The 5-fold ministry
 

Ephesians 4:11-12

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:

What is an apostle?
What is a prophet?
What is an evangelist?
What is a pastor?
What is a teacher?

Or maybe I should ask what kind of duties must a man perform to have these titles?

Re: The 5-fold ministry
 

Good question, I have heard it preached that there are no longer Apostles or Prophets ,and not much time for teachers. [I don't agree though.]

Re: The 5-fold ministry
 

CORRECTION!!

It's the Four-fold Ministry! :heeheehee

Re: The 5-fold ministry
 

Some see pastor/teacher as one ministry.

Re: The 5-fold ministry
 

In his book "Five-Fold Ministry and Spiritual Insights" by Lee Stoneking, on pages 29 and 30 he says:
Apostles governed
Prophets guided
Evangelists gathered
Pastors guarded
Teachers grounded

Re: The 5-fold ministry
 

Actually, if one were to go by what is evident in many churches today, it's an ALL-IN-ONE ministry.

Re: The 5-fold ministry
 

Some believe the Apostles and Prophets are "for today" insomuch that they are the foundation. But the foundation while continuing in purpose and function is not laid again, hence no ministry by current apostles and prophets.

“And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:20–22).

Re: The 5-fold ministry
 

Actually, they are not titles but gifts to the Body of Christ. There are present day Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers today in the Church.. Just because some do not have them in their church or denomination/Org. does not mean they don't exist. Some of us have been around five fold ministries and gifts ministries all our lives.

Re: The 5-fold ministry
 

The Five Fold Ministry
Reference Ephesians 4:1-16

Verses 1-6 speak about the one Church, the Body of Christ
Whether we recognize it as such or not, God only has one Church. It is made up of all those who have been placed (or baptized) into it by the Holy Spirit.

Verses 7-11 list 5 offices which Jesus has placed in His Church.
These offices are: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.

Verse 12 gives the purpose of those offices
“for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ”

Verses 13-16 tell us how long those offices will be needed
From the wording it seems to me that those 5 offices will be needed as long as there is a church that is made up of imperfect people.

When I was a new Christian I joined a church which would be called “cessationist.” In other words they believed that gifts of the Spirit were temporary until the books which became our New Testament were written. Part of this belief was that healing, prophecy, speaking in tongues and other gifts ended around the end of the first century. Also, that the offices of apostle and prophet ended at that time and that there could never be any additional apostles other than 11 of the original 12 plus the Apostle Paul.

Shortly after my conversion I discovered that there were things available to us today that were available to the early Church. Things like healing, miracles, and the empowering or baptism of the Holy Spirit were still available. Why would they have ever ceased if we were still in the same church that was established in the New Testament? I remember reading a book by the late Jack Coe where he listed several apostles in the book of Acts. This showed me that the number of apostles listed in the Bible was not limited to 12. I remember that he related a dream that one minister had where he saw a large hand which had two of the fingers bound so they could not be used. The Lord spoke to him that we were binding or limiting God from moving and acting like He wanted to because we refused to acknowledge two of the five offices in the church. These offices that we would not accept were apostles and prophets.

Shortly after this I went to St. Paul, Minnesota to a small Bible School. There we were taught that the offices of apostle and prophet had ceased shortly before the end of the first century. This was an Apostolic/Pentecostal Bible School and they were teaching some of the same cessationist stuff that I had heard in the denominational church which I had left. I realized this teaching could not be true because I had already read about 20 or so people who were called apostles in the New Testament.

Let’s look at these 5 offices and at some of the people in the New Testament who are identified by the titles of these offices.

