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. (Ephesians 4:11-12)
What do you do when you receive a valuable gift? Do you ignore it or put it somewhere it could be damaged or forgotten? Of course, you don't. Then why would the church of the Lord Jesus Christ ignore any of the ministry gifts that God has given to the church?
Nearly every believer acknowledges the ministry gift of pastor, but Ephesians 4:11-12 lists five ministry gifts, not one. These gifts were given to the church by Jesus. We sometimes refer to them as the fivefold ministry gifts. We could also call them specialties.
The ministry gifts are people who the Holy Spirit specially anoints to serve as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, or teachers. Some individuals specialize in more than one. For example, I am a pastor and a teacher. I am also anointed to start churches and Bible schools, which is part of the fruit of an apostle. Whatever God has called me to do is not a gift for me; it's a gift for the body of Christ.
In considering the ministry gifts, we can see what the writer of Hebrews meant when he said, “But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises” (Hebrews 8:6).
In the New Testament, all five ministry gifts operate in inspired utterance. In the Old Testament, only the prophet did. An apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, or teacher can prophesy or give a tongue or an interpretation because they all are anointed by the Holy Spirit and can hear from God. However, so can every believer.
Practical Application – You can hear from God for yourself, so while you should be ready to receive from the fivefold ministry gifts, don’t rely on them to hear from God for you.
Psalm 105:15; Jeremiah 23:33