Gift Packages of the Five-Fold Ministry Callings

Although there is no hard-and-fast rule to this, there are certain gifts that are helpful to identify on a person to know the calling on their life or ways that God may use them in edifying the body and bringing in the lost. Many times, there will be approximately three or so gifts that a particular person finds themselves using more than others.

An apostolic person will typically operate in the gifts of leadership, faith, & administration to some level. Also, they will typically be gifted in exhortation. An apostolic person is usually a visionary, so many times, administration is not their highest gifting, but they can do it do some extent—and more than do it, they can see what needs to be done and call someone else into doing it. Many times, an apostolic person will also have a leaning towards another aspect of the five-fold ministry such as the prophetic or the evangelist. Many times, that leaning will bring in other gifts that go along with their primary role.

Someone whose primary function is in the prophetic will have a combination of all of the revelation gifts: words of wisdom, words of knowledge, and the gift of prophecy. They will be able to see what is happening and call it forth, but they always need to partner will the apostolic, the teacher, and the pastor to be able to implement what they are seeing. Many times, God will use them to identify someone with an apostolic call and thrust that person into beginning the work. Then, after the work begins, they will help call the church back to the vision and keep them in focus as time goes on.

An evangelistic person will typically have the gift of miracles, faith, and words of knowledge. God uses them to bring in the lost and activate believers in evangelism. Therefore, they will often operate in words of knowledge for healing, miracles, and specifics about an unbeliever, so that person is moved to believe in Jesus. They also typically operate in a gift of faith and divine appointments that puts them in the right place at the right time to lead someone to the Lord.

Typically, a pastoral person will be gifted in helps/ministry, teaching, and mercy. Many times, they are also gifted in giving as well. These are your disciplers. They are the ones who care about the day-to-day needs of the people. It is helpful to pair these people with evangelists, so that they disciple the people that the evangelist is saving. Even though all of the ministry roles should serve like Jesus did, the pastoral person is a servant at heart and highly merciful and full of compassion. They get into the daily lives of people and help them move forward in knowing Jesus.

Finally, the teacher will be gifted in teaching, ministry, and discerning of spirits. Many times, they will also be gifted in exhortation as well. The reason why a teacher would be gifted in discerning of spirits is that the job of the teacher is to give correct doctrine and correct false doctrine. It takes a high-level of discernment to speak right doctrine in a timely fashion to combat false doctrines of demons that infiltrate the church. Typically, a teacher helps to stabilize the prophetic person in keeping them in right doctrine and also providing discernment. Contrary to common opinion, a prophetic person may be high in the prophetic, but they usually do not have much discernment. Pairing a prophet with a teacher helps brings balance to both roles.