiritual qualifications of those who serve in the Body of Christ was clear and the same for all. From 1 Tim. 3:1-13 and Titus 1:5-9 we discover that they are to be hospitable, able to teach, not violent but gentle, not a lover of money, not quarrelsome, not a recent convert, self-controlled, have a good reputation with outsiders, loving what is good, upright and holy, disciplined, above reproach, having one wife, temperate, respectable, not given to drunkenness, able to manage their family well, honest, and holding firmly to truth. Leadership in the Body is not about position and title, but about being a person of character who is willing to serve others, not themselves.

As someone serves others consistently with a similar gift, this “function” is sometimes called our “ministry.” It can even reflect our life purpose and calling. But this does not necessarily mean that it should become an office of position. So while the fivefold functions have a leadership dimension as they are used to equip others to do the work of the ministry, they are to function in this new community according to Jesus’ Kingdom principles of leadership. As we have discussed, leadership and authority should look quite different within the Body of Christ. Those who are serving the community of believers with one or more of the fivefold gifts are not to be “bosses” or members of a new elite hierarchy, but fellow servants who submit their gifts to the Body of Christ.

The equipping gifts have a specific function in the body, however, I think it is important to not read back into Paul’s teaching a professional clergy, for he would have had no concept of a professional clergy as we know of it today. While Scripture can have a fuller meaning down the road, good biblical interpretation means that it cannot have a meaning today that it never had for its first readers. Could it be possible that the gift of leadership is not necessarily synonymous with one of the fivefold ministry giftings? For example, could someone function with an equipping gift while at the same time not have a position or “office” in the Church? This is something to think about and topic we will explore in future episodes.

Do you think the fivefold gifts are directly correlated to leadership? Why or why not? What are the implications for how ministry is organized in the church?

Fivefold Function and Ministry

My purpose here is to expand our understanding of how these fivefold giftings can function in the Body. Of course my comments are not without some context. They come after two thousand years of church history, as well as our own cultural and institutional context. All of this has influenced our understanding of the Eph. 4 gifts. I understand it is difficult to lay aside our own experience and church histories and try to view these gifts as a first century reader would have. While not easy I do think it is worth the effort. I remember once speaking in a church in an African country and behind me on the stage was a large picture of each of their 12 founding “Apostles” of their church. Proof positive that traditions indeed die hard. Unfortunately there was also a fair amount of bad theology involved. We may not go that far, but we each have our own history that impacts our understanding.

Hirsch takes it a step further and suggests that the expression of the fivefold functions may have a wider role within all of society. As with the other gifts, there is not always a clear line between their use in the Body of Christ and in the community. However, it should be remembered that these are spiritual gifts given to those “in Christ” for a specific role of building up His Body. They best function through Christ’s Spirit that lives in and through us. Actually this concept of a separation between the “sacred” and “secular” can usually be traced back to a misunderstanding of the principle of the priesthood of all believers. While most would agree with this, theologically, in practical terms there often remains a separation between the clergy and laity; the sacred and secular; or even the church and the community.

So as we continue, I want to challenge us to see beyond the cultural or theological limitations of our particular context. We may have certain gifts that we serve others with more regularly as the need arises and others we use less frequently. Leadership roles may not be directly described by any one of the equipping gifts. Hirsch makes the case that each of us can function in these five gifts, in varying degrees. As we come into full maturity we will be able to function in more than one of these categories depending on what is required. While this may be stretching the text a bit, it is definitely something to think about. If Christ is living in us and has all the gifts, and we are to become more and more like him, perhaps Hirsch is on to something.

In what ways do you think the church in your culture/society could better apply the scriptural teaching of the “priesthood of all believers”?

At this point, if you have not done so yet, you may find it helpful to do the Fivefold Gifting Assessment to see your own mix. There is also a Team Unity tool that assesses our balance with the other gifts. In our next episode I will look at the fivefold functions from the perspective of the church community and then from the perspective of the individual leader. I’m looking forward to having you join me then.

Episode 6: Leadership and Calling

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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.

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

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Video Script

Episode 6: Leadership and Functions

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 21^st century, as they were in the 1^st 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.

Episode 5: Gifts Redeemed

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We have been looking at several biblical passages that provided a theological foundation for Jesus as the originator, source and provider of the Church. 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.

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Episode 5: A Christological Approach

Fivefold Ministry and Authority

Over the last few episodes I have taken some time to lay a theological foundation for biblical leadership and how this should differ from the leadership we see in every institution in our fallen world. I am aware that I am going into a bit more exegetical detail than I normally do in a podcast, but as I have served in various capacities over the years—actually since a young adult over 50 years ago and then throughout my ministry of training leadership—I think it is necessary. There may be a reason the fivefold expression of ministry has not been applied in the church writ large in a balanced, healthy way. I believe not having this foundation is part of the issue. As I said, doing this in a short podcast likely raises more questions than it answers, so I would encourage you to get the workbook and study this yourself in greater detail. If you are doing so, we are now on pages 16-20.

I made the point that a more complete understanding of Jesus’ role in his Church has to do with our understanding of the Greek word kephalē, from which we get the English word “head.” We know the literal meaning, the thing on top of your shoulders, but here the figurative meaning is more of “source,” rather than “chief or boss.” As our model Jesus illustrated servanthood, not boss-hood. So for a few moments, let’s take a bit more of a deep dive into the meaning of this word. Since the original language of the New Testament was classical Greek, it might be important to discover how this word kephalē was commonly used in ancient Greek language which Paul used. There are about twelve passage in the New Testament in which this term is used. Unfortunately, most of the leading Greek-English Lexicons use the biblical record, as it is translated, as proof rather than incorporating extra-biblical sources. The reasoning becomes, “Kephalē means authority in the Bible because kephalē means authority in these texts, in the Bible.” So it becomes somewhat of a circular argument, with the conclusion already predetermined.

So there ends up being two opposite interpretations – one as authority and the other as source or a combination of both of these. This lack of precision is likely what has led scholars to differing views on the fundamental understanding of male/female relationships in Pauline literature, as we discussed last time. This of course is the ongoing debate between complementarians and egalitarians. As you have probably figured out I am more in the latter camp than the former. If you want a more detailed explanation, particularly as it impacts marriage and women in ministry you can study our “First Team” materials and accompanying exegetical study. Scholars tend to choose a lexicon that fits their theology and belittle others. I suppose we all do this to some degree.

If you are like me, you are not a huge fan of grammar and maybe just glad you just passed the course as a kid, I can relate. But I think this is so important for our study that I am going to risk it. And don’t worry, unless you are doing this for credit with our CLI program, there will be no test on this! I’ll try to make it as painless as possible.

