The Fivefold Ministry

Hello everyone, and welcome to this General Conference seminar session. I'm so pleased that you joined us today. My name is Stan Gleason. I serve as Assistant General Superintendent, United Pentecostal Church, and it's a joy to share with you the fivefold ministry. My subject today is the fivefold ministry.

I want to begin by just saying that I have a passion to facilitate, to promote, to identify, to encourage, to esteem, and to see the proper function — the balanced, edifying function — of the fivefold ministry among us. I know that you're all aware of the scriptures that pertain to this subject today, but I just want to read Ephesians chapter 4, verse 11: "And he" — meaning Jesus — "gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers." Verse 12 says, "for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." Verse 13: "until we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." So the fivefold ministry has a very specific function and a purpose among us, and that function and purpose is not complete until certain things happen in, with, and through the body of Christ.

I also want to draw your attention to First Corinthians chapter 12, verse 27: "Now you who are the body of Christ, and members individually. And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues." Verse 29: "Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers?" — implying that some are, but not all — "Are all workers of miracles? Do all have the gifts of healing?" and so on. And then Second Corinthians 12:12: "Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds." So this provides our scriptural, textual background and permission, if not mandate, to talk about this today.

The impulse of Pentecost is to go back to the beginning, and we want to go back to the beginning as a movement: be Oneness, to celebrate the new birth as Peter encapsulated it in Acts chapter 2, verse 38. We believe in miracles, wonders, signs. We believe in the visitation of angels. We want to go back to all of that — the gifts of the Spirit, Apostolic lifestyle. We celebrate all of these things that we believe as our theology and as our lifestyle. So if we're honest with ourselves, we'll have to admit that in the beginning of the church, the fivefold ministry was prominently celebrated, displayed, and used by God in a mighty way. And Jesus, the founder of the church, is the one who established the fivefold ministry. I cannot imagine the first-century church without the fivefold ministry in operation. And furthermore, I cannot imagine the fivefold ministry in operation without the church — or let me say that better: I cannot imagine the 21st-century church without a fivefold ministry presence. So whatever the fivefold ministry is, we know that it's biblical, we know that it's apostolic, and in my view, we must have it.

Now, I understand that there are some among us who are skeptical — perhaps even some, although perhaps I would say very few, are adversarial to the operation of the fivefold ministry today. But that position is not tenable, in my view, from a reading of the biblical text. I think that those who are adversarial toward the fivefold ministry, and just do not see it, do not want it, do not believe in it — I think this comes from a skewed background. There's got to be some history there of abuse in some way. And that, as horrible as that is, and as unfortunate as that is, does not negate the presence of fivefold ministry among us. Just because someone has abused their gift does not mean that somewhere someone is properly using that gift and functioning that gift. I mean, think about Jesus: He knew that He had a devil present among the original twelve apostles, but He didn't just throw all the other eleven away and say, "Well, someone was abusive, someone was not proper, someone was, you know, dishonest," or whatever. Oh no, He did not shut the other eleven down because He knew that He had one devil. Okay, so let's keep that in mind as we move forward.

If we don't have the fivefold ministry in operation among us, according to the text that we just considered in Ephesians 4:11 and 12, then there are four crucial purposes of the fivefold ministry that will not be accomplished in the church, and the church will suffer without the full implementation and function of the fivefold ministry. Number one: the saints will not be equipped. Number two: the world will not be reached, which is the ministry of the saints. Number three: the church will not come into the unity of the faith. And fourthly: the church will not mature to its ultimate destiny, and that is the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. What a tragedy it is — or would be — if the church does not achieve its destiny. So suffice it to say, without the presence of a functioning fivefold ministry, the church will not have its full power of operation, neither will we be able to fulfill our mission. So we need the fivefold ministry operating among us.

We sometimes call the fivefold ministry ministerial gifts, leadership gifts, or perhaps ascension gifts. These gifts are elevated in the church for leadership, for equipping, for facilitating growth, for developing spiritual maturity, and to lead us into a worldwide impact of revival.

I want to say that, officially, the UPCI acknowledges the existence, if not the function, of the fivefold ministry among us. Our General Superintendent, David Bernard, a few years ago wrote a book entitled "Spiritual Gifts." In chapter 1 he defines and describes the function of each of these gifts, which I will not detail in this presentation today. Our General Board has crafted a position paper that includes our view regarding the fivefold ministry, and that was published in our manual. It's in our 2021 UPCI manual — I believe it's page 203. If you are a minister and you have access to that, you may want to take a cursory look at our position paper. We may not have a consensus regarding the fivefold ministry on every aspect of terminology or function or description or the roles of the fivefold ministry, but I think we can at least agree that the fivefold ministry is biblical, it's apostolic, it is our heritage, and whether we know who they are or not, they are among us. And I would even add that they are closer than what we think. We must have a function of the fivefold ministry there for the full equipping and power of the church, and according to the texts, they are necessary to help us reach the world.

