Monica Hill concludes her studies on the ministry gifts of Ephesians 4.

This article is part of a series. Click here to read other instalments. 

“It was Christ who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Eph 4:11-13, emphasis added).

Teacher, Pastor, Teacher/Pastor?

Although the ministry gift of ‘teacher’ is often combined with that of ‘pastor’ (which we introduced last week), in today’s modern society there are of course many differences. Some commentators are not certain whether teacher/pastor should be regarded as one or two ministries as there is no definite article before the word 'teacher' in the Ephesians 4 passage. Because of where they are placed in the passage, some regard them as more ordinary ministries, for those employed in a lower and narrower sphere than apostles, prophets and evangelists.

Some take these two names to signify one office or role, implying the duties of ruling and teaching belonging to one person. Still others think they designate two distinct offices, both ordinary, and currently being used in the church. If pastoring involves caring for God's people, teaching involves instructing them in the truths of God's word.

Building Up the Body

One thing that is obvious is that of all the five ministries in Ephesians 4, the role of ‘teaching’ is the one most needed to build the Body up spiritually. Of course the Apostles taught; this is stressed in Acts 2:42 where we learn that the fellowship of the believers “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching”. Both the prophets and the evangelists also taught, but with respect to their different roles and duties.

Teachers have always been needed beyond these roles, therefore, because there needs to be a consistent follow-up and growth to maturity in every fellowship.

If pastoring involves caring for God's people, teaching involves instructing them in the truths of God's word.

The writer of the letter to the Hebrews emphasises the need to grow beyond the “elementary teachings of Christ” and on to maturity. The believers should have been passing on their knowledge to others, but they still needed to be taught the “elementary truths” (Heb 5:12-6:1).

What is Teaching?

The ministry of teaching is the ability to explain clearly the truths of God's word and to ensure that this is understood and followed by those placed in the care of the teacher. It involves the need for teachers not only to understand the in-depth meaning of God’s word for themselves, and for it to be operating in their own lives, but also to have the ability to help people of all ages and circumstances to see, hear, grasp and learn what God is saying to each of them.

Although preaching is often referred to as teaching, too often it is exercised like a lecture to a large number of people from a pulpit and so is considered to be ‘six feet above contradiction’. To interrupt the preacher even to get clarification is rarely permitted. But unless most sermons or messages are followed by a time when the subject can be discussed and questions asked, it is often of little value and the main points can easily be forgotten.

In Victorian times, the morning sermon was the natural subject for conversation at Sunday lunch-time. Today few families discuss the sermon – or even meet together for lunch - while even fewer have regular family Bible studies. It is left to the Church to organise these. Indeed, the strength of a Church can often be judged by the attendance at and content and liveliness of its Bible study groups.

Why Teach?

The Jewish faith has survived because each generation accepted their responsibility to not only teach the next generation God’s truths but also “show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave” (Ex 18:20). Moses’ instruction to the people of Israel was:

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door-frames of your houses and on your gates (Deut 6:6-9)

This is repeated later in Deuteronomy: “Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Deut 11:19).

It is not sufficient for the word to be preached from pulpits. It needs to be discussed, so that people can understand it.

There needs to be a consistent follow-up and growth to maturity in every fellowship.

Laws can be made and rules can be enforced. The rabbis, who were called ‘teachers’ in Jesus’ time, were good at enforcing every jot and tittle with little regard for ensuring that the underlying principles and reasoning were understood too. As one modern rabbi rather enviously observed to a friend who was a Christian pastor, “we are only seen as kitchen inspectors”.

But Jesus, in his famous outburst to the Pharisees and teachers of the law in his time (Matt 23:13-33), condemned them - not just for hypocrisy in not living by the rules they imposed on others, but for their high opinion of themselves, for limiting their teaching, for not allowing others to experience anything they were not advocating, etc, etc. There are many lessons here for those with a teaching ministry to understand what not to do!

How to Teach

• Learning by rote may have gone out of fashion but the older generation are still able to remember and quote Bible passages - especially from the Authorised Version! It became more difficult as the number of versions grew, but then, this allowed the serious scholar’s understanding also to grow. Modern Bible studies benefit when there are two or three versions studied alongside each other, giving different perspectives and insights to stimulate discussion.
  
• Teaching in small groups where people can ask questions has many advantages. The teacher can discover what people have really heard them say and he or she can answer the questions they are asking. It is very much about starting where people are, not where we might like, or expect, them to be! In fact, it can sometimes be a salutary lesson to discover that they already knew what was being taught and an opportunity had been lost to help them go deeper. If you teach them what they do not already know, this can stretch them so that they can move on to maturity.
  
• The best teachers are often the best story-tellers. Jesus often used parables to teach in-depth truths that could not only be remembered but also be understood at different levels – they were often described as everyday stories with a Heavenly meaning especially for those who had a deeper understanding.
  
• A good teacher is thrilled when students pass comments on what they hear and get involved – even more so when the students start to think for themselves and ask questions. I personally believe that a better interpretation of Galatians 6:6 (“Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor”), rather than being applied financially, can apply to the spiritual insights the students have, which can stimulate a fresh understanding of the Word.
  
• One of Jesus’s methods of teaching was to answer a question with another question, to find out where his listeners were and to draw out of them what they knew already. This is a very Jewish way of teaching.
  
• But Matthew also told us that the impact of Jesus’ teaching was great as “He taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law” (Matt 7:29). Jesus did not just make pronouncements - even to his disciples when he spent more time with them. Instead, he encouraged them to discuss so that they would learn more about the Kingdom and God’s truths. When someone speaks with authority they inspire confidence that they have knowledge and understanding and that they are able to address and answer their concerns and allay their doubts.
  
