The Fivefold Ministry Is for Today: Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors, and Teachers (Ephesians 4:11)
In Short
Pastor Jim Feeney’s “Fivefold Ministry Today” teaches that the 'fivefold' ministries Jesus gives the church — apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers — are active and needed today. These ministries equip believers for ministry, strengthen the Body of Christ, promote unity, and help the church fulfill its mission. The sermon demonstrates from Scripture that God still raises up true apostles and prophets along with the other ministry gifts of evangelists, pastors, and teachers so the church can grow in maturity and effectiveness.
Key Takeaways
- Jesus Himself established the fivefold ministry.
- The five ministry gifts continue throughout the Church Age.
- Their purpose is to equip believers for ministry.
- The Church has not yet reached the maturity described in Ephesians 4.
- Therefore all five ministry gifts remain necessary today.
- Modern apostles and prophets should not be dismissed merely because of church tradition.
- Christ desires a mature, unified, fully equipped Church.
Key Scriptures
Ephesians 4:7–13; Acts 11:27–28; Acts 13:1; Acts 14:14; Acts 21:8; 2 Timothy 4:5; 1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2:6
Welcome to Original Pentecostal
Sermons and Bible Studies
by Pastor Jim Feeney, Ph.D.
Brief Bio
Pastor Jim Feeney, Ph.D., is a Pentecostal Bible teacher with more than 50 years of Spirit-filled ministry experience. His sermons and Bible studies are personally written and drawn from decades of service as a church planter, senior pastor, Bible college teacher and Dean, and as a trainer of ministers internationally in the Pentecostal tradition.
Summary: Has church tradition tricked us into calling almost all ministers “pastor”? Or should the Church today be benefiting from the fivefold ministries of contemporary apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers?
Introduction to the 'Fivefold' (or Some Say 'Ascension Gift') Ministries
Is your pastor truly a biblical “pastor”? Very possibly so. But perhaps not. Sad to say, the modern Church has largely abandoned the broad-based fivefold ministry gifts of Ephesians 4:11 — that is, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers — and has too often settled for identifying most Christian ministers simply as “pastor.” But often those “pastors” are more precisely evangelists or Bible teachers, or even prophets or apostles.
My desire is to show from the Scriptures that all five of these ministry gifts are biblically valid and needed today. Let's now look at the Bible's primary passage on the fivefold ministry:
What Are the "Fivefold" Ministries?
- •• These three verses name the 5-fold ministries and are not difficult to understand. They quite clearly explain how, at the outset, Jesus Christ established five specific, named ministries to bring His church to full maturity. There is no biblical warrant for changing Christ’s pattern then to a different one now.
•• Let’s briefly examine these verses, and we will see how they plainly describe the Lord’s provision for His Church for the entire Church Age. But first a glance at verses 7-8 to establish the beginnings of a time frame.
Jesus Continues to Give These Ministry Gifts of Grace Since His Ascension
These two verses establish a context for the 5-fold ministry gifts named in verse 11.
- •• Those five ministries represent a giving of grace by Jesus Christ (vs. 7).
•• And when did Jesus do this giving? — “When he ascended on high” (vs. 8). For that reason, some have called these the "ascension-gift ministries". While on earth, as recorded in the four Gospels, Jesus gave apostles (12 of them). But Ephesians 4 tells us that, after His resurrection and ascension to heaven, Jesus broadened that apportionment of His grace by giving the Church not only additional apostles, but also prophets, evangelists, pastors, and Bible teachers. We see many instances of these fivefold ministries represented by named men in the Book of Acts, subsequent to Jesus’ ascension to heaven.- •
apostles (Acts 14:14; see also 1 Thess. 1:1 with 2:6)
•prophets (Acts 11:27-28; 13:1; 15:32)
•evangelists (Acts 21:8; see also 2 Tim. 4:5)
•pastors (none specifically named, but clearly given in Eph. 4:11)
•teachers (Acts 13:1; see also 1 Timothy 2:7)
- •
- •• The relevant point in vss. 7-8 is that Jesus was not content just to give the original twelve apostles. Upon His return to heaven, He continued to give His Church many and varied ministries — here specifically, additional apostles, as well as prophets, evangelists, pastors, and Bible teachers. There is no biblical support, nor is there any logical reason, to change or discontinue the pattern that Jesus established for ministry in His Church. We will prove that point further from the Scriptures below.