So in all classical Greek literature ranging from the 8^th Century BC to the 4^th century AD there are2,336 cases of kephalē represented by the writings of 36 authors. Of these references, scholars have identified 49 in which kephalē is used figuratively referring to a person of superior authority or rank. These 49 instances can be discussed in three distinct categories. First, 19 in non-biblical writings; Second, 18 in Greek translations of the Old Testament (including thirteen in the Septuagint), Third, 12 cases in the New Testament.

Based on the research of several scholars let’s look at each of these. In the first 19 from non-biblical Greek literature there is no instance where “head” has the meaning of “ruler or person of superior authority or rank.” There seems to be no Greek literature where a ruler is referred to as “head,” as in “Alexander the Great was the head (kephalē ) of the Greek armies.”

Now in ancient Greek literature there are thousands of references to rulers and those in positions of authority and leadership, however, while many words are used to describe this function, there are no cases of the use of the word kephalē to denote “authority” or “leadership.” In only two cases in ancient literature is kephalē used metaphorically, as the “ruling” part of a person or animal. So it would be pretty hard on this basis to apply the metaphor to a leader of a group of people. Basically the use of kephalē being used metaphorically in the Greek language is very rare.

This is in contrast to Hebrew (rō’š) and Latin (caput) in which it had the well defined meaning of “chief” or “authority.” However, in Greek the meaning is more fluid and poetic, rather than the detailed meaning needed for daily speech. So while the Hebrew Bible has 180 instances of “head” used figuratively, the Greek translation of the Old Testament has only twelve cases. The Gospels do not contain a single reference and the Epistles have only six cases, all of them in three of Paul’s letters. The reluctance to use kephalē in a figurative sense for the word “head” did not make it easy to translate from Hebrew to Greek or Hebrew to Latin. The use of “head” in Greek was more subtle and sophisticated than in Hebrew or Latin.

What is your take away from this brief study? Why do you think it is important for a study on the fivefold gifts?

New Testament Usage

Before the break we were looking into the use of kephalē in Greek literature and saw that it’s figurative use is very rare. When used, it is better translated as source or originator than ruler or chief. However, even though kephalē did not mean “authority” in common Greek usage, it is still possible that it could have been used in this way in the New Testament. Paul and the other writers of the New Testament, often gave old concepts and words new meanings. For example using “new wineskins” to explain this new gospel or this new kingdom.

Yet as we looked at some biblical passages last time, interpreting “head” as ruler or authority completely changes the meaning of the text. It would result in a chain of command and top-down subordination. We know this is an inconsistent interpretation, for it would contradict the teaching of Jesus on servant leadership and mutual submission as a foundation for the relationships within the Body of Christ. Yet, when the Greek word for head (kephalē) is rendered “fountainhead” or “source,” these passages become more congruent and no longer seem to contradict other New Testament teaching.

Another troublesome issue as to why it is unlikely that it was used metaphorically in the New Testament to describe control, is that at the time the body organ used to signify control was not the “head” (kephalē), but rather the “heart” (kardia). In Greek understanding, the head served the body by giving it life, nurture, and growth, but the heart was the place of the will, thought, motivations, and desire. So, in the New Testament it is actually the heart that exercises authority over behavior and not the head. The meaning of head-body dynamic is reciprocal, not authoritative. It could be paraphrased as, “Because Christ is the wellspring of the church’s life and provides it with existence and sustenance, in return the church serves him in loving dependency and in recognition of him as the source of its life.” Okay regardless if you are in the complementarian and egalitarian camp, or somewhere inbetween, from Jesus’ teaching to the early Apostles, even as we may have different roles in the Body, it is pretty clear we are not to lord position and power over others. Which I have tried to show also includes the family.

But the purpose of our limited discussion on this topic here, is so that the equipping gifts of Ephesians 4 function as they were intended. Even if someone does not come to the same conclusions regarding “headship,” I would suggest that the principle of servanthood and mutual submission, as it relates to authority in the Body of Christ, is irrefutable. This is not only consistent with Jesus’ teaching, but every one of the New Testament writers. So how does this apply to the role of the fivefold ministry gifts within the community of believers? In light of the linguistic study as well as the context of other Scriptural teaching, Paul could not have intended or meant to establish a new fivefold positional hierarchy for the Church. While all five of these gifts are for the Church today, they are to function in balance and within the context of mutual submission within the Church.

A Christological Approach

So let’s circle back to our central text in Ephesians 4:11-13. These verses are preceded by what are called the “ascension” verses of 7-10. Verses 7 and 8 say, “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: ‘When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.’” In the Roman context, when a general won a victory he would come back in triumph to his home city and would distribute the spoils of war to the public. Paul uses the same language to create the image of Christ going down to the depths to fight the battle, returning victorious and then in his ascension leads a victory parade and disburses the “spoils of the battle” to his people.

The literary and historical context is a strong indicator that in some way these “gifts” are now bestowed on his Body, the ecclesia, the Church. In some way, he has redeemed this fivefold model. It originated in the very Godhead and is now back with his church for its own health and to fulfill the purposes He has for it. Paul connects this teaching of the fivefold ministry functions to the significant event of the ascension of Christ.

Among other passages, Colossians 1:15-23 shows Jesus “recapitulating” or “reconstituting” all things through his death on the cross. In Romans 5 Paul teaches that the work of Christ as the Second Adam reinstates his Lordship over a fallen creation. This work of Jesus is a central theme of the Gospel. Coupled with the ascension passage of Ephesians 4:7-10, it would seem that these fivefold functions of vs. 11-13 are somehow part of the package of what he intended to redeem. This Christological approach to the equipping functions provides a foundation upon which to express these gifts as he intended.

It is more than being a boss or CEO, as the Second Adam he is the source, sustainer and provider for his Body, the Church. Having done all of this – from suffering to redemption to ascension — he then brings his Body into partnership with him by giving them gifts in order to fulfill his purposes on this earth. The fivefold gifts are in some mysterious way the “spoils of war” that Jesus has given to the Church in order for it to fulfill the mission he gave it upon his ascension in Matt. 28. In some mysterious way, they are also spiritual gifts that function by the power of his Spirit living within us.

Over the centuries, the meaning of these texts have often come to mean a form of hierarchy, rather than a unified set of functions meant to serve the Body. The approach to ministry has often been on position, titles, and a professional clergy. While this may have long been church tradition, I would submit that this is in contradiction to fundamental New Testament teaching. Eugene Peterson in his book on King David’s life puts it this way, “[As believers in the church]We take on responsibilities in the wonderful new world of worship and work. We advance in the ranks, and before we know it we’re telling others what to do and how to do it. And then we cross a line – we get bossy and cranky on behalf of God….along the way we take over God’s work for him and take charge of making sure others live rightly and well. We get the idea that we’re important, self-important, because we’re around the Important.”