• Yeshiva-style Jewish teaching also highlights that Jesus sat down to teach! (Luke 4:20; 5:3; Matt 5:1; 15:29). The reader stood to read or declare the word of God but the teacher or expositor sat down to teach, which not only would relax the students and encourage them to ask questions and to discuss issues so that they went deeper into the word, but could last as long as was needed.
  

Conclusion

So today Christ continues his work as apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher through the ministries he gives to men and women whom he has appointed to build his Church. He wants them “to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ”.

Monica Hill turns from the ‘natural’ gifts (Romans 12) to the ‘ministry’ gifts listed in Ephesians 4. This article is part of a series – click here for previous instalments. 

“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Eph 4:11-13)

We have already noted that there are four lists of the Spiritual Gifts given by the Holy Spirit in different epistles – Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, 1 Peter 4 (which concentrates on methods) and Ephesians 4. Each of them have additional teaching in the surrounding verses on how they should operate within the corporate body of believers – often relevant to that specific understanding of the gifts.

The Five-Fold Ministry

The five ‘ministry gifts’ listed in Ephesians 4 are surrounded by teaching on the place of these quite specific roles within the body. Two things stand out of which we need to take note:

1. First, ideally these gifts are meant to operate together, as a team – the five-fold ministry is an entity in itself, and all its gifts should be visible in the leadership of our churches and fellowships today. If Christian communities do not recognise these gifts in specific individuals, at least the principles and values of each should be adopted. Team ministry is not easy and needs to be embraced and worked upon. If this does not happen, one or other of these roles will inevitably take precedence. For example:
   1. For many centuries in the Western Church, pastors and teachers have been predominant, to the neglect of the other roles.
   2. Evangelists have often set up separate, para-Church organisations, and are often felt only to be needed for overseas work - which means that work among nominal Christians has been neglected.
   3. Apostles and prophets are still very rare, with many believing that apostolic ministry died out at the end of the New Testament era. Although they are now receiving more attention these ministries are often misunderstood and can create problems.
   4. Individual prophets in the style of the Old Testament were also relegated to history as it was anticipated that, with the coming of the Holy Spirit, the whole Church would become the Prophet to the nations. An understanding even of the role of the prophet, within fellowships and wider afield, is often missing.
2. Secondly, these roles are given to serve the Body and to help those to whom they are called, to enable all to grow to maturity and be found worthy of being called followers of Christ. They are not given to give status to individuals.

There is no mention of these gifts operating in this way in a worldly sense (unlike the ‘natural’ gifts of Romans 12). Apart from the role of a teacher they do not have secular counterparts, although the world has at times tried to pick up the same values and take them into secular occupations – but more of that when we look at each of them in detail. Leadership in the world is based on very different principles.

In this introduction we will be looking at the context of the introduction of Ministry gifts in the Body of believers and seeing how these gifts should operate.

The ministry gifts are designed to operate together to serve and build up the Body of Christ.

Lessons from Ephesus

The whole of Ephesians is concerned with building up the body of believers in Ephesus, from which we can learn so much. The epistle starts with an emphasis upon Christ as the Head of the whole Christian community - the Church, or (more accurately) the Body of Believers (Eph 1:22-23) (not the institutions), which is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets (Eph 2:20-24) and is without any divisions, comprising one Body and one Spirit (Eph 4:4). Members are encouraged to “live a life worthy of the calling” (Eph 4:1), given various instructions on how to act (Eph 5-6) and finally encouraged to “put on the whole armour of God” (Eph 6:10-18).

It is worth noting that Paul has just given that beautiful prayer to God for his brothers and sisters in Ephesus (Eph 3:14-21) which is still such an encouragement to all who read it today. His next words express not only his own total commitment to the Father but his desire that all should “live a life worthy of the calling you have received”. The way to do this is to “be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace”.

The Priesthood of All Believers

Here is no definition of a hierarchy, an ‘us and them’ or a ‘pecking order’ as so often seen in our churches, but a recognition that we need each other (which is described more fully in 1 Corinthians 12). The sole purpose of these ministry roles is to serve the body of believers so that they can all become mature and be the front line of mission.

The New Testament Church operated as a ‘priesthood of all believers’ – they had a different vision from that practised in Judaism when the Temple was in operation and priests were in control and acted as mediators with God. But even after the birth of the Church and the early days of taking the mission worldwide, it was not very long before the established denominations re-introduced a priestly leadership into churches.

In the priesthood of all believers, there is no hierarchy or pecking order – just a recognition that we all need each other.

Many new movements have since tried to re-capture this concept of the priesthood of all believers, but far too often institutionalisation pushes them back into the need for strong leadership aligned with worldly principles.

The ministry gifts are essentially serving roles - encouraging and empowering others – so that everyone is encouraged to have that direct relationship with the Father themselves and can discern the truth – so that they are “no longer infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.”

Ingredients for Full Community Life

The ministries described in Ephesians can be seen as leading roles in the community, but they should also encompass vision, strategy and unity - all essential for any community’s survival. It is not a necessary requirement that the leader has to be the one who has the original vision, but he or she must embrace it and make it their own – just as everyone else in the body must; and likewise with the strategy and action that follows – these two aspects must both be embraced to help form a community and give it its raison d’etre. But often the ministry role also provides the glue that makes people stick together in unity.

Truth and love are essential ingredients to any community of believers – so that “we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (Eph 4:15-16).

Unity is expressed in “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Eph 4:4-6).

In the next few weeks we will be looking at each of the specific ministry gifts given to the Body of believers – Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor and Teacher - and exploring further the reasons for which they are given and the way they should operate and relate to each other.