Releasing the army of saints

by Brian Sauder

Article 5 in the Apostolic Series

I wonder what Paul was thinking when he wrote his letter to the Ephesians. He had already been to Ephesus twice. Each time, he saw great progress in the growth and maturity of the church.

On his first trip, Paul took Priscilla and Aquilla with him and left them there to minister. Paul found some disciples who only knew about John’s baptism. This was based on what Apollos had been teaching. When Paul laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came with power. This power continued to flow among the believers in Ephesus. There were extraordinary miracles and revival, along with riots and civil unrest as the gospel spread. But there was still more to do.

On his second trip, Paul spent three whole years in Ephesus. He started training leaders in his church-planting school in the lecture hall of Tyrannous, and the gospel reached all of Asia. An area with an estimated population of two million people was reached in two years. Churches were planted in Ephesus and Asia Minor, including the seven churches mentioned in the beginning of the book of Revelation. He left the church elders to finish the job, giving them his final leadership instructions at Meletus.

Paul’s last trip ended in AD 57, and his letter to Ephesus was written five years later in AD 62. About one-third of the way into the letter, Paul explains that the household of God has its foundations on apostles and prophets with Jesus as the chief cornerstone. Then two-thirds of the way through the letter, Paul introduces the fivefold ministry. Jesus had spoken about apostles. Teachers, prophets, and evangelists are also mentioned previously in the Bible. But the passage in Ephesians 4 is the first and only time Paul ties these gifts together with that of a pastor and declares that the five of them work together in an equipping role.

How long had Paul pondered the contents of this letter before sending it off to the Ephesian church? And why was it sent specifically to the Ephesian church? Why not to the Corinthian church? Why not to the Christians at Rome? Was this something Paul taught in the lecture hall of Tyrannus and was now putting to pen and paper? But enough of speculation. Let’s get to the facts. Paul did not call what he introduced here the “fivefold ministry,” but that is how we have labeled this concept so that we can discuss it with practical understanding.

The Significance in the Equipping

Apostles are driven to train leaders and equip believers to advance the Kingdom of God. They see the significant potential in equipping others. It makes perfect sense, then, that they want to raise up other apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists, and pastors. Their passion is to train the saints for ministry. Paul saw the potential that could be released when all the saints are equipped to minister. He was always given to training (as we will discuss in our next article). He told Timothy to train others who could in turn train others (2 Timothy 2:2).

Paul’s excitement for training everyone for ministry parallels what Jesus saw after sending out the seventy-two in Luke chapter 10. Those who were sent out returned with exciting reports of success. Jesus said, “I saw Satan fall like lighting.” Jesus referenced others in the Old Testament who would have relished the day when the Holy Spirit was available to all instead of just a single prophet or king. Was this what it would take to see Satan’s kingdoms fall? I believe Jesus was referencing the New Covenant context in which the saints—all believers, multitudes of believers—receive the Holy Spirit and are equipped to minister.

I like Luke’s words “some of them” in Acts 11:20: “Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.” Who were the “some of them”? Who were these unnamed ministers? We don’t know! In other words, it is not about the big names. Even today, it is not about the big names. It is about every believer carrying the Kingdom of God and being equipped to do so effectively. Equipping is the work of the fivefold ministry.

As Bill Hamon wrote in his book The Day of the Saints, “The book of Ephesians clearly tells us that God gave fivefold ministers, including apostles and prophets, to the church for the purpose of equipping the saints for the work of ministry.”

Ephesians Chapter Four

So, what do these verses in Ephesians chapter 4 actually say? Let’s read them.

7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it says :“When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.” 9 (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.

According to verse 7, grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. The saints are equipped with grace. Grace gives us the divine ability to do what we are called to do.

In an earlier letter to the Corinthian believers, Paul said it was the Holy Spirit that gives the supernatural gifts of Spirit. That was written years before his letter to Ephesus. But now he writes that Christ gives gifts, too. Paul did not have the canonized scriptures of the New Testament to draw from when he was writing. The only scriptures he had access to were the books of the Old Testament. It is not surprising, then, that he quotes an Old Testament passage from Psalm 68:16 that says, “he gave gifts to men.” Paul explains that the “he“ referred to in Psalm 68 is Jesus. Jesus gave gifts to men when he ascended. Because of this, some refer to the fivefold gifts as the “ascension gifts.”

