The Purpose
To Attain to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
To Lead or Not to Lead?
While these are indeed leadership roles, they do not necessarily fit the earthly concept of leadership. Kingdom leaders serve and empower from the bottom up while earthly leaders administrate and manage from the top down.
Earthly leaders “use” people while kingdom leaders spend themselves on behalf of others. Even Jesus, the most authoritative Leader in the Kingdom — the King of kings and Lord of lords — told His followers, “You’ll do greater things that Me.” (See John 14:12.)
The purpose of fivefold ministry, then, is not to wave a title around or travel from church to church receiving praises and honorariums. The purpose of fivefold ministry is to “equip God’s people for works of service…” And the only way to equip someone for something is to be a living example of it. You cannot equip a person to serve unless you yourself are a better servant than they are. As Jesus said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” (See Mark 9:35.)
Now, if service is the purpose of fivefold ministry, we need to ask what this service looks like and how it is measured. What is the end result? I’m convinced that the end result of effective fivefold ministry is that “we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (See Ephesians 4:13.)
In other words, the purpose of fivefold ministry is to equip every believer to do all five ministries. In this way, every Christian will look like Jesus.
Every Believer’s Ministry is Five-fold
Every believer is called to all five ministries in some capacity.
For example, no one should say, “Sorry, I’m not an evangelist, so I don’t need to evangelize.” Evangelism is part of every believer’s mission. Paul told Timothy (who was arguably either a pastor or possibly an apostle) to “do the work of an evangelist.” In the same way, every believer is capable of “doing the work of” all five ministries. Further, not all are teachers; and yet we have Colossians 3:16, which says to “teach and admonish one another with all wisdom.” And then we have Romans 15:14, which says, “I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another.” Not all are teachers, but every believer is called to teach in some capacity.
Similarly, while a pastor’s (or shepherd’s) role is to care for the sheep (people in the Church) and spend his or her life for their wellbeing, that’s technically what we are all called to do. We are all to “bear one another’s burdens…,” “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves,” and “…serve one another humbly in love.” So, in a sense, while there are still pastors, we are all expected to “do the work of” a pastor as we pour out our lives for one another and keep watch over each other.
When it comes to prophets, not all are prophets; and yet, every believer is capable of hearing God’s voice. (See John 6:44-45 and 10:27.) In fact, Paul said, “You may all prophesy…” (1 Corinthians 14:31). Therefore not all are prophets, but you may all prophesy!
And as for apostles, every believer is called to prayer and the ministry of the word. Every believer is called to a ministry of miracles, signs and wonders (Mark 16:17-18). Every believer is called to contend for sound doctrine and “go into all the world.” Every believer is technically a “sent-one.” And yet, not all are Apostles. (1 Corinthians 12:29)
