If someone were to tell you that your church, missional community, small group, Christian community, would be more effective at forming its members into the likeness of Jesus Christ and at missional impact in the world simply by using a free gift…would you lean in a little to what they had to say next? Might you at least try out such a bold proposition?
In a season of seemingly decreasing everything for the American Church, what would we have to lose?
Then you find out this approach to success is not from the latest podcast, Christian best-sellers list, megachurch platform, but located in the heart of the Apostle Paul’s writing to the church at Ephesus, and you may begin to wonder why such an ancient promise straight from Scripture has so little legs today.
This is exactly the promise of Ephesians 4—that the saints (you and me) will be equipped for the work of ministry and built up into the fullness of Christ (v. 12-13). As a church or ministry leader what more could you desire for those in your sphere of influence?
Formation and Mission.
Evangelism and Discipleship.
Internal Health and External Impact.
I believe these are the dual heartbeats of every sincere leader of the Christian faith. Yet they seem so fleeting, pushing the rock up the hill, smoke in our hands as we try our best to faithfully guide, direct, encourage those God has seen fit to place before us. This leads to frustration and apathy.
Again we arrive at: why not trust Scripture and give Ephesians 4 a shot!
I was first introduced to the APEST (or 5-Fold Ministry) conversation in 2013 when reading Building a Discipling Culture by Mike Breen while exploring what we coined a ‘Discipleship Deficit’ in our Small Groups ministry of our church. My learning expanded in later years through Alan Hirsch and my own deep dive into Ephesians 4 and Jesus’ disciple-making method in the Gospels. I have found the explanatory power of APEST applied to our current state of local churches in America (at least Evansville) to be so illuminating that I have personally become convinced of its necessity, and share it whenever and however I can.
Writings on APEST are beginning to multiply like rabbits, and authors have spent whole books on the topic, including Scriptural justification and exegetical foundations, clarity of definitions, as well as theories for practical application to organizational structures. It would be silly to try and reproduce even a summary explanation of what others have done so extensively, and in most cases, well. So instead with this format, I’m going to share five important clarifiers, and then ten practical tips I have gleaned along my own learning journey that I believe are crucial to both understanding and living into the 5-Fold Ministry.
5 CLARIFIERS:
Let’s Define the APEST terms. Kicking off we should be clear about what we mean when we use the words Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Shepherd and Teacher. Because ALL of them come with cultural baggage—whether that is because we have experienced a whacky expression (see Evangelist, Prophet, Apostle) or society has created a very specific mental image not necessarily aligned with the Biblical use (see Teacher and Pastor). To clear the fog and have common ground, here is an associated word, short definition, and a burning question that drives the ministry gift:
Apostle – Sending. “Sent Ones”. Taking new Kingdom Territory.
Question: Are we leading the People of God to their destiny?
Prophet – Hearing-Sharing. Keeping the Kingdom Territory Holy.
Question: Are the People of God hearing His voice and responding appropriately?
Evangelist – Sharing-Inviting. Letting people know there is Kingdom Territory.
Question: Are new people entering into the Kingdom of God?
Shepherd – Caring. Helping others be at home in Kingdom Territory.
Question: Are the People of God caring for and showing compassion for people?
Teacher – Learning. Clarifying Kingdom Territory and how to live in it.
Question: Are the People of God immersing themselves in the Word of God and Incarnating it?
YOU are not a Prophet. Or an Evangelist, or an Apostle, etc. You are not the gift you have been given. Jesus is. Jesus is the Prophet. Jesus is the Evangelist. Jesus is the Apostle. And so on. We simply fulfill the role within the Body of Christ (church), helping others experience the full ministry of Jesus. This understanding is the difference between the world seeing and experiencing Jesus and the world seeing and experiencing us. Which would you rather them see and experience?
APEST are Gifts given through Grace. Once you see that Jesus is the APEST, and you are fulfilling the ministry of the church, through grace, it both frees and empowers us properly. We get the amazing opportunity to perform in the gift, to carry out Jesus’ ministry in the world. To drive home both points 2 & 3, some APEST commentators talk about the difference between a Base and Phase Ministry. God may give you grace to lead from an area of usual weakness in order to fulfill a need in the church. For example, someone who normally does not express much natural Shepherding may for a season experience an abundance of grace to help pastor a local faith community during a time of heightened need. I use this example because I personally experienced this one! The gauge for when to return to your base ministry is when, “You exert the same energies but are not experiencing the same outcomes.”