So we all agree today that there are evangelists and pastors and teachers among us; there's no controversy there. And I would add that there should be no controversy about whether or not apostles and prophets walk among us today. Of these two gifts — apostles and prophets — the prophet perhaps has more wide acceptance among us, and they have been given much more permission and exposure over the last many years, perhaps, than the apostles. So I'm going to spend the rest of my time talking about the office, or the gifting, of apostle. And the assignments of the fivefold ministry, to set them in order, are that apostles go, prophets guide, evangelists gather, pastors grow, and teachers ground. So apostles and prophets seem to be the elephants in the room in a discussion of the fivefold ministry. But since prophets have more recently become more widely accepted and demonstrated among us, I would like to focus on apostle.

Let me add this: most of us would agree that Billy Cole was a modern-day apostle, and we would agree that T. W. Barnes was a modern-day prophet, just to give us some definition. But because they are no longer with us, and because they don't intimidate or threaten anyone, we readily acknowledge their gift — posthumously, perhaps. But we hope that we can come to the day when we will recognize and honor and celebrate apostles and prophets before they die, and while their ministry is still among us. So my goal is to normalize the fivefold ministry, and perhaps in some way to demystify them among us.

So let's talk about apostles. Jesus called the original twelve disciples apostles, and the Bible more than once refers to the original twelve disciples as apostles. An apostle would be a sent one, or an emissary, representing a greater authority. So the Scripture refers to the original apostles as "the twelve." Let me talk about the twelve for a minute. First of all, the twelve stand in a category, or a league, all by themselves. Secondly, to qualify to be in the number of the twelve, you were required to have been present with the Lord beginning from His baptism until His ascension. Therefore, even the apostle Paul did not qualify to be in the twelve. We sometimes call them the apostles of the Lamb. Furthermore, their names are each inscribed in one of the twelve foundations of the holy city, and these are the twelve that give us our foundation. We might even call them foundational apostles — Ephesians 2:20: "We are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone." The twelve were never replaced, having no successors. And finally, some of the twelve wrote Scripture, but not all of them. So we have some who wrote Scripture, some who did not write Scripture. So we could not intellectually be honest and say that there are no apostles among us today, otherwise they could write Scripture — but that simply does not stand up.

So, are there modern apostles among us? Yes, there are. So let's talk about apostolic succession. First of all, there is no Scripture that brings closure to the presence of apostles among us. In fact, Scripture is to the contrary, and supports a continuation of apostles throughout the history and function of the church. In First Corinthians chapter 15, Paul separated what he called "the twelve" from those he called "all the apostles." Let me read it for you, in verse 5. Paul is recounting Jesus' post-resurrection appearances. He says: "And after that he was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that, over 500 saw him at once, of whom the greater part remain present, but some have fallen asleep. After that, he came to James. Then he was seen by all the apostles. Then last of all, he was seen by me also, as one born out of due time." So Paul's language here suggests that there are other apostles other than the twelve. In fact, there are perhaps 20 other apostles named or inferred in Scripture other than the twelve. Paul either categorizes them specifically as apostles, he refers to them specifically as apostles, or treats them as equals. So, other than the twelve, perhaps up to 20 others are specifically or inferred in their naming in Scripture.

Second Corinthians 11, verse 13: Paul warns us about false apostles. And if he's warning us about false apostles, this would seem unnecessary if apostleship was limited only to the twelve, or to just the first century. Paul also declares that the entire fivefold ministry will continue until we come to the unity of the faith, until we become a full, mature spiritual man as the body of Christ, until we conform to the stature and the fullness of Jesus Christ. And would we say that we've already achieved that, that we've already accomplished that? I would say that we still have some work to do.

Apostles are prominent in the New Testament church. The word "apostle," or "apostolos," is used not sparingly but frequently in the New Testament, occurring in all four divisions of the New Testament — for example, 10 times in the Gospels, 28 times in the book of Acts, 38 times in the Epistles, 3 times in the book of Revelation, for a total of 79 occurrences. I think you would agree with me that that is prominence.

Now here's the question: if there are 21st-century apostles among us, how do they function within the United Pentecostal Church? And I have some ideas I want to share with you — perhaps some guidelines, or an understanding of how we should regard the function of apostles among us.

Number one: we do not want the apostles among us calling themselves apostles. I'm sorry — that's just the way that it is. We are not ready for this. We may never be ready for this. Self-proclamation will tend to hurt the cause of fivefold ministry, and specifically apostles. The Scripture says in Proverbs, "Let another praise you, and not your own mouth." So my advice to the apostles is simply to function in your gift, operate in your calling, let God use your anointing and your spiritual authority. And we want you among us, and we want you to function among us in that proper context.

Secondly, apostles must be endued with impeccable character and genuine humility. Now, that would be good for all those in the ministry, to have impeccable character and genuine humility, but even more so among the apostles. And if you want to see a list of other qualifications, you can go to Paul's pastoral epistles, or to Peter's pastoral epistles, to see the other qualifications there. Certainly they must possess those.

