Five Fold Ministry - Continued
This is a continuation of a series I started back in July on the five-fold ministry Paul describes in Ephesians. I meant to carry on through the other three roles, but life came up and I’ve just had other things to post about since. It’s an important topic though and I’d like to finish the thought thread. You can read the initial two posts and subsequent discussions here and here. It also might be helpful to read this as we get into the last three components.
Let me also try and defuse any superfluous debate by saying that these redefinitions are not meant to deal comprehensively with the roles and discuss every historical meaning and use. My intent is to point to some of the ways these roles would be helpful now and would possibly challenge some of the dominate ideas (to either dismiss them altogether or professionalize them for example) that hinder their influence in God’s kingdom.
The third component that I want to discuss involves the prophetic ministry. Defining “Prophet” can be a contentious issue depending on what corner of the church you come from. The diversity of opinion on what a prophet is and does, or even if a prophet can exist anymore, demands that the discussion include some statement of assumptions. There are at least two main uses of the word “prophetic” within the church. The first relates to knowledge, insight, or direction for a person, group, or nation that reveals something of God. I suppose you could consider this a “supernatural” work of the Spirit, but I wonder if categorizing it in that way creates an unhealthy dualism. The second use of prophetic relates more to words / deeds that have social implications (for example, the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King) but are not necessarily supernatural in the same way. Again, that creates an unnecessary distinction (and assuming that Martin Luther King’s work wasn’t “supernatural” is ridiculous).
So let’s lay aside these dualisms for a second and just deal with the prophetic as that which reveals God – who he is, what he is doing, or what he wants to do. Prophecy is not simply “foretelling the future” like a fortune teller. Often these intentions or revelations of God’s nature are quite evident to the people receiving the prophecy. The prophetic is sometimes just God’s way of waking people up to reality.
In my own life God has used the prophetic to refocus me on the things that matter - following Jesus, his kingdom, his calling and previous direction in my life. Occasionally I’ve had “I remember where I was when I heard” kind of prophecies happen. One of these happened on the day of my ordination five years ago. A close, older friend had a fairly detailed vision that he shared as the elders of the church were laying their hands on me. He later emailed me the vision and interpretation which I keep to this day. I still go back occasionally and read it because it relates so closely to the journey we’ve been on as a faith community.
More often the prophetic comes in small, insignificant packages. Words from a friend, actions of a child, something seen while watching a movie, a vivid dream. But the most regular venue I’ve experienced the prophetic at work has been in a small group of people who just simply take the time to listen and wait on God. No hype or special training is required. Just patience and a willingness to not be in charge of the outcome. In this venue I have seen the prophetic operate in harmony with other gifts to produce a powerful result. Consider what it would be like to experience the hospitality of a family who takes hospitality seriously, learn through the influence of excellent and natural teachers, be served in the breaking of bread together, and receive a prophetic word that ties the entire experience together and sends you home fully commissioned by God. Of course, you don’t have to have the prophetic to be the church together, but it did appear to be a regular part of common worship in the early church.
But what about this five-fold role of “prophet”? Is a prophet simply someone who prophecies during a church meeting? This is where the word “prophet” provokes so many varied reactions that I believe other language might be helpful. Someone giving prophetic words in a church service or at a conference does not a prophet make, at least in the biblical sense. For this reason, it is important to differentiate between the prophetic gifting and someone with a prophetic calling. Because of semantics, that last sentence probably provoked about ten different responses in people reading this. However, I’ll forge ahead and hopefully this will make sense to at least one of you.
The Old Testament prophets, as God-revealers, lived their prophecy. Often, their strongest prophetic statement was action-oriented and not their verbal message. Hosea and his prostitute wife come to mind immediately, along with Jeremiah and Ezekiel concretely demonstrating what God was going to do. This is the incredibly sad part of how prophetic ministry often operates in charismatic circles. Wonderfully detailed and powerful prophetic words are given in a church service, but then the prophecy is never lived outside that setting. Something about the way the New Testament talks about prophecy leads me to believe that it wasn’t just a sideshow to make the meetings more interesting. It was God’s revelation going hand in hand with the other gifts to instruct his people how to live. In this period of history, I believe one of the aspects of prophetic calling that should be lived could be described as:
Prophet – Kingdom Subversive
A few years ago I wrote an article for Next-Wave magazine, The Church as Subversive Community. In it I argued that as agents of God’s kingdom, we should understand that the majority (if not all) of our work is done undercover and underground. Raising families, building communities, praying, worshipping, working, telling stories, throwing parties – not headline acts, but integral to the life of the kingdom. As 21st century Americans, what really can impress us anymore? Everything is entertainment, everything is a distraction. We are people who lack nothing, but feel nothing. As a result, church has become a place where the implicit cry of the people is “Meet my needs or die!” But more entertainment will never kill the beast. We are broken people, and Christianity is fundamentally a religion of brokenness. This is where the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous come in handy. (If you have time, read my friend T’s excellent post relating to this here and his other posts on the 12 steps.) Here is T’s rewrite of the first step for us “normal” people: “Admitting that something is wrong—in us and/or in the world at large, and that we are powerless to fix it.” The kingdom subversive – the prophet – is learning how to swim in that water.
