As
the Lord begins to stir a hunger in our hearts for the release of the five-fold
ministry, we will begin asking the questions of how to practically apply this
in our church and ministry contexts. As we learn to apply this practically,
there are some foundational principles that are essential for this system to
work.
The
most essential element for the five-fold ministry to work is love. The second
is the knowledge that the functional role is given for the sole purpose of
serving the Bride.
There
is a passage in Philippians that breaks my heart. Paul says in Philippians
2:19-22, “But I trust the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, that I
also may be encouraged when I know your state. For I have no one like-minded,
who will sincerely care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things
which are of Christ Jesus. But you know his proven character, that as a son
with his father he served with me in the gospel. Therefore, I hope to send him at
once…”
It
is remarkable to me that out of all the people serving with Paul, he had no one
who was like-minded except Timothy. There was only one person he could send who
cared more about the state of the church and the glory of Christ Jesus than his
own success and well-being. This breaks my heart.
Even
in the early church, there was so much disorder and confusion about the
functioning of the body. Paul wrote numerous times to correct their conduct—and
many times, the problem was the lack of mutual love and service (humility)
toward each other.
In
I Corinthians 12-15, Paul wrote the church and he spent a lot of time telling
them how the gifts should function in the body and how one person should sit
down and let the other speak. The list of the gifts of the Spirit and one of
the five-fold ministry passages were actually given in the context of a rebuke
to the church for not working together in love and preferring one another.
Right
in the middle of this rebuke and instruction concerning the gifts, Paul places
the famous chapter on love. He said even if you prophesied or gave all you had
to the poor, if you were lacking in love, then you were nothing.
Even
if we are all filling our positions and doing our jobs correctly, if we are
lacking in love, then we are nothing. If we are following all the procedures
and manuals to the utmost degree, but we are seeking our own, then we are
nothing. Love does not seek its own.
God
is looking for bondservants who will lay down their lives for His Bride. He is
looking for team ministry in His body, where each person lays down their life
to love and serve the other. Without this foundational principle, you could
implement every system, program, and structure in the world, and it will not
work.
So
much of the damage done in the body of Christ by leadership structures has been
because of the lack of humility, service, and love. This has caused the need
for so much structure and systems being put in place, that may not have been
necessary if people were actually caring for others more than themselves.
Even
though we are working with real people in a real world, believers in the body
of Christ no longer have to live according to the standards of the world. It is
possible for us to do what Jesus told His disciples, “They will know you are my
disciples because of your love for one another.” If each of us live as
individuals who learn to love and obey God, then love and serve each other, we
will become the growing body God desires for us to be.
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