He continues on by writing, “Religion is a breeding ground for this kind of thing. Not infrequently these God-managing men and women work themselves into positions of leadership. Over the years the basics with which they began….reverence…love…faith, erode and shrivel.”

How does the understanding of the fivefold gifts from a Christological perspective affect the meaning of the passage and how they are to be used in the Body?

The theological foundation, which I have taken some time to expound here, has far reaching implications for leaders in the Body and how they are to work together to equip all members of this new community of believers. With this foundation, we want to now turn our attention to each of these Fivefold equipping gifts and the application for our own personal ministry and our teams. Looking forward to having you join me again, but as we continue you may want to take the Fivefold Gift Assessment from the Resource Section provided.

Episode 4: Christ our Source

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Last episode we dug a bit deeper into some of Jesus’ teaching on leadership and what that was to look like in his new community of believers. 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.

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Episode 4: Headship Revisited

Authority and Headship

If you have your workbook, you can turn to pages 12-16 for this episode. As we have seen, the problem is not really the one of authority in the Church, it is how that is used, and often abused. So often in church history we have witnessed leaders in the church not look and act much different than the world, or for that matter the same way the religious leaders of Jesus’ day functioned.

In Episode 2 we began this discussion regarding headship in the Body and I would like to follow up that up a bit here. It is crucial that our minds are renewed in this area so that we do not use our gifts to abuse others or for our own ego. What is leadership to look like in this new community of believers? Remember I introduced the Greek word, kephalē , which is used in the New Testament and translated as “head” in English. As we saw, kephalē can literally refer to the upper part of the human body, you know that part that sits on our shoulders. While this is the literal meaning in many languages, it also has a figurative meaning. However, unlike in English, as well as in some other modern languages, the figurative meaning of “head” in Greek does not mean chief, boss, authority, ruler.

Let me give you an example. Translators of biblical texts usually do not use direct word equivalents for terms for which there are different contemporary meanings. For example, many translators no longer use the word bowels, as the King James Version did in Philemon 7, 12, 20 and 1 Jn. 3:17. Today, its literal meaning is often nonsensical or even rude, so the original Greek word is usually now translated as heart, not bowels, as this is closer to the meaning of the original word. The word head is similarly problematic when translated literally, for its original meaning differs substantially from current contemporary usage. As can be shown from the biblical text itself, the real meaning has more to do with origin, starting point, and nurturer. It can be better understood as fountainhead or life-source, kind of like we would use the phrase in English “headwaters of a river,” to describe the source of the water. In the case of the river example, we do not interpret “headwaters” to mean boss or chief river, merely beginning point, origin, or supply .

Why is this important? We will discover that it can subtly shift our understanding of how the fivefold gifts of Ephesians are to operate in this new community. Is the application that Jesus has delegated little “headship” to all leaders in the Church?

Can you think of other words whose meaning has changed over time and so are no longer used in common conversation?

So let’s take a quick look at some other New Testament passages where we find this word kephalē to see if we can get some clarity. Let’s begin by looking at Ephesians 1:22-23:

And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

It is clear that the resurrected Christ has authority over ALL things, they are under his feet. He was appointed to be the “head” of the Church—it’s origin and source. Verse 23 provides insight as to what is the purpose of His headship. Christ as head supplies the body with “fullness,” and fills everything. He provides nurture for its growth and completion. Let me be clear, in my discussion here I am not disputing his authority over everything, including the church, that is undisputable from the entirety of Scripture. But in the original language, the nuance here is that he is the Source of his Church.

The construct of kephalē hyper which would have the meaning of “head over” does not seem to exist in Greek literature. If kephalē was to be used as “authority over” then it should have incorporated the preposition epi. However, the construct kephalē epi is also nonexistent in Greek literature. This would lead to the natural meaning that “over everything” signifies he is the ultimate truth. His function to the church is defined as the “head” who supplies the church with his own fullness; he nurtures her for her own growth and completion. In his headship, he is the source of life and increase for the Church.

If you would like to go deeper into the linguistics and compare and contrast positions by different theologians you can check out an exegetical study which I have compiled. This was done as a supplement to our marriage seminar regarding biblical gender roles and you can get this as a free download in the description box below.

Other Relevant Passages

Let’s continue our study of “headship” by looking at our passage in Ephesians 4. In verse 15-16 Paul writes,

“. . .we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”

Here the concept of head as “fullness and growth” is developed again. Christ provides all that is necessary for the knitting together of the Body and is the source of its growth. The function of the head is to provide life, cohesion, and growth. While it is true that Christ rules over all creation, here the Greek structure does not really allow for the meaning of rulership, as related to the meaning of headship. Just in case you are getting a bit nervous, Let me again emphasize that I am not questioning Jesus’ authority, in Creation or his Church, that is clear throughout Scripture. But as the servant King, he is perfect in character and so knows how to perfectly exercise authority without being authoritarian. This is not the case with the rest of us. My point here, in preparation for my further comments on the application of the fivefold ministry, is that from these passages the emphasis is not on position and power but source and origin.

This is a bit beyond our scope in this series—something I cover in greater detail in our marriage material—but in order to show how our theology on leadership and authority should apply consistently, let’s quickly look at Ephesians 5:21-24.

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

I am fully aware I am deep into the minefield now, particularly since I don’t have time to get into this in great detail here, but if you can go to our The First Team, materials and the accompanying Exegetical Supplement I take a deeper dive there. But let me say this. To be theologically consistent, the context of these verses is the preceding verse 21, Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. This is the starting point for verses 22-24. Understanding mutual submission, it is obvious that Paul cannot be violating Jesus teaching on authority with each other as believers—and yes I believe this includes the marriage relationship.

You can see the problem of interpreting “headship” in marriage as ruler or boss. If in the original language construct “headship” means Christ is the boss, then it would make sense the husbands is to be the ruler of his wife (by the way, let me know how that words out for you). I have found that even those who think they need to abide by this theology, never really live it out in practice. At least not in a way that causes their wife to blossom. Besides the practical considerations from the linguistic study, we know that this violates all sorts of other scriptures. Contrary to what some teach, Paul is not establishing another hierarchy here, with Christ at the top, followed closely by man and then woman. And no I am not just reading into the text my western culture. This was as counter cultural in practise at the time, as it is in most of our cultures today, something I have noticed as I have taught this around the world. However, with “headship” here in the original language meaning “source or nurture,” then it makes sense and is consistent with the rest of Scripture and does not violate Jesus’ teaching on servant leadership.

