I pray that you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else in this world or in the world to come. Eph. 1:16-21 NLT There is...
Rethinking the “Five-Fold Ministry” Part 2 – Ministry
And He gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some shepherds and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ. Eph. 4:11-12 In my first post for this series I discussed the emergence of the “five-fold ministry” doctrine with the intent of examining the validity of the...
Rethinking the “Five-Fold Ministry” Part 1 – Equipping
And He gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some shepherds and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ. Eph. 4:11-12 Much has been written over the last 2000 years concerning what has come to be called the “Five-Fold Ministry.” According to Frank Viola the modern iteration...
Equipping the Saints
Traditionally when Eph. 4 is taught the focus is on dissecting the definitions of apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers. These definitions are important and need to be accurately clarified to move the kingdom forward. But regardless of the expression of grace being employed, the function of each is to “equip” the saints for works of service with a view towards the...
The Prime Apostolic Directive
In the flurry of activity and communication attempting to define the apostolic the focus generally tends to be on certain aspects such as the grace to lead, establish, set in order, or demonstrate the power of the Spirit: all of which are legitimate characteristics. But at the core of the apostolic grace and commission is something much more simple, profound and divine. Consider the following...