Sunday, January 23, 2005

Explaining the Five-Fold Ministry

One of the major distinctions of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) is the controversial 5-fold ministry. The basic point is that God wants today's churches to be led by a team of God appointed apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Of course most churches don't have apostles and prophets, so a major emphasis of the NAR is to restore these church offices. The Bible covers this 5-fold ministry topic in Ephesians 4:11-13 (I'll put this is an outline form to you can study it carefully.)

  • 11 It was he who gave
    • some to be apostles,
    • some to be prophets,
    • some to be evangelists
    • and some to be pastors
    • and teachers
  • 12 to prepare Gods people
    • for works of service,
    • so that the body of Christ may be built up,
  • 13 until we all reach unity
    • in the faith
    • and the knowledge of the son of God
  • and become mature,
    • attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
In summary: God created these 5 ministries to help his people become unified and mature.

The NAR assumes that we still need all five ministries today to attain the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Many people assume that we don't need apostles and prophets today; that we can reach maturity without them. In my opinion, God's standard of maturity is much higher than we commonly suppose. Here's a riff based on Paul McCartney's song "Silly Love Songs"
Some people say the church is full of loving Christians
I look around me
and I see it isn't so

Some people say the church is full of loving Christians
I look around me
and I see it isn't so

Some people say the church is full of loving Christians
So what's wrong with us
I'd like to know

Next I'll cover the objections to the five fold ministry.

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