The principle has to be consistent within all of our relationships. It seems incredulous that we are to function as servants in the community of believers, and then as authoritarian bosses in our home. In my estimation, those who hold this view, thinking they must in order to abide by biblical commands, struggle to be consistent with Jesus’ teaching and the rest of Scripture in this regard. This misplaced theology I believe actually weakens our witness in the world. In responding to the angry assaults on the traditional family, Os Guinness notes that perhaps this is due to “. . .the rotten fruit of Christians corrupting the beauty and strength of the ‘covenantal family’ of the Bible into the hated ‘hierarchical family’. . .”

Verses 25 and 29 actually reflect the servant ministry of the Savior. Paul explains that husbands were to love and give themselves to their wife just as Christ did for his bride, the Church. The consistent motif is of Christ as the source or nurturer. If the passage was about rulership it would have been the perfect time for Paul to clarify just how a husband was to “rule” over his wife, rather than “loving” and “giving himself up” or “serving” her. Being a scholar and master of Greek, he could easily have done just that. Rather, it seems an unusual literary construction for Paul to use the servant role of Christ as an argument for wifely submission, but it makes sense within Paul’s context that submission is the proper response to servanthood for everyone. This sounds much more like servant leadership than power based rulership. In every relationship it is about servanthood not boss-hood. While we may have different functions, I am not sure we can justify all of these due to gender.

“Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” precedes this in verse 21 and indicates that the Church is submitted to Christ in response to Christ’s servanthood to her. In the same way wives submit to their husbands means in response and with mutual submission to the husband’s self-sacrificing love for their wives. Rulership and positional power in the context of the Body of Christ, as well as in the marriage relationship I might add, cannot be squeezed from this text. If you disagree with me, I would encourage you to do your own study and discover what interpretation fits with all of Scripture. Okay, I went down a bit of a rabbit trail there, but what I want us to see is that this principle has a direct impact on the application of the fivefold ministry giftings.

Consider how an understanding of mutual submission will impact all of our relationships in the community Body. How do we apply this in our family and in our leadership?

Christological Passage

In Colossians 1:17-19, the literary structure is almost identical to Eph. 5:23. “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. ¹⁹For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him.” Again, the immediate context provides the definition of headship, as opposed to reading our own meaning from our contemporary language back into the text. Christ is the source of cohesion, since he holds all things together in verse 17 and then in verse 18, he is the source of the church’s life since he is the starting point.

In this great Christological passage of Colossians 1:15-20 we see a pre-existent Christ and his servant ministry in his death and resurrection. Headship is again mentioned, but again the focus is that He is the beginning. As I have said before, I am not denying or diminishing Christ’s Lordship in any way! Rather, I am pointing out that from the language used, we can gain a proper understanding as to the meaning of “headship.” Why is this so important? I believe this shift in understanding is important so that we do not make incorrect applications to Christian leadership. We often like to use spiritually sounding titles—you know apostles, prophets, pastors—but we have to careful that we are not superimposing worldly leadership attitudes on these titles. Does leadership in the church use different titles, but still function by “lording” position over others? Let me state the obvious, there is no hierarchy in the Triune Godhead and Jesus’ example of servant leadership is to be our model in this new Kingdom.

As we wrap up this episode, let me circle back to Paul’s analogy of the body in 1 Cor. 12:14-28. In verse 21 he lists the “head” as just one of the parts of the body, like the hand or foot. Which again, linguistically, is a bit odd if the writer is trying to communicate “headship” meaning a boss or ruler. Then what is really interesting in verse 28 is how Paul changes the fivefold list that he wrote in Ephesians to a threefold list of first, Apostles, second, Prophets, third Teacher and then others. Now as a teacher I like this list, I moved up from fifth place in Ephesians to third place here! Shows how quick I can become vain, when it comes to lists, eh? But the real point is that if these were to be a set hierarchical structure, being the scholar that he was, Paul would clearly have not mixed up the order or the gifts the way he did between these two epistles.

Comparing scripture with scripture leads us to the conclusion that Paul’s inconsistency was not a mistake. At the very least we can conclude that he was not establishing a normative positional order for the fivefold functions. All this seems to indicate that he saw these gifts as functions rather than hierarchical positions. I believe that this is also consistent with Christ’s ministry in his Church as a function rather than mere positional authority. The head-body relationship is reciprocal . Because Christ is the source of the church’s life, in response the Church serves him in loving dependency, recognizing him as the source of life. These gifts are to function in and through us by his Spirit, who lives within each believer.

I realize that the implications of this approach is quite profound. As we continue our study of the fivefold gifts being on the same page regarding leadership and authority will be very important. Taking it one step further, servant leadership has to apply to every sphere of life for it to be a universal truth and consistent.

Is your theological position regarding headship, leadership, and authority consistent or does it lend itself to violating Jesus’ teaching on servanthood?

Okay, next time I am going to wrap up this foundational section by placing the fivefold gifts firmly within a Christological framework. Having done my fair share of building, I know foundations are seldom exciting—important, but not exciting. The last few episodes and the next one are the foundation from which we will look at the fivefold ministries within the context of a New Testament church in the 21^st Century. Hang in there with me, it’s going to be worth it!

Episode 3: Authority in the Body

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Description

So far in our series we have been unpacking the context of Paul’s teaching on the equipping gifts of Ephesians 4: 11-12. 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?

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Video Script

Episode 3: Servant Leadership

Biblical Foundation

We are now on pages 9-12 in our workbook. In order to fully appreciate the ministry of Jesus through his Body—and the difference that this kind of leadership makes in the Kingdom—I think it would be helpful to reemphasize some fundamental biblical truths related to leadership and authority in the Body of Christ. There are several passage where Jesus directly addresses the difference between leadership from a Kingdom perspective and leadership from a worldly perspective.

Obviously, this is not an exhaustive study, but if you would like to take a deeper dive into this you can check out my Mentoring Intelligence Podcast or my Mentoring thru Intentional Relationships Guides. So before we get too deep into the fivefold ministries, let’s look at Jesus’ foundational teaching on leadership to make sure we are on the same page. This is important, for Paul in Ephesians 4 could not have meant something that contradicts Jesus’ teaching. In this episode I will focus on the passages in Matthew, but you can also look up the parallel passages in Mark and Luke.

Matt. 18:1-5

In Matthew 18:1-5 we find the disciples questioning each other as to who was really the chief disciple. I can just hear them say, “Like, Jesus, which of us is really Numero Uno, who is Number 1?” Coming from their political and religious context, which was very structured system, it is understandable that they were thinking that relationships in this new Kingdom would be roughly the same. However, Jesus’ response did not provide any chain of command in this new Kingdom. Not only was this shocking, but it took them some years to really get it. That is how it is with values and worldviews, they are hard to change. But after all, Doesn’t someone have to be in charge around here?

