What kind of vile, wicked, evil thing is in your heart that you would DARE call the purpose of the "five-fold ministry" (to equip the saints to do the work of serving God) "spoon-feeding"? You're saying that GOD'S PURPOSE for apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers (or, perhaps more correctly, pastor-teachers) is spoon-feeding!

The problem, more often than not, is that the saints don't want to be equipped, they want to sit on their blessed assurance and be spoon-fed. They want to be blessed, made to feel good about themselves, to be ministered to.

Some saints take longer to equip than others (usually because of the saints themselves). As for releasing them, they're to be released when God says to release them (an example is when the Holy Ghost told certain prophets and teachers in Antioch to send Paul and Barnabas on what we call Paul's first missionary journey).