That “water” invariably leads us to confront, in the power of the Spirit, the powers and principalities around us. If not, we fall into the trap of believing that since we are powerless to fix anything by ourselves, a certain level of paralysis is acceptable. But God is not in the business of creating automatons, he desires us to grow into maturity, and maturity means we learn to do things that are not comfortable, popular, or “cool”. This might mean all manner of practical ministry to “the least of these”, but it also might mean coming to grips with the essential nature of God’s power, both in the prophetic and other elements such as healing, deliverance, and the miraculous. For some without a charismatic background (and some with), this can be a tough pill to swallow.
One of the best examples of kingdom subversives I’ve seen recently is a ministry in Washington state called Tierra-Nueva started by Bob and Gracie Ekblad. The Ekblads were missionaries in Honduras in the ‘80’s and early ’90’s before moving to Skagit Valley in Washington to start a ministry to migrant farm workers and prisoners. Over the years, they found they were constantly failing to see authentic transformation in the people they were ministering with. In 2003 after a trip to a renewal center, they began to regularly see dramatic conversions and healings in their congregation and prison ministry. (See this page on Healing and Transformation from their website).
What attracted me to their story was how they are attempting to integrate the worlds of intentional community, social justice, and personal and corporate transformation, and how it is all sustained and animated by the power of God. The prophets of our time will need to become acquainted and comfortable with all of these worlds. As in ancient times, they will not always be the most popular or esteemed people, but vital to the kingdom of God.
Here’s a final reference to a related article you might want to read from one of the chaplains for Tierra Nueva’s jail ministry, Chris Hoke: From Intimacy to Revolution, Receiving the Full Prophetic Experience in the Body of Christ.
Let me also try and defuse any superfluous debate by saying that these redefinitions are not meant to deal comprehensively with the roles and discuss every historical meaning and use. My intent is to point to some of the ways these roles would be helpful now and would possibly challenge some of the dominate ideas (to either dismiss them altogether or professionalize them for example) that hinder their influence in God’s kingdom.
The third component that I want to discuss involves the prophetic ministry. Defining “Prophet” can be a contentious issue depending on what corner of the church you come from. The diversity of opinion on what a prophet is and does, or even if a prophet can exist anymore, demands that the discussion include some statement of assumptions. There are at least two main uses of the word “prophetic” within the church. The first relates to knowledge, insight, or direction for a person, group, or nation that reveals something of God. I suppose you could consider this a “supernatural” work of the Spirit, but I wonder if categorizing it in that way creates an unhealthy dualism. The second use of prophetic relates more to words / deeds that have social implications (for example, the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King) but are not necessarily supernatural in the same way. Again, that creates an unnecessary distinction (and assuming that Martin Luther King’s work wasn’t “supernatural” is ridiculous).
So let’s lay aside these dualisms for a second and just deal with the prophetic as that which reveals God – who he is, what he is doing, or what he wants to do. Prophecy is not simply “foretelling the future” like a fortune teller. Often these intentions or revelations of God’s nature are quite evident to the people receiving the prophecy. The prophetic is sometimes just God’s way of waking people up to reality.
In my own life God has used the prophetic to refocus me on the things that matter - following Jesus, his kingdom, his calling and previous direction in my life. Occasionally I’ve had “I remember where I was when I heard” kind of prophecies happen. One of these happened on the day of my ordination five years ago. A close, older friend had a fairly detailed vision that he shared as the elders of the church were laying their hands on me. He later emailed me the vision and interpretation which I keep to this day. I still go back occasionally and read it because it relates so closely to the journey we’ve been on as a faith community.