Instead, Jesus tells his disciples that unless they give up their vain ambitions and become as meek as a child they will never enter the Kingdom. According to Jesus, true greatest in the Kingdom was not to be achieved through rank and position, but by having an attitude of humility and dependence. Those aspiring to leadership should actually act as the servants to all others. Mark also records this in Mark 9:35. This turns the worldly view of a pyramid structure of power and position, upside down. By the way, that’s a great name for a book, but you are too late, Rinehart has already used it! The book is Upside Down Leadership. The point is that greatness in the kingdom looks a lot more like a child than a robed cleric or theologian.

Matt. 20:20-28

It seems that this was a pretty hard concept for the disciples to wrap their head around. Which is not that big of a surprise as the Church has struggled with this for the last 2000 years. In Matthew 20:20-28 Jesus responds to the disciples as he again tries to get them to understand that a hierarchical authority structure may be common in the culture around them, but his Kingdom and new Christian community was to have very different values.

In this particular passage, Jesus is responding to the mother of two disciples who aspired to sit next to Jesus in his new Kingdom. Again Jesus points out that greatest in his Kingdom is the way of suffering and self-sacrifice, not position, prestige or power. It would seem that the anger of the other disciples at this request indicates that they actually believed this was a reasonable request, just not from these two guys! Their misunderstanding was based on the fact that they thought the authority structure in the community of believers was going to be similar to what they knew of their own religious context. But exercising authority and “lording it over” others was evidence of a top down model of leadership, not Jesus’ model.

Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matt. 20:25-28

We see that Jesus is pretty explicit that “One man rule” was forbidden among Christians. Quite a contrast to the Gentile world dominated by Caesar or the Jewish world dominated by the religious elite. Of course, Jesus is not advocating anarchy or rising up against “the Man.” He is trying to show how transformed values in this new Kingdom will affect how we see ourselves and treat others. In this new “priesthood of all believers,” there is not a two-tier system in the Body of Christ. You know, the talented elites and then the rest of us, who just get to listen to the morsels of truth which they dispense at their discretion.

As we use our gifts, it is only natural that we will have greater influence – often our gifts will give us a platform. But how are we to use that authority? Do we use it for ourselves, to build our ego, or for others, to serve others in the Body? This is why Jesus’ teaching is so important. Having the attitude of a servant, guards against becoming dominant, controlling, or authoritarian. As you can see from the diagram, the only way to not become authoritarian in our leadership is to have an attitude of humility and vulnerability. We see in verse twenty-eight that even Jesus, did not come to be served but to serve – and he was the God-man. In Phil. 2 we see that Jesus’ attitude was to take on the form of a servant, even though he was God. Jesus provides us with a living illustration as to how leadership in this new Kingdom, this new Body of his, was to function. It was to be a unique community where there is no competition and leaders aspire to serve others sacrificially. Meeting the needs of others, rather than emphasizing power, position, and titles. Just in case you were wondering, this is virtually impossible without Christ’s Spirit living within us, giving us the power to do this.

How do you think Jesus’ attitude towards authority should affect our own ministry and how we use our gifts?

Biblical Foundations Continued

Matt. 23:1-12

Okay, we have been looking at some passage in the Gospels that record Jesus’ teaching on leadership and relationships in this new Kingdom of His. In Matt. 23:1-12 he now directly addresses the difference between what he is talking about and the attitude of the religious leaders of his day. Maybe some of the disciples were aspiring to the model of religious leadership that they saw all around them as they were growing up. But Jesus draws a sharp contrast, teaching that the established patterns of the religious structures of their day were not in line with his Kingdom values.

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. (Matt. 23:1-4)

The religious structures of the day had actually taken on the secular society values and models. Hmm, does that sound familiar? The fact is that it is even more dangerous for a religious teacher to take on authority for themselves, for they can use the authority of God’s Word to bludgeon others or at least use it for their own benefit. “Speaking for God” is pretty heady stuff. Without the attitudinal adjustment that Jesus is talking about, it is easy to make leadership just another form of idolatry. Taking a bit – just a bit — of glory and worship that only God is to have. This usually begins small and subtle, like King Saul of old, but ends up in a pretty dark place.

“Laying burdens on others which they will not lift,” means that without a servant heart we can be telling others the way to live and not do it ourselves. I think this is why we are so offended when we discover yet another “man of God” who has been secretly living in sin for years. He may have talked a good game, but it was words for others only. To guard against this in the Christian community, Jesus states that only He is the one true teacher with authority and everyone else are equal brethren (meaning sisters also). We are to be open and authentic with each other. This has a way of keeping us tethered to reality. No one person in this new Kingdom is to become that one authoritative person that dispenses truth to others. After all, this is a new kingdom of priests. We are all messengers of Jesus’ message. There is only one Holy Spirit and we are not him.

But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant.For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. Matt. 23:8-12

How this applies to the equipping gifts of Ephesians 4 is rather obvious, isn’t it? If the fivefold equipping functions become nothing more than “offices and positions,” providing an opportunity for leaders to exercise power over others, we are no better than those early disciples. In the Christian community no person can claim authority over others, as does God our Father (vs. 9). Mature Christians are not to be treated like children by self-appointed father figures. Only God can be the legitimate ruler over his children. I deal more with this concept of “spiritual fathering” in my Mentoring Intelligence podcast if you are interested to check that out.

It is interesting that Matthew 23:10 is the only place that this Greek word for leader is used in the New Testament. It is translated “instructor” in the NIV. It has the meaning of a guide or tutor/teacher. In Matt. 24:4-5 Jesus predicted men would rise up to lead others astray and that this would occur as authority was given to human leaders. In the first chapter of 1 Cor. Paul addresses this. Already in the first few decades of the early Church Paul had to deal with this. Writing to the Corinthian Church, we see that there was already those who thought they were the super-apostles. Paul affirms Jesus’ teaching that true authority in the Body was to be used to serve others, not have ever increasing titles and positions that stroke our own ego.

Jesus solution is to reject leaders who attempt to gain a following and control people around them. Christians should only follow Christ; only he is our Lord and we his people. This is exactly why the New Testament insists on team leadership. I will cover this later in more detail, but I believe that is why in the early church we never see one pastor leading a church, but it is always a plurality of leaders. The word used in our English bibles is “elders,” which is the equivalent of shepherd or pastor and is always in the plural form in Greek. A team approach provides safety for the Body so that leaders are less likely to abuse other believers. This plurality is shown by Jesus as he sends them two by two, as well as the later apostles never going out on missionary endeavors alone. New leadership in the churches was always entrusted to groups of pastors/elders, not individuals. You can read this on your own in Acts 11:25-26, 13:1, 14:23, as well as other passages.

