Five-Fold Ministry: The Pastoral Role

In Ephesians 4, Paul begins by exhorting the body to walk worthy of the calling that God has over their lives by walking "with all lowliness & gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace..." He goes on in that chapter to speak of the five-fold ministry after stating that Christ first descended before He ascended, which is reminiscent of the humility in Philippians 2 and the seemingly foolish leadership of the Cross in I Corinthians 1-2.

Paul was teaching that those operating in the five-fold ministry must walk in love, meekness, & humility in order to prefer one another & keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

The pastoral role is one of the five-fold ministry callings. The role of the pastor is to make disciples of Christ and to oversee the overall wholeness and well-being of those who have been brought into the church through salvation. Typically, the evangelist will bring the lost souls into the church, and after salvation, the pastor looks after the overall well-being of the person.

This may involve teaching & some of the deacon-type ministry (diakonos, see Acts 6:1-5), which is serving and ministering to their needs—not only spiritually, but physically as well. It also includes counseling, inner-healing, and life instruction. Pastors help develop fellowship between believers and literally make disciples AND those who disciple.

Where a teacher would primarily teach biblical doctrine, a pastor would help apply the bible to practical life. It is important that any messenger help apply the message to practical life, but some are called to cast a vision, and others called to help apply the vision. Pastors help with the application process.

For example, if someone preaches and casts vision for a corporate fast, then the pastor would come and give practical ways to fast and would be involved in their people’s lives enough to know who has an eating disorder and really should not completely fast food altogether. Or if someone preaches on giving to the poor, the pastor would actually come and highlight a family to give to and make sure the needs of that family are met. Pastors are the ones who are at the hospital beds, performing the weddings, counseling, and meeting with people. This is why it is so important to have more than one person with a pastoral heart operating in the church, because there is so much to do. Also, it is important for the pastor to relinquish other responsibilities that are meant for the other five-fold ministry roles and focus on pastoring only.

The Lord has created a five-fold ministry to balance the needs of the people over several different leaders so that one person is not burned out or trying to fill a role that they are not fully gifted in. The problem is that with the current model of church in America, there is usually one person over the church who tries to fill all five roles in the five-fold ministry. As a result, many pastors are over-worked and burnt out. Also, the body is not complete and functioning as it should. The church was designed to be a body where each part is working together in submission to the Head, which is Christ. Not only should there be a five-fold ministry present in leadership, but also each member of the body should be activated in their giftings and contribute to the body as a whole. This takes humility and meekness between each person involved—especially those in leadership, for this goal to be accomplished.