The first is the office of apostle. I have the following notes about 26 people called "apostle" or "messenger" or "he that is sent" who are named. There are also some who are not named, plus Jesus is called an apostle in the NT. Our word apostle comes from “apostolos” which means a delegate, one sent with full power of attorney to act in the place of another, the sender remaining behind to back up the one sent, a messenger. The word occurs 81 times in the NT. It is translated apostle 78 times, messenger 2 times, and he that is sent 1 time. The original 12 are listed in Matthew 10:1-4 and Luke 6:12-16. The following are listed as apostles in the New Testament:
1 Peter, or Simon, or Kefa
2 Andrew
3 James (brother of John)
4 John (brother of James)
5 Philip
6 Bartholomew or Nathaniel, brother of Philip
7 James, son of Alphaeus or James the less Mark 15:40
8 Judas, or Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddeus, son of James,
9 Matthew or Levi of Alphaeus Mark 2:14; Luke 6:15-16
10 Thomas or Didymus or Twin
11 Simon the Zealot Acts 1:13
12 Judas Iscariot
13 Matthias Acts 1:26 (Paul refers to him as one of the 12 in I Cor 15:5)
14 Saul or Paul Gal. 1:1; 2:7,8, 1 Timothy 2:7
15 Barnabas Acts 11:22; 13:1-4; 14:1,4,14;I Cor 9:5-6
16 Andronicus Rom 16:7
17 Junia or Junias, or Julia Rom 16:7 (only woman called an apostle)
18 Apollos I Cor 4:6-9
19 James the Lord’s brother Gal 1:19 Acts 1:14, 1 Cor 15:7
20 Timothy I Thess 1:1; 2:6
21 Silas or Silvanus I Thess 1:1; 2:6, Acts 15:22
22 Titus 2 Cor. 8:23 (messenger) Acts 19:22
23 Epaphroditus Phil 2:25 (messenger)
24 Erastus Acts 19:22
25 Judas (Barsabas) Acts 15:22
26 Tychicus 2 Tim 4:12
27 Unnamed brothers 2 Cor 8:23
28 Jesus Christ Heb. 3:1

The following are listed as prophets in the New Testament:
Anna (Luke 2:36)
John the Baptist (Luke 7:28)
Agabus (Acts 11:27-28, Acts 21:10) and unnamed others (Acts 11:27-28)
Judas and Silas (Acts 15:32)

Only one person is called an evangelist in the New Testament. That is Philip (reference Acts 21:8)

The word “pastor” is not found in the King James New Testament. The plural form “pastors” is only found in Ephesians 4:11

As far as I can remember right now, only the Apostle Paul is called a teacher (reference 2 Timothy 1:11)

In Acts 13:1 it mentions certain people who are called “prophets and teachers.” These people are Paul, Barnabas, Simeon, Lucius, and Manaen. From the wording, I don’t know if all 5 of these were both “prophets and teachers” or if some were just prophets and some were just teachers, or if some fulfilled both offices.

Earlier I had mentioned the dream a man had about the hand of God with 5 fingers and how these 5 fingers represented the 5 offices of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher. I recently came across an article online which also described these offices by comparing them to the fingers on a hand. You may or may not agree with everything in the short article but I think it’s interesting. I have slightly modified the wording of the article but did not modify the intent of it. I believe it was written by a Church of God in Christ minister. I don’t know if it represents the organization and offices of that particular group or not.

First, the thumb. The thumb represent the apostle.

Try holding your hand out and take your thumb and touch the tip of each finger on that hand. The apostle is the only finger that can touch each of the other offices. He reaches them all. He stays in contact with the churches he helps in building and establishes. He incorporates these ministries into that body so each can be efficient. The apostle is the first headship of the church given the right and authority to touch every member of the body of the 5-fold ministry. He is a man "anointed" to go and establish churches, as the Apostle Paul did. The apostle sets up churches and church leaderships in cities, countries and nations. The apostle sets up a church, incorporates the Word of God as the basics of its existence. He establishes helps in establishment of ministry inside the church and sets up a pastor if necessary. He helps the office of evangelism in bringing in the people. The church now established, the apostle moves on and establishes elsewhere. The apostle is a true missionary and does the work.

The second finger is the forefinger. It represents the prophet.

A prophet is one feared in the Old Testament, knowing he was a man of God who brought a word from God and some times it was correction, and such, showing tremendous miracles. The word prophet comes from the word prophetes which means “one who speaks for another.” This pointer finger points us to God and points out the Word of God for us.

The third finger, the middle finger represents the evangelist.

Holding your hand out flat and fingers together, you have a middle finger, the longest finger on your hand. This is the evangelist. This finger usually sticks out farther than the other four. Thus the evangelist reaches out into the community bringing in souls into the kingdom of God. It is an anointing that is within the evangelist that reaches for souls.

The fourth finger on the hand is the ring finger, the covenant finger, and represents the Pastor of the church.

The pastor is married to the church. He is in covenant to the Church that God has placed him over. He provides weekly food for the church table, the Word preached and taught to the sheep.