APEST Gifts vs. Personal Spiritual Gifts. In Romans 12 there is a list of seven spiritual gifts, and thirteen listed in 1 Corinthians 12. Which list to use? Why would Ephesians 4 take precedent over these other passages? I believe there is a clear and easy explanation for the list varieties—in Romans and 1 Corinthians, Paul is talking about personal spiritual gifts, whereas in Ephesians 4 Paul is talking about gifts given for the ministry of the church. I believe this is pretty straightforward and I’m not going to belabor the point here, but I should note that there is dissention and debate on this interpretation.
The Promise of the Passage is Fullness of Christ! Just to reiterate the point made above, we are talking about experiencing the fullness of Christ. I have come to believe that many of the “woes” of the church today can be found in our inability to structure and express our ministries in light of the gifts of Christ for the Church. While it will be difficult to change and adapt centuries, if not millennia, long systems and institutions, the time is now to give it a go.
10 QUICK TIPS—no particular order:
Don’t rely on your own taking of an online survey-test. When I’ve led this, I always have the person closest to them also take it as them. Helps create balance. Plus, the best way is for people closest to you in Christian community affirm the gifting.
Leadership in APEST is expressed in mutual submission. Jesus Christ is the head of the church. I believe that a plurality of leadership in a local church should represent the full gifting of the Body of Christ and ultimate decision making should be done through discernment of the season of the church. Need to take new Kingdom territory? Apostolic ministry should lead. Need to experience numeric growth? Evangelistic ministry should lead. Then when the season has passed, allow the next leader to step forward and use your gifting fully to ensure success.
Do your own study of Jesus to see if APEST holds up. Don’t take my word for it! Don’t take published authors word for it. Get in community with other Christians and follow Jesus through the Gospels. Based on the previous definitions, see if you can find the APEST ministry alive in the life of Jesus. If you can, apply it!
Exercise your Ministry Muscles. If we are being honest, most ministry is done by a few, in very confined roles. This is consumerism and not God’s design for His church, which is 100% participation. We will need to create safe environments where people are not afraid to try, and potentially fail, to do one pull-up (metaphor). Ministry is too important to leave in the hands of a few.
Express the APEST Gifts in Community. Actually, there is no other way. The gifts are given by grace to the church—the assembly—and are to help fill out the body of Christ living and active in the world. We need others.
Don’t do all the work, equip the saints. Crucial point. It is easy to receive your gift as “you have to do it”. And to be sure, you should express your ministry gift personally. It should be life giving! But the point is to equip others. As someone who is low in Shepherding, I need Shepherds to help me be more pastoral. As someone high in Apostolic gifting, I need to help others be sent. So that we all can experience the full measure of Jesus!
Danger of Denominationalism. Maybe you’ve already made the connection, but instead of sticking together so that we can experience the fullness of Christ, the gifts have gravitated towards one another in different denominational expressions of church. All the teachers in this denomination, all the prophets in that denomination, all the apostles into non-profits and parachurch ministries. We need to intentionally correct this by stepping into uncomfortability.
Share a Story of when you’ve experienced the gifts. If this is completely new content to you, chances are very good that you actually have experienced the ministry of the church. Again, review the definitions of APEST and then in your group, class, with a friend over coffee, ministry staff, whatever, share stories of when you have seen these gifts expressed effectively. This will help solidify the concepts.
Pioneering vs. Developer Gifts. Apostles, Prophets, and Evangelists are typically lumped together as Pioneering (taking new ground), whereas Shepherds and Teachers are Developers (settling taken ground). What tends to happen is that these groups tend to pull against one another instead of serving one another for the betterment of the church. So much so that some say the APE’s have been exiled! Or at least their ministries. This is a rich reflection, but for now, I’ll just say, the local church desperately needs both to be healthy.
Why not APEST? Well, I believe there are three main reasons: #1 Cultural Barriers such as Individualism, Sprawl (proximity), Consumerism, Busyness, Comfort #2 Systemic and Institutional Barriers of churches, the way-we’ve-always-done-it-ism #3 Relationships are stinking hard! And APEST requires deep, vulnerable relationships to be effective.
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