I want to point out that many people stop going to church because the five-fold ministry basically is NOT present in many UPC churches, despite what they say.
Ephesians 4:11-13
11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
Some of ya'll forget that there are some OP churches that are ....basically....corrupt. Go ahead and stone me if you want over that statement but I stand by it because I have seen it with my own eyes here in my own region. There ain't no five-fold ministry in those churches!
My debut into these forums here was after the internet led me here to read a whole thread about how a pastor in Georgia told horrible lies against a woman so her husband who divorced her could marry the pastor's daughter.
That is corrupt and an assassination of that woman's character by a UPC Pastor.
If a prophet steps foot into
some UPC churches and if they could, they would stone him like the ancient Israelites stoned their prophets.