Thirdly, apostles must practice mutual submission. They cannot be arrogant, bombastic lone rangers — unsubmitted, unteachable, or rogue — but they must practice their biblical context in the book of Acts and the Epistles, and that is one of mutual submission. So an apostle is not a law unto himself. A biblical apostle will manifest submission to proper authority. For example, Paul and Barnabas submitted to the sending church of Antioch. They did not found this church, but they submitted to this church. They departed from Antioch, and they returned to Antioch after each of their missionary journeys. They reported to the sending church after each journey. This is showing mutual submission. A biblical apostle does not usurp the authority of a local pastor. For example, Paul, Peter, and Barnabas were present at the council in Acts chapter 15, but notice that it was James, the local pastor-slash-apostle, who had the final say, and he started his statement to that council by saying, "Listen to me." And so there was no rebuttal. There was mutual submission. Words like "it seemed good to us and to the Holy Ghost" are unpacked in that text. Biblical apostles submit to spiritual authority of the local church that they did not found. For example, neither Paul nor Barnabas founded the church in Antioch, but they were submitted to the local authority there. In addition, we have no record of an apostle usurping authority in any New Testament context. In other words, no apostle went into some local church and wreaked havoc and attempted to pull the rug out from under the local pastor. That is simply not the case, and that is not how they should function today, either.

Biblical apostles deferred to one another. For example, when Paul desired Apollos to come to Corinth, as recorded in First Corinthians 16:12, Apollos declined to do so — at least, not show up when Paul wanted him. So did Paul throw a fit? Did he go off on Apollos? No. Paul gracefully declined to demand or manipulate Apollos into submission, but deferred to Apollos in that context. The quiet heartbeat of humble submission constantly beats within the heart and the spirit of a biblical apostle. This is what makes it work, and this is what will give acceptance among us. Biblical apostles do not see themselves as those who control those who are submitted to them, but rather they respect free will and choose cooperation over control.

Number four: we want apostles to operate in their spiritual authority. Now, spiritual authority is not a reference to UPCI structure. But when we say spiritual authority, we mean we want them going; we want apostles initiating, imparting, training. We want miracles, wonders, signs, and mighty deeds. And I can tell you that where an apostle is present, things are going to happen, things are going to change, things are going to move forward. The ministry of a biblical apostle will be nothing less than a demonstration of spiritual authority. The basic function of spiritual authority is not hierarchy-based, but it is relationship-based. And this is very important. Let me give an example: a district superintendent may have the structural authority, but he may not be an apostle — and I'm taking nothing away from a district superintendent. But if he is in relationship or partnership with apostles, or prophets, or evangelist, pastor, teacher, then we can still have the full function of the fivefold ministry on a district level. So we're showing the difference between structural authority and spiritual authority.

All right, so this is very important. I want to also mention that, number five, I personally believe that there are local fivefold ministry functions, regional, and national. So we can have local apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher — regional, or perhaps district, or national. For example, local church pastors should seek to have a partnership of fivefold ministry around them. I would encourage district superintendents to do the same. When I was superintendent in Missouri, I attempted to partner with fivefold ministry in our district meetings, and I did this with the full permission and endorsement of our district board. And also, we should seek to have national leadership partners in the fivefold ministry in our conferences and places where we are holding meetings. Apostles are not apostles in spiritual authority everywhere they go, however, because in First Corinthians chapter 9, verses 1 and 2, Paul said, "If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you." So Paul apparently never claimed to be an apostle over the entire church.

So my personal testimony is that, as a local pastor, a district official, and a national official, my observation is that wherever the fivefold ministry is present and in operation, there is a much greater spiritual flow, power, liberty, and authority.

Let me finally say this: apostles have influence. If someone feels that they're an apostle, but they have no influence and no one is following them, then they are probably not an apostle. But if they are an apostle and they have influence, they should use that influence to bless the community, to bless the local church, to bless the district they're a part of, and to bless the organization. And by that I mean apostles should be developing, training, sending ministers to the district board for licensure, to have proper organizational initiatives and proper growth, and demonstrate and share their revival with the district.

So finally, let me — I want to just quote Second Chronicles 20:20. The Bible says, "Believe his prophets, and you shall prosper." And I didn't really spend much time on prophets, because I believe they're more widely accepted. But let me just say this: as a licensed minister in the United Pentecostal Church, I have personally benefited greatly from being surrounded by, and being intentional with, fivefold ministry. My life has been blessed, my family has been blessed, our congregation has been blessed. And so let me just encourage you to seek partnership with fivefold ministry, whoever you are and whatever level you can, because the fivefold ministry is going to help us to reach the world.

So thank you for your time today. It's been a pleasure to spend these few minutes with you. I've probably raised more questions than I've answered. Certainly feel free to reach out to me. My email is [email protected]. And I hope that we can be a blessing to all of you. Thank you so much.