Understanding Ministry Gifts

Your understanding of ministry gifts (apostles, teachers, prophets, evangelists and pastors) helps you to be able to flow better and co-operate with them. This in turn causes the anointing and the manifestations (in your life) to increase. Lay church members are not prophets, even if they do prophesy regularly. The Bible makes this distinction clearly when it talks about the four virgin daughters of Philip the evangelist who prophesied, and Agabus who was clearly spelt out to be a prophet (Acts 21:8-10). The Bible also mentions certain prophets and teachers in Antioch (Acts 13:1).

The ministry of the prophet is characterised by the following:
- A prophet must be a ministry gift and be a teacher and/or preacher of the gospel.
- A prophet must flow in certain manifestations of the spirit on a regular and consistent basis: the gift of prophecy and two or all of the revelatory gifts. The other gifts of the Spirit are optional.
- The laying on of hands accompanies the office of the prophet.
- The prophet teaches and/or preaches on the spur of sudden revelation. A prophet may not teach in a concise, step-by-step manner like a teacher. The idea of prophecy connotes a bubbling forth, so the prophet may catch a sudden revelation in the middle of a certain message and continue in that direction. It is his office in manifestation.

It is important to note that with ministry gifts, one can stand in one, two or more offices, but there is always a major calling/office. For example, with prophets, the teaching ministry usually follows behind. The prophet does not and should not try to put his teaching ministry before his prophetic ministry. So, a prophet should know God’s Word, study and prepare to teach it if need be.
Therefore, we should learn to co-operate with the different ministry gifts and not try to force one to function like another. There are no inferior or superior ministry gifts, they are simply different in operation and they bless us in their diversity as we learn to understand and co-operate with them.

Ephesians 4:8, 11-12: “Wherefore he saith, When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. 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:”

Ministry gifts are set in the church to edify you. In the same way that speaking in tongues charges you up, so also edification comes by the ministry gifts. These gifts are set in the church by God, through an election of grace. No one calls (anoints) himself in any office. God does the calling. This does not mean that one must be a ministry gift in order to start a church. We see this in Paul’s ministry. He went around establishing churches and leaving them in the hands of elders who would hold the fort until the maturing of a ministry gift who would now handle the church. The most obvious gifts in the early church were apostles, before prophets and teachers began to show up. The first recognized evangelist in Scripture was Philip (one of the seven deacons in Acts 6:5) who went to Samaria and preached Christ (Acts 8:5). The only recognized pastor in the Jerusalem church was James, the Lord’s brother, who wrote the book of James. He pastored the church in Jerusalem and the apostles and teachers were submitted to him because the pastor is the authority in the local church.
The office of the teacher is analytical in nature. He takes the people step-by-step through the nuances and mazes of God’s Word for maximum understanding. He presents the light of God’s Word to the people in the simplest way possible.

A pastor who is a prophet and a teacher operates in basic and simple measures because his mission is to reach out to people on different levels of growth and understanding. A prophet who is an evangelist and a teacher may not be so sensitive as to teach in simple and basic terms.

The pastor is seemingly the least spectacular of all the ministry gifts. One of the most consistent gifts of the Spirit that manifests in the office of a pastor is the word of wisdom. One pastor who had pastored a church for over 55 years was asked the secret to pastoring and he said, “Always have the right answer for people when they come to you.” Sometimes, folks may not come to you one-on-one, but in the middle of a sermon, the ministry of a pastor may come into operation to address the situation of one person in particular. The office of the pastor is much like a shepherd: he will always have a heart for the sheep, and sometimes, for the one sheep, hence the sensitivity of his heart. The office of a pastor works with the anointing and the grace of God, not by personal choice or ambition. This ministry is the only one set aside to shepherd believers: to encourage, correct and be there for the people. All other ministry gifts need a pastor; they need to be shepherded too. Being submitted to a pastor helps the growth of believers a great deal.

Most every other ministry gift, with the exception of the pastor, has itinerary functions. Some teachers are called to travel while others are called to teach in a particular church. Sometimes, there are teachers who are called to teach a particular section in a particular church, for example, the children’s church or the youth group. Such a calling is not less important than one which is required to go round the world. It is all about being faithful in the place where God has called you to.

When you read the New Testament, it would seem like the only ministry gifts in operation were the apostles. This was because the church was in its babyhood stage, and God was using them to set the doctrines and foundation of the church (Ephesians 2:19-22). They were the foundational apostles. The times have changed, though, and the more rampant ministry gift in this present day is the office of the pastor because there are many churches in the world now and people need a shepherd. Still, all ministry gifts are important to the body of Christ, and we must learn to understand and yield to them for our maximum benefit.

- Pst Adah Igah