These gifts of Christ, the fivefold ministry gifts, create callings. If I am a fivefold prophet (or some say if I am “in the office of a prophet”), this is not something I do. It is who I am. If I am a prophet then I am a prophet wherever I go. I am a prophet whether others recognize me as a prophet or not. An old friend of ours used to say a fivefold gift is with you from “womb to tomb.”

Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry leader Kris Vallotton says a fivefold gift is like a flavor. He compares the fivefold ministry to a flavor at a soda fountain. The machines today have one machine that you select the flavor of drink from it and it comes out. Five fountains…only instead of Coke, Sprite and Mountain Dew…it is apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher. The fountain determines the flavor. All believers have a certain amount of one or more of the five flavors. Although it is used on the public platform, equipping and training is a lot more than this.

We learn here that every believer has one or more of the fivefold flavors. For example, someone may be an evangelist/teacher or a pastor/evangelist. The grace of the teacher flavor affects a person and gives them grace to teach. If I come to the pastor flavor, I will receive pastoral gifts because there are specific gifts that flow together with a pastoral call.

Allow me to illustrate this using my own example. When I receive apostolic grace (think “flavor”), it enables me to flow in the gifts of an apostle. But it doesn’t make me an apostle. The lead apostle in the DOVE International network is Larry Kreider. Under his leadership, I can do everything the apostle does—but I do not have the identity of an apostle. I act apostolically. But when I am prayed for and receive prophetic ministry, I am consistently given words about my fivefold gifting being in the area of the prophetic and teaching. I know these are my strongest equipping gifts, but I am also in an apostolic alignment and flow as I serve under Larry Kreider, an apostle. When in the flow of apostolic grace, I can function as an apostle.

My wife and I built a new house when we were newly married. In the process, we drilled a well for the property. After a few years, our well went dry during a season of drought. Our property did not have water. So I went over to a neighbor and made a deal. We ran a hose from his house to mine until we could dig another well. This is a true story. The reason I had water was because of my relationship with my neighbor.

In a similar way, I could say that the apostolic well is not on my property, but I can act like an apostle because I am in relationship (alignment) with one who has apostolic anointing.

The Fivefold Gives Impartation

When fivefold-level prophets come to our DOVE Global Leadership and Ministry School, they do amazing prophetic ministry and often give the students an accurate prophetic word. There is always a sense of God’s presence and awe as someone who is not acquainted with the students speaks so accurately and relevantly into their lives. But beyond that, there is a heightened faith that each person can move in the prophetic gift as well. A deposit of faith for prophetic ministry is left behind.

One time we had a fivefold evangelist named Larry speak at the school. He left a significant deposit of faith for evangelism on everyone in the room. How do I know that? Because on the way home, I stopped at a gas station for coffee and ended up sharing the gospel with the person behind the counter. This is a very real testimony because earlier that very night I had made a joke by saying that when an evangelist stops for coffee, the person who serves the coffee gets saved, but when a non-evangelist like me stops for coffee, I only get coffee. Larry proved me wrong. Larry, a fivefold evangelist, imparted faith in me for evangelism.

Paul said in Romans 1:11 that the Roman believers would not be established until he came and imparted a spiritual gift to them. Teaching is great, but impartation changes lives. I don’t just need knowledge; I also need imparted grace. How can we measure impartation? We can’t. We just know when we have received it.

Paul wrote to Timothy about “the gift” given with the prophetic as the leaders laid their hands on him (1 Timothy 4:14). Prophecy was the identifier, but the impartation was the grace. Clearly a gift was received and something was imparted as the elders laid their hands on Timothy and prophesied. When you receive an impartation of grace, you have to do something with it. It is like a car with a high-powered engine; you have to start it up.

Apostles Bring the Fivefold Ministries Together

An apostle has the capacity to touch, train, and release the other fivefold ministries. When we teach on the fivefold ministry, we use the example of the five fingers of our hand. The apostle (represented by the thumb) can touch and bring together each of the other fingers. The index finger points like the prophet. The middle finger extends out like the evangelist. The ring finger is “married” to the church like the pastor and the little finger is good at digging things out like the teacher. The thumb is able to bring them all together to form a fist that is a symbol of power.