More often the prophetic comes in small, insignificant packages. Words from a friend, actions of a child, something seen while watching a movie, a vivid dream. But the most regular venue I’ve experienced the prophetic at work has been in a small group of people who just simply take the time to listen and wait on God. No hype or special training is required. Just patience and a willingness to not be in charge of the outcome. In this venue I have seen the prophetic operate in harmony with other gifts to produce a powerful result. Consider what it would be like to experience the hospitality of a family who takes hospitality seriously, learn through the influence of excellent and natural teachers, be served in the breaking of bread together, and receive a prophetic word that ties the entire experience together and sends you home fully commissioned by God. Of course, you don’t have to have the prophetic to be the church together, but it did appear to be a regular part of common worship in the early church.
But what about this five-fold role of “prophet”? Is a prophet simply someone who prophecies during a church meeting? This is where the word “prophet” provokes so many varied reactions that I believe other language might be helpful. Someone giving prophetic words in a church service or at a conference does not a prophet make, at least in the biblical sense. For this reason, it is important to differentiate between the prophetic gifting and someone with a prophetic calling. Because of semantics, that last sentence probably provoked about ten different responses in people reading this. However, I’ll forge ahead and hopefully this will make sense to at least one of you.
The Old Testament prophets, as God-revealers, lived their prophecy. Often, their strongest prophetic statement was action-oriented and not their verbal message. Hosea and his prostitute wife come to mind immediately, along with Jeremiah and Ezekiel concretely demonstrating what God was going to do. This is the incredibly sad part of how prophetic ministry often operates in charismatic circles. Wonderfully detailed and powerful prophetic words are given in a church service, but then the prophecy is never lived outside that setting. Something about the way the New Testament talks about prophecy leads me to believe that it wasn’t just a sideshow to make the meetings more interesting. It was God’s revelation going hand in hand with the other gifts to instruct his people how to live. In this period of history, I believe one of the aspects of prophetic calling that should be lived could be described as:
Prophet – Kingdom Subversive
A few years ago I wrote an article for Next-Wave magazine, The Church as Subversive Community. In it I argued that as agents of God’s kingdom, we should understand that the majority (if not all) of our work is done undercover and underground. Raising families, building communities, praying, worshipping, working, telling stories, throwing parties – not headline acts, but integral to the life of the kingdom. As 21st century Americans, what really can impress us anymore? Everything is entertainment, everything is a distraction. We are people who lack nothing, but feel nothing. As a result, church has become a place where the implicit cry of the people is “Meet my needs or die!” But more entertainment will never kill the beast. We are broken people, and Christianity is fundamentally a religion of brokenness. This is where the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous come in handy. (If you have time, read my friend T’s excellent post relating to this here and his other posts on the 12 steps.) Here is T’s rewrite of the first step for us “normal” people: “Admitting that something is wrong—in us and/or in the world at large, and that we are powerless to fix it.” The kingdom subversive – the prophet – is learning how to swim in that water.
That “water” invariably leads us to confront, in the power of the Spirit, the powers and principalities around us. If not, we fall into the trap of believing that since we are powerless to fix anything by ourselves, a certain level of paralysis is acceptable. But God is not in the business of creating automatons, he desires us to grow into maturity, and maturity means we learn to do things that are not comfortable, popular, or “cool”. This might mean all manner of practical ministry to “the least of these”, but it also might mean coming to grips with the essential nature of God’s power, both in the prophetic and other elements such as healing, deliverance, and the miraculous. For some without a charismatic background (and some with), this can be a tough pill to swallow.
One of the best examples of kingdom subversives I’ve seen recently is a ministry in Washington state called Tierra-Nueva started by Bob and Gracie Ekblad. The Ekblads were missionaries in Honduras in the ‘80’s and early ’90’s before moving to Skagit Valley in Washington to start a ministry to migrant farm workers and prisoners. Over the years, they found they were constantly failing to see authentic transformation in the people they were ministering with. In 2003 after a trip to a renewal center, they began to regularly see dramatic conversions and healings in their congregation and prison ministry. (See this page on Healing and Transformation from their website).
What attracted me to their story was how they are attempting to integrate the worlds of intentional community, social justice, and personal and corporate transformation, and how it is all sustained and animated by the power of God. The prophets of our time will need to become acquainted and comfortable with all of these worlds. As in ancient times, they will not always be the most popular or esteemed people, but vital to the kingdom of God.
Here’s a final reference to a related article you might want to read from one of the chaplains for Tierra Nueva’s jail ministry, Chris Hoke: From Intimacy to Revolution, Receiving the Full Prophetic Experience in the Body of Christ.
posted by Mike Bishop at 8:23 PM
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