Maintaining order, liberty and the unity of the faith among the members is a central necessity and one requiring special wisdom. For that reason God has given particular gifts to the church – spiritual ministries having to do with gospel order, godly oversight, and guidance for the church at large.

In Ephesians 4:11, Paul wrote, “He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers.” These are chosen by the Lord from among the members and supernaturally endowed to build the church, “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 fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:12,13)

The difference between the gifts of the Holy Spirit and these ministries may be seen in Paul’s statements, “Ye may all prophesy,” but that not all are prophets. The first speaks of the gift of the Holy Spirit, which may be exercised by any member of the church. The second speaks of a ministry given to a person. (1 Corinthians 14:31 and 12:29)

The calling given these ministers is as high as it can be, and their task could not be greater. Their charge is to bring God’s people to full maturity.

APOSTLES – These are spiritual pioneers, founding and building up churches where none have existed. The life of the apostle Paul exemplified this ministry, in the burdens he bore, in his labors, his fruit, and in the price he paid, filling “up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church.” (Colossians 1:24) He did not build on any other man’s foundation. (Romans 15:20) It was to the apostles and prophets that the mystery of the church was revealed – God’s plan that Jewish and Gentile Christians should be joined together in the same body. As Paul wrote, “In other ages [it] was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.” (Ephesians 3:5,6)

PROPHETS – They speak the mind of the Lord by the immediate inspiration of the Holy Spirit, declaring what is otherwise unknown to the natural understanding. In the New Testament, prophets warned the church and thus prepared it for coming events, as Agabus foretold world famine and Paul’s imprisonment. (Acts 11:28 and 21:10,11) genuine prophecy is always wholly supernatural in origin and comes “not by the will of man.” (2 Peter 1:21; see also 1 Corinthians 14:29)

EVANGELISTS – These ministers go out among the unbelievers and confront them with the Gospel of salvation, thus breaking the ground spiritually by sowing seeds of faith. Their call is to proclaim the gospel far and wide, particularly where it has not been heard. Others, normally, will be sent to nourish the fruit of their preaching; their work is integrally related to the rest of the body of Christ and not carried out in the “free-lance” style we see so much today.

PASTORS AND TEACHERS – Tradition has created a distortion in the relationships among the ministries that God has ordained for His church. Perhaps in this area more than any other we need to be most careful to examine what the Scriptures actually say about the office. Except in reference to Jesus, the Greek word “pastors,” describing ministers, appears only once in the New Testament, and that is in Ephesians 4:11. Is it not strange that the ministry least described in the New Testament has come to occupy the central place in the life of the church?

We have in this listing five words describing ministry, but the Greek wording gives us to understand that they refer to four ministries. Note that the word “some,” describing those called to these ministries, occurs four times – the last before the complementary terms “pastors” and “teachers.” If pastors are taken to be separate from teachers, we are left with a ministry that is not described and not mentioned elsewhere in the New Testament.

The ministry of teachers is cited in various contexts. For example, we read: “Now in the church at Antioch there were PROPHETS and TEACHERS” (Acts 13:1), five of whom are named and two of whom were set apart by the Holy Spirit to be apostles. The other references to “teacher” (in 1 Corinthians 12:28,29 and in 1 Timothy 2:7 and 2 Timothy 1:11) speak of the ministry of “teacher” in a way similar to that of “apostle,” “prophet” and “evangelist,” so as to suggest that this ministry, like the others, was for the church at large. It was not to be limited to a single congregation. The pastor-teachers did not displace the authority of the elders in each place, but complemented it. Not permanently stationed in one church, they traveled as the Lord led them and as the needs of the local assemblies required.

It is clear that Paul, as an apostle, moved in the full breadth of these gift ministries. He spoke of himself as “a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.” (2 Timothy 1:11) As a prophet, he confronted those in the highest stations of authority, kings and their advisers. (Acts 13:6-12; also Acts chapters 24 and 25) Sometimes his ministry was that of an evangelist, moving rather quickly from place to place. At other times, he stayed in one place, such as Ephesus, for longer periods, teaching and building up the church there. Frequently, he returned to churches he had founded to teach, correct and strengthen them.

It is by these ministries that God has ordained to build and nourish the body of Christ. Each complements the others, in the common goal of bringing the bride of Christ to her full stature. Subtract any aspect, and the church becomes vulnerable to attacks of the enemy, stagnation, spiritual blindness of disunity.