The apostolic gift and anointing should always be at the heart of the church. It is the core, center, and nucleus of what drives the body of Christ. It is the central part around which the other parts are gathered and grouped. The early apostles provided the nucleus of the church. Others began to gather around them, function in their gifts and graces, and help them move forward to fulfill the Great Commission of our Lord.

Starting at the Grassroots Level

In his book Fivefold Ministry Made Practical, Ron Myer describes how he had grown tired of always bringing in “anointed” ministers from outside to speak at the church he was leading. So, he prayed and determined with God’s help to find a way to raise up the fivefold ministries in his local congregation. Training on the fivefold ministry was given on the small-group level, and ministry started from there. This initial start has led to the release of dozens of recognized, traveling, fully accountable fivefold ministers who minister all across DOVE USA.

Ron describes the fivefold ministry as follows: “Apostles govern. Prophets guide. Evangelists gather. Pastors guard. Teachers ground.” His book includes chapters that describe each of these ministries. Ephesians 4:14 indicates that as a result of the fivefold ministry we are no longer children that are easily deceived. But wait, it is not only the teacher that keeps us from deception. All five of these fivefold ministers instill health in us. Without the influence of all five, something would be lacking in our lives. We would not have the protection that God has intended for His body.

It helps to understand that there are two streams of New Testament leadership: one is governmental and the other is equipping. Hang in there, because the explanation I will give for these two streams of leadership is a bit technical. The New Testament describes the governmental leaders of the church as apostles (over regions), elders (over churches) and deacons (working with the people). The second kind of leadership is the fivefold. These are persons who are given the task of equipping. The fivefold leaders in the New Testament seem to have mainly had a traveling emphasis. They were responsible to equip the saints to minister to others and to encourage the body of Christ.

You might have noticed that apostles are in both the governmental and equipping stream. Because of this, they can tie the government and the equipping streams together.

The Overarching Need for Apostles

In summary, we could say that apostles see the big picture and are willing to sacrifice deeply. Apostles, in turn, will have a greater measure of the apostolic dimension upon their lives in order to impart and stir up this anointing in the saints. A church led by apostles, but without pastors and teachers serving alongside, would drive the people very hard because the apostles would tend to think that everyone should see like they see, sacrifice like they sacrifice, and move like they move. A pastor and teacher bring a balance to the “go and do” nature of an apostolic calling by including loving care, a personal touch, and concern for the needs of each individual and family in the flock.

Pastors and teachers are quick to see the needs of the people. If they alone were in leadership, the forward thrust of the church could slow down or the church could become ingrown. The apostolic gifting brings in the visionary element as it emphasizes like this: “Go. Get busy. Sacrifice for the sake of the King.” The believers called to the fivefold ministry will have a greater dimension of the Holy Spirit’s anointing in the gift to which they are called.

Although the fivefold ministry is God’s plan and when put on paper it sounds like it works perfectly, the truth is that it does not. Rick Joyner explains it like this: “Jesus is the One building His church. Though His work may be perfect, He does not have perfect materials or people with which to work. Nor does He have perfect craftsmen—apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers whom He has given to equip the body to do the work of the ministry. They also must mature in their own ministries. Even the greatest apostles begin as immature apostles and must mature in their ministries like everyone else.”

You might know of someone who claimed to be a fivefold minister but you were disappointed in their character or maturity. Perhaps they were self-promoting or someone released them in ministry too quickly. However, when fivefold ministers are in alignment with mature apostles, great power is released.

Bibliography

Hamon, Bill. The Day of the Saints: Equipping Believers for Their Revolutionary Role in Ministry. Shippensburg: Destiny Image, 2012.
Joyner, Rick. Signs of the Kingdom, Part XIX. Rick Joyner Word for the Week, September 5, 2023.
Myer, Ron. The Fivefold Made Practical. Lititz: House to House Publications, 2019.
Vallotton, Kris. The Power of the Fivefold Ministry. Bethel Church Sermon of the Week Podcast, July 9, 2021.