The 5-Fold Ministries Equip Believers to Also Do the 'Work of the Ministry'
- •• Are the saints (God’s people) perfected yet? No? Then we today need all five of the Ephesians 4:11 ministries, which are given for this purpose.
•• Are the saints “fully equipped” to do the work of the ministry? Is the “work of the ministry” completed? Not yet? Then we today still need all of the 5-fold ministries to fully equip us for this noble work.
•• Is Christ’s body, the Church, fully “built up”? Certainly not. Until it is, we need the full five-fold ministry to help us fulfill this heaven-ordained purpose.
Their Equipping Ministry Will Continue Until These End-Time Events Occur
- •• All five ministries are to have their expression to and impact upon the body of Christ “UNTIL”:
- • we all reach unity in the faith
• we all reach unity in the knowledge of the Son of God
• we become mature (King James: “a perfect man”)
• we attain the whole measure of the fullness of Christ
- •• I have never met a Christian who believes that the body of Christ has yet achieved the four goals listed above. Until that day comes, we need all five of the Ephesians 4:11 ministries. They are Christ’s provisions to lead His Church towards these noble goals.
All Five of the 5-Fold ('Ascension Gift') Ministries Still Exist and Function Today
Among those who deny the present-day validity of the 5-fold ministry, the objections are not to pastors, and generally not to evangelists and teachers. Usually the stumbling block is contemporary apostles and prophets. Yet there is no biblical support for dividing these ministries, as is often done, into two groups — evangelists, pastors, and teachers for today, but apostles and prophets only for the early Church.
- •• All five are needed to equip the Lord’s people in every century of the Church Age.
•• All five are needed to bring the Church to unity and maturity.
•• All five are needed to bring us — you and me — to the “whole measure of the fullness of Christ”.
•• May the Church today move past erroneous traditions and teachings and once again embrace the gracious provision of Jesus Christ to His Church for the entire Church Age — that is, God-called, Spirit-anointed apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Fivefold Ministry Today
What is the fivefold ministry?
The fivefold ministry consists of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers whom Jesus gives to equip believers and build up His Church according to Ephesians 4:11–13.
Is the fivefold ministry still for today?
Yes. Scripture teaches that all five ministry gifts continue throughout the Church Age because the Church has not yet reached the maturity, unity, and fullness described in Ephesians 4.
Why did Jesus give the fivefold ministry?
Jesus gave these ministry gifts to equip believers for works of ministry, strengthen the body of Christ, and help His Church grow toward spiritual maturity.
Are apostles and prophets still active today?
Modern apostles and prophets remain biblical ministries alongside evangelists, pastors, and teachers because Scripture gives no indication that these gifts were temporary.
What does Ephesians 4:11 teach?
Ephesians 4:11 teaches that the risen Christ gives apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to His Church for its growth, unity, and maturity.
Why is the fivefold ministry important?
Without the full ministry pattern established by Christ, the Church is less equipped to accomplish its mission of preparing believers for ministry and growing into the fullness of Christ.
Related Fivefold Ministry Studies
- • Modern Day Apostles and Prophets Today in our 21st Century
- • Apostles Today? Bible Teachers? Yes, and We Need Them
- • The Evangelist's Ministry in "the 5-fold" (Ephesians 4:11)
- • Bible Teachers in the Fivefold Ministry (Ephesians 4:11)
- • Bible Teachers: Sorely Needed But Sadly Lacking Today
- • Fivefold Ministry, Elders, and Deacons Emerge in the Book of Acts
- • "Sent Ones" in the Bible: Not All Who Are "Sent" Are Apostles
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Pentecostal Sermons and Bible Studies
by Pastor Jim Feeney, Ph.D.