In verses 11 and 12 of Matt. 23 Jesus explains how Christian leaders should act. While some leaders are strong leaders by our standards — you know those with great personalities, lots of gifts and skills — it is exactly these types of leaders who need protection from becoming authoritarian. Instead of serving themselves, they are to serve others with their gifts, equipping and releasing them to minister, rather than wielding power over them. I would suggest that this is also how the equipping gifts are to be used in the Body. This new community of believers is not a place for self-promotion where talented, ambitious leaders move up the positional ladder.

Matt. 28:16-20

Okay let’s look at one final scripture. Matthew 28:16-20 address the source of authority in this new community.

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. Matt. 18-20a

As a result of his death and resurrection Jesus has now assumed supreme rulership; he alone is Lord. He commissioned the disciples, but retains “all authority.” They were to baptize new believers and then teach them, but not their own teaching, their authority was to come from the teachings of Christ. The authority resided in the message, not the messengers. In this last parting message from Jesus, what is absent is any authority structure passed down to the disciples. If it was his intention, this would have been the perfect opportunity to teach and proclaim the order of succession he was now imposing for this new movement. You could have even named names. But it never happened like that. He was teaching them the nature of these new Kingdom values.

Of course this does not mean that the early church did not need to create some sort of structure or wineskins as it developed, but it was important that any ministry structure did not inhibit kingdom values. This is why we have to be careful to not read Paul’s writings with glasses tainted by errors of structure that developed later in the Church. Instead we are to follow the new leadership principles established by the Church’s supreme authority, Jesus. Servanthood and mutual submission, were to be foundational, as Paul would later teach.

From these four passages of Scripture what do we learn about Jesus’ model of leadership and ministry?

In what ways will our leadership have to change in order to become more like Jesus?

In the early Christian community, organizational structures did develop, but they were based upon gifts and functions—an expression of the indwelling Spirit of Christ in every believer. Any delegated authority was not to function as it did “with the Gentiles,” or even as with the Jewish religious leaders of the day. Next time I am going revisit the introductory comments I made regarding the meaning of headship. This is important so that we gain a clearer understanding of how the relationships within the Body of Christ are to function. I am looking forward to sharing that with you next time.

Episode 2: Headship in the Body

Video

Description

In our study so far we have been defining the fivefold ministry and looking at the context of Ephesians 4:11-12. 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?

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Episode 2: The Body

Headship in the Body

If you are following along, we are now on pages 7-9 of the workbook. In our last episode we were looking at Paul’s illustration of the body as we see in 1 Corinthians 12. Central to this metaphor of the body, and Christ as the “head of that Body,” is determining the meaning of “head” within this context. Our understanding of this has important implications as to how we understand biblical leadership and how this delegated authority is to be manifested in the Body through the fivefold ministry functions. I don’t want to get too deep into the weeds here, but I think it is important enough that I am going to risk it, okay so here we go.

The Greek term for “head” that is used here, is kephalē. As it is associated with Christ, it usually has a meaning imposed upon it that comes from the meaning in our contemporary languages, rather than the original Greek meaning. In our common usage today the word “head” usually means, “top person,” “chief,” “boss,” or “CEO.” It most often is used to signify positional authority. So the logical conclusion from this meaning is that all those in the Body “under” Christ should also be ranked into some position in this new hierarchical kingdom, with Christ on top. And by extension, since these fivefold ministry functions are listed as gifts from Christ, the head, it would seem they would be at the top of the pyramid.

However, and this is a rather significant “however, Paul uses a very specific term in his original language, classical Greek. As with all passages, and particularly this one, we have to be careful not to read back into the original language a meaning that was never there originally. We have to be careful to not superimpose a contemporary meaning on an original one. As we know, in many languages, the word “head” has come to mean chief, boss, CEO, and so on, however, the term used here by Paul, as he is referring to Christ, has a different meaning. Instead of “boss” or “chief” it has more of a meaning of “source” or “nurturer” as in helping someone grow. Kind of like in English we would use the word “headwater” to describe the source of a river. So Paul is saying that believers are to grow up in every way in him who is the “head,” – the One who provides all that is necessary for the knitting together of the Body. The function of the “head” in this context is to provide life, cohesion, and growth.

Now it’s easy to see how in Paul’s analogy of the body we would think of the head as “top,” after all it sits on top of our shoulders. We will look at this in greater detail in a coming episode, but at this point I just want us to be aware of the fact that to infuse kephalē with the meaning of rulership or position from our languages, is not the correct interpretation of this word here. Paul’s analogy of the body indicates that there is a direct correlation between the connection to Christ and maturity and fullness. However, this was to be accomplished through his ministry to the Body described through the fivefold ministry functions, not a top-down structure as we typically see in our fallen world.

Consequently, if the Body is missing one of these parts it will result in lack of maturity, allowing it to be “tossed about” as he mentions in verse 14 of Eph. 4. This essentially means that the result of lack of connection will be that the Body (his Church) will not be able to fulfill its ultimate purpose. As with the physical body, all parts of Christ’s Body are interrelated and affect the others and cannot operate in isolation. My point is that we cannot superimpose an hierarchical leadership structure on the fivefold functions and expect a healthy Body, that has the same balanced ministry as we witnessed with Jesus. The results of the Body “equipped and doing works of service” can only happen as all five of the equipping functions are functioning in mutual submission as servant leaders. This is a theme Paul explains in Eph. 5, and which we will explore in an upcoming episode.

How do you think the meaning of “head” as nurturer and provider rather than authority position affect the meaning of the fivefold gifts?

Model of Ministry

Welcome back. Okay before the break we were looking at the meaning of the Greek word used for “head” and how misreading this can lead us to faulty conclusions as to how ministry should function within the Body of Christ. Obviously, Jesus has authority over all of Creation and so this also includes his church. Let me clearly state, this is not in dispute. The problem is with using some of the “headship” passages to mean something that the original language does not allow, something we will look at in our next episodes.

I am sure we all agree with Jesus’ teaching that relationships in the Body are to be completely different than the world around us. We are not “to be like the Gentiles who lord position over others,” as Jesus taught in Matthew. The fact is that we all have been influenced by the fallen culture and values around us, which is why Jesus had to emphasize this to his own disciples over and over again. They eventually got it, but the checkered history of the Church over the last two thousand years seems to illustrate that this has been a rather ongoing challenge both then and now.

