What is the purpose of the 5 fold ministry?
Ephesians 4:11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.
14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,
16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love
The five fold ministry is the gift of the son to the church. The purpose of the five fold ministry is to lead and guide the saints from spiritual infancy to spiritual maturity. Helping them to find and fulfill the will of God for their life. How?
- Help them discover who they are and what their purpose is in Christ.
- Help them identify their gifts and gifting and how to utilize them.
- Help them to find their place in the body.
- Help them to develop their own personal ministry.
The administrative gifts within the body are the gifts of Christ to the church that we know as the five-fold ministry. The word “ministries” in the original Greek was the word “diakonia” and it means, to command, or to execute the commands of others.
Think of them as the individual fingers on your hand. If one of your fingers was missing, it would decrease your ability to use that hand. It is equally important that the five offices of the five-fold ministry be in their places and working effectively in order for the church to mature and grow appropriately as it was meant to do.
- The thumb is said to be the apostle. It touches every other ministry.
- The forefinger is the prophet for he can point things out that others may not see; pointing to the past, present, and future.
- The third finger is the longest and reaches the farthest. This represents the ministry of the evangelist.
- The fourth finger is the ring finger and stands for the pastor. The pastor can connect the flock with the heart of God.
- And finally we have the little finger that represents the work of the teacher. They can probe into areas that others cannot.