The pastor labors studying and preparing the Word. He gives fresh food as manna from heaven. He visits the sick and others in the body of the church. He stays daily with the church and assures all is well. He sets offices inside the church, prays and guards over them. He helps keep the sheep from wandering off, and being eaten by wolves. The pastor is the shepherd and covenant man of the church's house.

The fifth finger on the hand, the pinkie finger, is the smallest finger and most time with the hardest job. It represents The teacher. This little finger is the one we use to reach down into our ears. The little finger, the teacher, is anointed to bring the word in a way that one with a hearing ear, can sit down and listen to the teaching until well fed. A dedicated teacher is always studying to be prepared and his light never turns out. It’’s the anointing in the office of teacher that makes the Word blessed. We need anointed teachers of the Word.

I’ve seen the offices of evangelist, pastor, and teacher compared to the obstetrician, the pediatrician, and the dietitian.

One must pray and ask God to show where one fits, God will show him or her. He is concerned about His ministry and His church working so that all works together properly.

Re: The 5-fold ministry
 

Hey, shouldn't you be at the Praise-a-thon, Cardinal?

Re: The 5-fold ministry
 

Exactly!

Isn't it strange that you can call yourself an evangelist, pastor or teacher, but you better not call yourself and apostle or prophet!

Most pastors think that they fulfill the five-fold ministry, but about 99% of them are wrong.

Re: The 5-fold ministry
 

Right now I can only think of one woman prophet in the New Testament and that would be Anna in Luke 2:36 and only one woman apostle and that would be Junia or Julia in Romans 16:7.

A couple of days ago I watched the funeral of Sis. Nona Freeman. That was a woman that probably ministered in all 5 offices. Another woman that probably fills all 5 offices is Sis. Alvear on this forum.

Re: The 5-fold ministry
 

Sis Freeman was an excellent speaker/story teller.

I doubt that she was a prophet or apostle.

Re: The 5-fold ministry
 

Can't wrap my "marbles" (tribute to prax) around this. Perhaps you meant it differently than what it appears. Can you reconcile it with the following?:

2Corinthians 11:2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. (KJV)

Seems to me that it just aint right for a pastor to be married to another man's wife...

Re: The 5-fold ministry
 

I agree. The pastor being "married" to the church sounds like a way to let many of them off the hook for putting all their time into bulding their churches while ignoring their wive's and children.

It doesn't sound right to me.

Re: The 5-fold ministry
 

2 Cor. 12:12 - Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds



Rom. 11:13 -(Paul) I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry

Re: The 5-fold ministry
 

[Ephesians 4:11-12

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:

What is an apostle?
What is a prophet?
What is an evangelist?
What is a pastor?
What is a teacher?

Or maybe I should ask what kind of duties must a man perform to have these titles..
duties wouldnt be the word ,it would be abilities...
apostle is a ministry that the one called should be able to perform each other task that is named ,,paul was an apostle ,he taught ,evangelised and all ..not sure he ever just pasotred a church ,,but he was like today overseer ofmany thats pastoring alot at once.

prophet -guides ,instructs ,with a word from god to individuals or a group at once .can speak of future events ,...

evangelist -travels alot ,from place to place ,preaching the good news //..uplifting pastors,and churches setting them on fire for the work of the lord.

pastor is a overseer of the flock ,they are his resposibility ,,...not a ruler ,but a leader and guider ,councilor ,,janitor lol,,,,the most liked man or hated man in the church ,, its just according to whats going on at the time lol.must be a good example ,to the flock..must have alot of love.

someone is able to break down scripture so it can be understood by others,, a gifted way of explaining it ..