This misplaced practise of placing too much emphasis on position and power has not only corrupted individuals, but has also resulted in the Church not being as effective as it could be. Over the centuries, this has then impacted our understanding of the fivefold gifts to varying degrees. At times we have only emphasized two or three of these equipping functions – typically pastors and teachers – and this has limited the Church from fulfilling its mission. This is why we need to renew the wineskin in order for us to see ministry today function the way it did in the first century Church.

You may remember Patrick Johnstone from the prayer guide, “Operation World.” He wrote a lesser known book, The Church is Bigger than you Think. As you can see in his diagram he points out how this flawed leadership model has negatively affected the mission of the Church over the centuries. He believes that this flaw can be traced back to a pyramid model of the equipping functions with the Apostles on top, then Prophets, and so on down the line. Johnstone provides another model which seems more aligned to biblical thought. He lays the “pyramid” on its side with the Apostles on the left, and then moving to the other gifts. In this model, the gifts are based upon the order that the functions are needed in the lifecycle of a church or movement, rather than on position, title, or power. We will look at this historic progression through his “Three Structures of Ministry” model in a later episode. I also explain it in my Mentoring thru Intentional Relationships, Guide 2, pp. 209-212 and our Mentoring podcast.

Functions not Position

The functions of the apostles and prophets listed in 1 Cor. 12:28-29 and in Eph. 2:20, reflect their foundational nature, rather than a new form or system of leadership hierarchy in the early church. We know this must be the case, for to teach otherwise would be to disregard Jesus’ teaching on the issue, as well as that of every other New Testament writer. Instead of positional leadership, these functions were to be foundational, meaning that the other gifts build upon their foundation. They create the correct atmosphere for the functioning of all the other gifts.

This means that the apostolic function creates the climate or culture for the prophetic function to operate and the prophetic function creates the climate for the evangelistic function, and that in turn creates the environment necessary for the pastoral function, and that for the teaching function.“Creating a climate or culture” could also be described as creating the right condition to increase the capacity to equip the saints so that they can build up the Body through their gifts.

In Eph. 4:12, the Greek word for “equip” or “build up” is from the Greek katartizō which has a rich meaning. Allan Hirsch point out that the use of this particular Greek word means that each of the equipping functions have been given to “equip, perfect, mend, perfectly join together, put in order, ethically strengthen, complete, fulfill, and heal” the saints for the work of the ( or their) ministry. Now, that is quite a mouthful! It not only underscores the importance of the equipping functions, but also the need for them to work together for the health of the Body. If they are reduced to primarily pastoral and teaching ones, as has unfortunately happened at times during Church history, then it becomes virtually impossible to fulfil the mission of the Church through all the saints, who are to be equipped through all of the fivefold ministries. This bring us back to Peter’s theme of the “priesthood of all believers.”

Of course it is natural and common for leaders to emphasize their own particular gifting, or at least feel most comfortable around those with similar giftings. I think if we are honest, we all tend to do this with our gifts. However, if there is not a balance of these giftings in the Body, the end result is an emphasis on only some of the fivefold functions. This not only has occurred historically, but also within certain denominations or segments of Christendom. As Johnstone points out, this has been the unfortunate case of the western Christian Church for much of its history – resulting in limiting its ability to fulfill the mission of Jesus on this earth.

So let’s take a quick look back at where we have come from in the last couple episodes. We have looked briefly at the key passage in Ephesians 4:11-12 where Paul writes that Christ gave to his Church five foundational gifts for the purpose of equipping his people for works of service. I made the point that these functions were never intended to be hierarchical positions, something I will discuss in greater detail in the next episode. We also affirmed that Jesus clearly taught than leadership in His Body was to look completely different than the society around us, more like that of a servant than a CEO. Of course we can only pull this off through his Spirit who lives within us.

How does viewing the fivefold functions in order of need rather than importance change how we would implement these within the Body of Christ?

As we serve others with our gifts, our influence may very well increase, which is another way of saying that our gifts will afford us a certain measure of authority. But if leadership is not about position, how should this authority be expressed in the Body? What would that actually look like? That is exactly what we are going to discuss next time.

Episode 1: Biblical Context

Video

Description

As we begin our series on the fivefold equipping gifts from Ephesians 4, we are going to notice that, unlike what has happened historically, these gifts are not primarily listed as positions. Paul is not established 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? That is our discussion this time.

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Video Script

Episode 1: The Challenge

As we begin our series on the fivefold equipping gifts from Ephesians 4, we are going to notice that, unlike what has happened historically, 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? That is our discussion this time.

Have some Functions Ended?

Well if you are following along in the workbook, in this episode we will be in pages 4-7. From the Ephesians text, it is clear that all five of these gifts are for the Church and need to function together in the Church. But if they are to function all together, why in practice have they at times been separated from each other? In this episode and series, I am going to suggest that when they are not in balance, or if they are seen as a hierarchy, it will negatively impact the mission of the Church. Actually, the “fivefold approach” to ministry and to the mission of the church is the very opposite of a hierarchical, positional approach to the mission of the Church.

The division of these gifts or functions has taken several forms throughout church history. One view is that the function of the apostles and prophets has ended and was no longer needed once the canon of Scripture was established. This has become known as the Cessationist view. While it is true that the first Apostles – specifically the Twelve – did have a unique role in the founding of the Church, there are many indications from Scripture that all apostolic functions did not cease. Actually, we see the apostolic function was present later in the first century. For that matter, Paul was not one of the initial Twelve and yet he still functioned as an apostle.

Cessationism actually creates more problems than it attempts to solve, something we will look at in greater detail in coming episodes. What is clear is that after the first couple centuries, Church tradition moved away from an apostolic, missional church and towards more of a focus on bishops and a hierarchical structure. Looking back, it kind of makes sense as the early leaders were trying to protect the church from heresies and false teachers. But the result was an inward rather than outward focus. The main objective of the Church became to preserve truth and create structures that eliminated any dissenting views.

Hindsight being 20/20, it’s easy now to see how this resulted in unintended consequences. We would probably also agree that, regardless of our traditions, the Bible must have the ultimate authority in our lives and ministries. So while this inward focus developed in the Church, those who were missional in their approach had to increasingly do so outside of the confines of the organized Church. Over the last two thousand years this has resulted in many of the various reform movements. Our purpose here is to rediscover a missional approach.

What is your view of Cessationism? Have your views or theology been influenced by this tradition?

Are some more Important than Others?

