Five Fold Series

We are in the middle of a series on the fivefold ministry gifts in Ephesians 4.  In verse 7 Paul says 'But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it'  and, after a parenthesis where he refers to a Psalm, in verses 11-12 he goes on to describe what he gave: 'So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his peopel for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up'.

We are doing this series because we are moving into a new season of missional engagement.  As we come to better understand how God has gifted each of us, we will be able to cooperate with God and each other more effectively.

In summary:
apostles - bring change and innovation
prophets - hear and communicate the heart of God
evangelists - bring and share good news
pastors(shepherds) - care for and protect others
teachers - grasp and apply the truth

However, this isn't about us thinking we don't have to do things we aren't gifted for - we still all need to care for people even if our 'gift' isn't pastor/shepherd.  Rather the pastors/shepherds among us help all of us to get better at what they do more easily.  It is put well in this quote from Mike Breen:
 

We are not all called to be pastors, but we are all called to care.  We are not all called to be teachers, but we are all called to hold out the Truth.  We are all responsible for learning to listen for God's voice, something that comes more naturally for the prophet.  We are all called to share the Good News with others, but this takes all of those who are not called to be evangelists out of their comfort zones.  And we are not all apostles, but we must all learn to walk out into what God calls us to do.

We are encouraging everyone to think about which of the five ministry gifts they have and to talk about that with people that know them.  A good starting point is to take this online survey:  fivefoldsurvey.com

Here are the audio recordings:
Introducing the five fold ministries
Apostle
Pastor
Evangelist


Note: we are using resources from Mike Breen and Alex Absalom for this series