Five Thoughts on the Five-Fold Ministry
One of the most misunderstood aspects of the church as God designed it is the place of the five-fold ministry. God has designed the body of Christ so that it builds itself up in love. An important part of that process is mature five-fold gifts functioning in and amongst the body of Christ in a mature way. But many have misunderstood the purpose and functions of different aspects of these gifts.
Because of the importance of these ministries, I’ve assembled some of the best posts on the five-fold ministry that I’ve found on various blogs. These are written by men and women with experience with people who have functioned in these gifts. These are my top five posts. Feel free to leave a link to your favorite post on this topic in the comment section.
What Is the Purpose of the 5-Fold Ministry? by Felicity Dale
Felicity gives us a great post to introduce us to the idea of the five-fold ministry and right off the bat she combats the major misconceptions about these gifts God gives the church. This is a short post but many people miss the profound implications that are found within it.
The Reign of God by Len at Next Reformation
Len’s thoughts on a quote from An Ethic for Christians and Other Aliens in a Strange Land don’t directly mention the five-fold ministry. But he does touch on an interesting idea: The Kingdom of God is extended by Jesus as He gives these gifts to the church for the world. Read on to see more.
Apostolic Leaders, Churches, and Five-Fold Ministries by Bob Robers Jr.
I love this post by Bob Roberts. Bob really brings a very balanced perspective to the whole issue of the five-fold ministry. I love that his insights are born out of his work in the non-Western world and I’m greatly encouraged on his emphasis on the whole church becoming apostolic, and not just one man.
Missional Communities Led by Five-Fold Ministries by Mike Breen
Mike does a great job in this post of describing what a missional community will look like if it is lead by each of the five-fold ministries. While not entirely the same as a house church, I’ve noticed similar group dynamics in house churches led by each of these different ministry gifts. You may learn a few things about why you lead your house church the way you do from this post.
Signs of Immature Five-Fold Ministries by Mike Breen
Last but not least, this post is extremely helpful because it identifies characteristics of immature people with five-fold giftings. Many times we reject five-fold minstries because of our negative experiences with the immature versions of five-fold ministries. This frank discussion about the downside of immature five-fold ministries will help those who have had negative experiences. It’s also really helpful to those maturing in these gifts because it highlights weaknesses they will need to address.
Photo Credit: This image is a product of five pictures representing each of the five-fold ministries.
Thanks to Ben Sutherland for Rouault’s Christ and the Apostles, Phantom Leap for Seer, Boliston for Birmingham Street Preacher, Jake Liefer for Pastor Garrison, and Stock.XCHNG for Professor at Work.
Guest Posting: Spirit-led Gatherings
Dave over at Searching God’s Heart asked me to guest post about the topic of Spirit-led Meetings. Have you been part of a Spirit-Led Gathering? How do you know? So many people have different ideas about what a Spirit-led gathering is that it’s hard to know. Here’s a paragraph from the post:
Joy floods the room as everyone begins to glorify God. Several brothers surround the man and begin to pray for him. Plans are made for a baptism the next day, which interferes very little with everyone’s plans because most had planned to assemble together the next day anyways. The gathering goes late into the night as others share about the greatness of Christ, the worth of following Him despite the cost, and the imminence of His return. You leave late into the evening encouraged by the supernatural work that has obviously taken place.
I’d like to encourage you to jump over to Searching God’s Heart and read the rest of the post. This is the first in a series of three posts. Join Dave, his readers, and myself as we discuss the importance of churches being corporately led by the Holy Spirit.
UPDATE: You can see all three parts of this series. I will update the links as they come out:
Part One: Have You Met With Christians Like This? Part Two: What is a Spirit-Led Gathering? Part Three: A Case Study
Photo Credit: Holy Spirit Dove by John Kroll
Speaking of Church…
A church is not a well built structure where people worship Jesus.
You cannot go to a church.
You may have been thinking about a church building.
A church is not a program of events where spiritual things happen.
You cannot attend a church.
You may have been thinking about a church meeting.
A church is a group of people with names and faces.
You can know a church and be part of one.
A church is not a what, it’s a who.
We should be careful to not call things churches that are not churches.
It assigns a false significance to things that aren’t that important.
Unless the thing you’re describing is a people that Jesus bled and died to redeem, you’re probably not talking about a church.
Cluster Map
Pursuing Glory 