Cessationism is not the only challenge. On the other end of the spectrum there are Church traditions that infuse the apostolic function with a meaning that is foreign to biblical teaching. They tend to view the equipping functions as “offices” and create a hierarchical structure with the apostles being at the top. Each of the functions are then often associated with authority, power and position. So when Ephesians 4 is read with this preconception, they arrive at a false application of these functions in the Body today. In this flawed model, those called apostles or prophets are given patriarchal or priestly authority, which inverts the servant-leadership model that both Jesus and Paul taught. It also only pays lip service to the theology of a priesthood of all believers.

Eugene Peterson points out that while there are “offices” in the church, which I would call functions, the primary emphasis is on the people. He says that all jobs and functions are “servant positions for assisting and encouraging men and women to be the people of God and not merely a crowd of religious consumers.” Even in the Old Testament (Ex. 19:6), the whole nation was to be a kingdom of priests. This was then expanded to all believers in the New Testament. Peter writes, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession. . .” (1 Pet. 2:9). Luther also believed this, but did not really reform church structures to facilitate it.

Even a cursory reading of Paul’s writings makes it clear that apostleship was not a desirable position to strive for, but rather at times a cross to bear. It came with great responsibility and with a great price. It was characterized more by suffering than by any other characteristic. Perhaps most alarming is to read a hierarchical approach in the early church from this passage, or for that matter from the passages in 1 Cor. 12:28-29 and Eph. 2:20. To do so requires the reader to abandon Jesus’ basic teaching on servanthood.

So what developed throughout church history is a view that these fivefold functions referred to especially “holy men” who exercise their gift through a hierarchical structured office. I would suggest that this is contrary to New Testament teaching. For this typically leads to authoritarianism and contradicts a biblical view of servant leadership. However, the fundamental problem is not with the fivefold functions, but with this wrong understanding of leadership superimposed on our view of how these fivefold giftings are to be implemented. So after the break let’s look at that a bit more.

Why do you think this approach is so detrimental to the Body of Christ? In what ways have you been influenced by this view?

The Biblical Text

A common error is to take Paul’s writing almost in isolation from Jesus’ teaching, which can lead to some fanciful conclusions. So to begin with we have to reaffirm that Paul’s writings and theology never contradict what Jesus explicitly taught his first disciples. Scripture must interpret Scripture. In his teaching regarding Kingdom values, Jesus was clear that leadership had to do with serving, not gaining position and power (Lk. 22:24-26; Phil. 2:1-11). We’ll take a deeper look into this in a future episode, but at this point I just want to point out that this passage on gifts in Ephesians 4 is not so much teaching on leadership, but is rather explaining how ministry should function within the community of believers.

In other words, the focus of these gifts is not just on an individual leader, but rather all five are given as a package to the Body of Christ so that it may fulfill the mission it was given. A balanced fivefold approach to the mission of the Church needs to be Christ-centered. The historic problem is that the ministry of the Church has often been reduced to only the clergy class, and this usually expressed through pastors and teachers, as Eugene Peterson has highlighted. Though most in our Evangelical tradition would agree wholeheartedly to the theology of the “priesthood of all believers,” I would suggest that a narrow pastor-focus has left us with a narrow view of overall mission of the Church, which has skewed our understanding of ministry, yes even in solid evangelical churches.

Do you think that the historic problem in the church has been reducing ministry to just a function of the professional clergy? Why or why not?

Passage in Context

Let’s now take a look into the Ephesians 4 passage itself. What is the most basic straightforward meaning? As with any biblical study, it is so important to not lift the text from the overall context of the passage or from other truths taught elsewhere. So what is the context of Ephesians 4:11-12? Let’s begin by looking at the verses before and after these two verses. What we notice is that the first six verses in this chapter focus on the unity in the Body of Christ. Paul gives examples of what these indicators of unity are, with the culmination of there is “one body…one Spirit…one hope… one Lord….one faith…one baptism…one God….one Father.” Does anything seem obvious? The point is that this unity is fundamental to his later comments regarding how the equipping fivefold gifts are to function in the Body of Christ, his Church.

In verses 7-10, there is an interesting and inspirational sidebar into the ascension of Christ, but it seems Paul has kind of gone off on a tangent as he sometimes likes to do. But are his comments somewhat unrelated? We will study this in greater depth later, but it’s important here to point out that the ascension of Christ has implications that are central to Jesus’ impartation of these gifts. This places the giving of these five gifts within a very Christ-centered or Christological context. These verses bring us to verse 11, “So Christ himself gave. . .” In light of his ascension and place as the head of the Body, he has given these gifts in order for his Body (the Church) to fulfill its mission. The important truth not to be missed is that these gifts, given by Christ, are actually to be reflective of his ministry. And they only function through the indwelling of his Spirit.

The Greek word given here for “gave” is in the aorist tense. Okay, you don’t have to remember the fancy word, I for one was never great with grammar, but it is important to know that this refers to an event that took place in the past and yet is valid for all time. This means that these gifts were given to the Church for all time; they did not end in the first century. I think it is also interesting to note that all five functions come as a package together. Neither the grammar, nor the theology, allows the reader to separate one from the other. In context, they are to be seen as an extension of Jesus’ ministry, fulfilling the mission he left us in Matt. 28:19-20 (“. . . make disciples of all peoples. . .”)

Then from verse 12 onward, Paul identifies what is to be the fruit of the appropriate use of these gifts. These gifts were given so that members of this new community would be equipped for works of service. They were to grow into maturity and attain the fullness of Christ (vs. 13). It is only then that the Church can live out the unity Paul outlines in verses 1-6. Rather than top down control and hierarchical structures and policy, it is this maturity and resultant unity that will create stability; it is this that will protect against heresy and the tendency of following enticing theologies by self-promoters, as Paul mentions in verse 14. Equipping all members of the community will safeguard the Body from abusive leaders who have ulterior motives and attempt to create a movement for themselves.

Finally, in verses 15 and 16 Paul returns to his favorite metaphor of the Church. He compares it to our physical body that is joined together in unity of purpose, while each member is engaged in its unique function. Central to this unity of purpose and function is the concept of Jesus as the “head” of the Body, his Church, which results in growth and maturity. In light of this illustration of the body joined to the head, it is important to have a correct understanding of the meaning of this term, “head,” and the relationship between members in the Body. Our understanding of this has important implication as to how we understand biblical leadership and how this delegated authority is to be manifested in the Body through the fivefold ministry functions.

Now reflect on any new insights you may have gleaned from looking at the fivefold gifts from within the complete context of this passage?

It is on this point that we are going to pick up in our next episode. Granted this is not an in-depth study of this chapter, but don’t worry we will build upon these themes in coming episodes. Though these are rather simple concepts, we will see that the ramifications for how we engage in ministry is quite profound. So having scratched the surface, I hope you’ll join me next time as we dig a bit deeper.

The Fivefold Ministry: Series Intro

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Description

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.

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