Re: The 5-fold ministry
 

Bro. Sam,
I also watched the funeral on DVD of Sis. Nona Freeman's funeral. I also
attended her funeral in person. The respect given to her at her homegoing
BY THE BRETHREN was so touching. First, her son in law, Bro. Brian Orffer,
who spoke so highly of Bro. & Sis. Freeman. Telling how as a young man,
visiting their church and how with the progression of time, came to know
the Lord in Spirit and in Truth. He gave tribute to both Bro. and Sis. Freeman
as why he is in the church today. Tremendous testimony. Bro. Murrell Ewing,
his voice filled with emotion as he spoke of never hearing the part that Bro.
Orffer spoke of, just before he sang "I'm Home Now".
Bro. Jannie (Yonnie) Smith, Gen. Supt. of the church in South Africa, spoke
of how when he was a young child was bitten by a scorpion and as a result,
was left with a terrible speech impediment. I have heard Sis. Freeman speak
more than once about the young man, who announced as a young man, that
God had called him to preach. She would say she wondered how God could
ever use someone like this. BUT she prayed and encouraged him. Powerful
testimony Bro Smith gave at her homegoing. Living proof of what God can do
in spite of our human inabilities.
Sis. Freeman's youngest brother gave a touching testimony also. Another
son in law, Bro. Orion T. Gleason, sang "Down From His Glory". Other speakers,
singers, etc., gave tribute to Sis. Nona Freeman.
When it comes my time to go Home, I would hope that my own family would
be able to say that they were living for God because I had lived a life pleasing
to God.

Blessings,

Falla39

Re: The 5-fold ministry
 

I have wondered for years, "Where, O, where are the TEACHERS". My late
father was a tremendous teacher of the Word. I miss him and his teaching,
even after being gone for just over 20 yrs.

Dad never preached a Gen. Conf. or a campmeeting and was not unusually
visible to the world. But to those who knew him and knew his life, he was a
godly man, a faithful husband, a committed father and minister of the gospel,
and spent much time in prayer and of the study of the Word of God. A quote
he coined was "Time changes everything, except those things which are
eternal".

Falla39

Re: The 5-fold ministry
 

CORRECTION!!!

It's the FIVE-fold ministry.

I realize that pastors rule the organization and want to be the all in all, but there is a difference between pastoring and teaching.

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good grief!!! excellent speaker/story teller?! That's the best you can do?

I take it you don't believe God uses women?

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[QUOTE=Esther;882517]good grief!!! excellent speaker/story teller?! That's the best you can do?

I take it you don't believe God uses women?[/QUOTE]

I take it some do not "KNOW" Sis. Nona Freeman!

Re: The 5-fold ministry
 

[QUOTE=Falla39;882519]You got that right. Or they have their man-made doctrine being blown apart with evidence they are wrong.

Re: The 5-fold ministry
 

[QUOTE=Esther;882544]You really like to twist things around don't you?

I have heard her speak many times and I have read all of her books.

I don't remember her ever foretelling the future, which would be the sign of true prophet.

As an Apostle (as one who is sent) all preachers are "sent".

Does that make them true Apostles, NO!

They must fulfill the requirements that Paul laid down in (II Co 12:12).

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[QUOTE=Rev;882590]Here are the words of a true prophet...

(Acts 21:10) And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judaea a certain prophet, named Agabus.
(Acts 21:11) And when he was come unto us, he took Paul’s girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.

The prophet foretold the future.

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[QUOTE=Rev;882599]It is my understanding that prophet is the Greek word prophetes, meaning one who speaks on behalf of another. In the Bible sense, a prophet is one who speaks on the behalf of God or delivers God's message to humankind. This may include both foretelling and forth-telling.

In Acts 13:1 there are several men listed as prophets and teachers in the Antioch assembly. I don't know which were prophets and which were teachers but the names are: Barnabas, Simeon, Lucius, Manaen, and Saul.

In Acts 15 we read something about prophets where it tells about the letter (position paper) that was sent out from the Jerusalem church and elders. In verse 32 it says, "Now Judas and Silas, themselves being prophets also, exhorted and strengthened the brethren with many words." It does not sound so much like foretelling there but more like forth-telling.

In 1 Corinthians 14:29-32 it says:
29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge. 30 But if anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent. 31 For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged. 32 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.

There it sounds like prophets speaking in the assembly was a pretty common occurrence and it is different than the gift of prophecy that we are all told to covet or desire in 1 Cor 14:1 and 39.

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[QUOTE=Rev;882599]Yes I have heard Sis. Freeman do the same. Just because she did not publish it didn't mean she did not do it.

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Concerning apostles:
I was pondering a little this evening concerning the scripture Rev. 21:14, as to if Paul or Mathias was the 12th foundational apostle of the lamb in that verse.

Rev. 21:14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.



I stumbled across this short article discussing exactly that, and I believe I agree with its reasoning, that the verse very likely was speaking of Mathias rather than Paul (or even Judas).

http://www.apostasynow.com/articles/apostles.html