Five-Fold Thinking!
Whilst reading ‘Six Thinking Hats’ by Edward de Bono it lead me to a concept called ‘5-Fold Thinking’
Based on the so-called ‘5-fold ministry’ (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers- Ephesians 4:11)!
I think we now have some good definitions about what these people do and who these people are (for example ‘What is an apostle?’- do you know the answer?)
But in my experience, we still do not always have good working relationships between the different ministries often because of a lack of understanding of each others perspectives!
For example; ‘How might an apostle work with an evangelist?’
5-fold thinking could help to foster understanding and help us to come to well-rounded solutions and ways forward.
When making group decisions, for example, we could look through the lense of the different ministries (ie ‘let’s think about this pastorally for a moment’)
Doing this might foster understanding and move us towards a more balanced and mature Church!
5-Fold Thinking is about looking at a project or discussion from at least 5 different angles, sometimes refered to as ‘Parallel Thinking’.
- Let’s all think about this apostolically
- Maybe we should consider things from a prophetic viewpoint
- Let’s put on the evangelist to consider things
- How about adopting a pastoral stance on this issue
- What would the teacher have to say at this point
In a discussion group, all would look from one angle at a time (eg, all would bring ideas from an apostolic viewpoint, then from a prophetic viewpoint and so on)
Still working on this
ANY THOUGHTS?
I’ve heard a lot about the 5-fold ministry recently. I’m not sure I entirely agree with the concept to begin with. The easiest one is that in Greek pastor-teacher is basically one concept. We could use a hyphen (like I just did) to convey the same idea. Secondly, the local church is not necessarily the group of people that these “5-fold ministers” should be found. We have to think of “the church”. The apostles and the prophets already did their part in kick-starting the church. Earlier in Ephesians (2:19-20) Paul writes, “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.” Had it not been for the apostles and prophets and ultimately of Christ Jesus who is the chief cornerstone there would be no church. So, they were a gift to the church that helped lay the foundation for the church today. There aren’t people who have the title “apostle” or “prophet” today. I don’t believe prophecy has ended. People can still speak prophetically but the prophets have come and gone. This idea of having a 5-fold ministry in every local church doesn’t make sense when you realize two of them already did their part and two of them are really one role. I think the discussion about the 5-fold ministry buries the lead. We should be talking about equipping the laity for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up.
Nathan Creitz said this on July 7, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Wow! Nathan, thanks for your reply and thoughts. A few thoughts I have:
First, I was writting the article on ‘5-fold thinking’ to help us to mature as saints into the various facets of Christ and to foster understanding so that we can all grow in prayer, outreach, discipleship, mission and pastoral care
Pastor-Teacher possibly the same person and function…I think you may be right so ‘5 fold’ isn’t a strict definition as there may be 4! Some people use APEPT (apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teachers) or 4:11 team.
The local church is not necessarily the place where all these (APEPT) people may be found (if by local we mean ‘housechurch’ or ‘congregation’).
If however, by ‘local’ we mean city-church, (as in the church in Ephesus, all the Christians in a given city locale) or churches in the region (as in churches in Galatia)- Jesus probably does have apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers amongst the Christians to equip the saints! (Eph 4:11-16) As we haven’t yet reached the full stature of Christ and all parts are definately not working in every city or region yet!
The apostles and prophets of century 1 did lay the foundation of the church in Ephesus (Paul and team). Pauls APEPT team planted churches throughout much of Turkey. Many of these churches no longer exist- who will lay the foundation of Christ amongst these people groups and places now (probably apostle and prophets)?
If it were not for apostles and prophets and the ministry of Evangelist, in many places there would be no foundation laid today.
And if there are no longer any need for these ministries, what do we say about Billy Graham (is he not an Evangelist)?
What about church history? Did these people not fulfill the role of apostle, prophet or evangelist:
St. Patrick
John Wycliffe
George Fox
John Knox
John Wesley, Charles Wesley, George Whitefield
John A Darby
William and Catherine Booth
Now about the gift of prophecy, that exists today! But a number of years ago many people said it was no longer in operation. Not long before that people said you didn’t need to baptize people anymore, not long before that, people said we did not need the Bible in our own language.
Now…concerning equiping the saints- that’s what this is all about. But if these people (APEPT) no longer exist, who will equip us!
I think the danger is putting anyone who is called to be an apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor-teacher on a pedastool! They are just servants called to equip the saints for work.
Also, these people are to function in their ministries. Whilst they do, they are Christs gift to His Church, but I would be wary of titles and people calling themselve ‘Apostle Rudy’ or handing out business cards!
We are also to test those who claim to be apostles. And there will be false prophets and teachers
Concerning Apostles- the apostles around today are not the same as the Apostles of the Lamb (as there were only 12 and they played an important function including the writing of Scripture)
But there are apostles sent out by the Holy Spirit like Paul, Barnabas, Timothy, Titus, Ephraphoditus and all the others seen in the New Testament
There’s more to say I am sure. It may be that what some call missionaries and church-planters (never used in the New Testament) are possibly apostles (apostle means ’sent one’- others however are not sent by the Holy Spirit, and are just paid employees of mission organizations and boards)
Peter Farmer said this on July 7, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Hey Peter,
Thanks for the response. Yeah, I think I more balk at the titles. In the church there are basically elders and deacons. They may do something apostolic or prophetic but their deeds don’t qualify them (in my understanding) to BE a “prophet” or an “apostle”. I take Ephesians 2 to mean that the Christ and the Bible are the foundation of the church (the Bible being the prophets of the OT and the apostles of the NT). Anyway, I appreciate your response. You seem more reasonable than some people who I’ve talked to about the 5-fold ministry. There are some who think this is like THE thing that the church has forgotten over the ages and now that they’ve rediscovered it everything needs to stop until we get this 5-fold leadership team back into the church. This is a helpful passage and, like you say, it’s about equipping the saints but I don’t like basing an entire approach to ministry (like some people I’ve talked with about this have done) on one or two verses of Scripture. A lot of times, lists in the Bible are not exhaustive and I believe other people can be used by God who are not from the Ephesians 4 list.
Anyway, I should say, I appreciate your larger point that we could look from different perspectives. It is clear that the reason we have spiritual gifts is so the Body of Christ can be strengthened by various view points and I think that was largely what you were getting at. Thanks for your post.
Nathan Creitz said this on July 8, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Thanks Nathan!
Peter Farmer said this on July 9, 2009 at 5:09 pm