God’s Glory & the Five-Fold Ministry

And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.

Ephesians 4:11-13

People speak much of God’s Glory these days, and so they ought. We prepare for an outpouring of It so that we all the more have room in our soul and life to contain It. Like a farmer who enlarged his barns and storehouses because he expected a bountiful harvest, we too will be ready to tuck away in safety against climate and elements what is harvested from the many seeds we had sown, and so to be ready to give to those around us from the surplus we have laid up.

God’s Glory has been enumerated as including His protection, His provision, His presence, His purpose, and His power. (And His goodness, but we are concerned here with the five p’s. Arguably, His goodness to us encompasses all these benefits anyway.) There are also five aspects to Church ministry, as the above verses declare. I find this correlation very interesting. Though we are not all anointed to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, or teachers, we can all labor toward great harvests of God's protection, provision, presence, purpose, and power--thus creating an atmosphere wherein these spiritual offices can be best functional.

When I considered the five-fold ministry from the perspective of God’s Glory, this is what occurred to me:

Apostles are the churchly manifestation of God’s purpose, for to these are revealed what the Church ought to be about for this time. They are anointed to lead us in God’s purposes.

Prophets are the churchly manifestation of God’s power, for they pronounce warnings for the people when they stray and their words are anointed to enact God’s purposes in this earth for this time (and so that the rest of us know with what we are to come into agreement). They are anointed to use God’s power.

Evangelists are the churchly manifestation of God’s protection, for they lead the masses to that which keeps them from evil—the covering Blood of Jesus. They are anointed to bring many under the strong pinions of God’s sheltering wings.

Pastors are the churchly manifestation of God’s presence, for these are the shepherds who lead about the sheep over nearby grazing areas and fulfill their everyday spiritual needs. They are anointed to walk beside us, leading, guiding, looking for good grazing (i.e., to provide us with spiritual manna), and to bring God’s presence among us in an everyday way.

Teachers are the churchly manifestation of God’s provision, for these show us how to get by in life. They are anointed to show us how to find the wisdom we need and to teach us how to utilize the knowledge God's Word reveals.

So it seems to me that it is when the five-fold ministry is working in its fullness, the fullness of God’s Glory is among us.