Celebration: 500th Blog Entry!

Incredible Writing Journey

Who would have thought where my journey would take me when I began writing my first blog “New Beginnings” on Saturday, August 15, 2009? In a little over 4 years I have written 500 blogs dealing either with the topic about the five fold or about mental health and the Church! How can so much be written about basically one topic?

That’s the power and creativity of the Holy Spirit, for the truths about five fold are only beginning to be unfolded. I still believe the five fold is the wave of the future for the Christian Church. I truly believe the Church is in a metamorphosis stage from being a cumbersome religious institutional structure of hierarchy leadership to entering a cocoon of structural transformation that will release a sleek, hard shelled structure for flight. The structure of the Church will be changed from hierarchal to linear. Church leaders will no longer be looked as spiritual giants hovering over their people but walk beside them. Leadership will no longer demand respect but earn it, for they will be willing to lay down their lives for their common brethren.

The Church in China knows the cost of laying down one’s life for their brethren after the persecution they endured over the last seventy years, and amazingly this blog cite gets more “hits” from China than any other country, and I thank my Chinese brethren for faithfully reading this blog and tweeting it to others. It is an honor to be a part of your social networking family. The Church of China has become part of my heart and spirit’s cry, and I pray for you daily.

Since we are only entering the cocoon stage, more change is in store, so I am sure more blog pages will flow. The themes may be the same in many of the blogs, but the content is growing. I would encourage “comments” to the blogs from my readers, for I would love to know how the five fold is being manifested among our Chinese brethren and in other parts of the world. Where churches are open to the Holy Spirit and are obedient to his directions, change will come naturally and powerfully, and we, the Church, need to hear your story. E-mail your story to me or through an attachment at popnozall@gmail.com and I might post it as a blog!

I will also post blog entries on the topic of mental illness and the Church's role. Mentall Illness is the lepordsy of our time, the socially unaccepted disease in many countries due to the stigma of not knowing what to do with it. The Church wrestles with that stigma, but "Grace", "Compassion", and "Mercy" are the keys to reaching out to those fighting that dreadful disease effecting the mind and the stigma surrounding it.

God is a Creator. Jesus is Lord of His Creation. The Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ is creative. This blog cite is dedicated to honor and glorify the Creator, through his creative creation, that which His Spirit is doing in our generation throughout the world.

Thanks again for being a part of my continual journey of exploration into this topic, and I hope you continue to read what the Spirit motivates and inspires me to write, and join in social networking the Church together throughout the world. May the Lord bless you and keep you in His love!

Anthony Bachman, blog’s author

Five Fold Fluidity

The Five-Fold Can Be A Fluid Model

I have written several manuscripts about the five fold, still trying to decide what to do with them. I wrote a Master’s Thesis in 1999 researching the history of each of the five fold in British and American history. I rewrote it in simple language in a manuscript I called Revealing and Releasing Jesus. I followed it with four fictional novels based on the five fold: Five, Five=One, Five Squared, One of the Five. Someone recently commented that I had given them a neat formula, only to crush and destroy it by having varying applications in different situations. They discovered the secret to my five-fold formula or star shaped circle; it is very versatile and very fluid.

The church loves simple models and formulas. If a church perfects a successful model, others immediately duplicate it. Leadership conferences are born around it, but the Holy Spirit isn’t into duplicating. He is into creating and loves to speak into unique situations. The Holy Spirit applies Godly principles to bring the best outcomes for the kingdom of God.

I believe the five fold to be linear based and should not be hierarchal in nature, for no one five-fold passion should be elevated above another. Each with its own place, vision, voice, and point of view, if allowed to dominate or be overpowering, can bring division in the body. If that same vision, voice, and point of view be in a submissive, service spirit as equal peers, it can bring unity to the body. The five fold is powerful when it operates in unity from each, through each, and to each of the five. It creates a circle of love.

They keys to this models success is found in allowing the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, to be in charge, for it is a very fluid spirit, working in many ways naturally and supernaturally. The Spirit knows the will of the Father, how to glorify the Son, and how to instruct the saints, the Bride, the Church. Giving up control is difficult for any institution because control defines an institution’s image. Giving up control to something unpredictable and fluid can be scary. The Church’s stringent control over the Holy Spirit led it into the Dark Ages. Why does the church old on to its traditions, just as their Jewish forefathers had, getting the same frustrating results? When the early Jewish founding fathers of the Church yielded to the Holy Spirit rather than traditions, a powerful movement of God emerged, the Church.

So I ask you, the reader, “Can you trust the Holy Spirit?” Are you willing to allow Him to “teach you all things” about the kingdom of God. Is he directing your spiritual journey? Are you holding on to control, or are you willing to release it to him? For the five-fold to work effectively, relinquishing and releasing is mandatory. The model won’t work if the Holy Spirit isn’t in charge! It will only be another lifeless institutional model if implemented without the Holy Spirit’s leading, guidance, and instruction.

In the next several blogs we will look at this model and its potential if we yield to the unpredictable, the Holy Spirit to initiate it, mold it, lead it, direct it, and form it according to the diverse believers’ talents in the body of Christ. Institutions love to reproduce themselves, thinking their way is the only right way which brings division in the body of Christ. The Holy Spirit produces organisms, living forms of a living gospel of a living Word in unique and diverse ways, yet producing unity. If Jesus prayer of John 16 is to come true, unity is mandatory. “Father, make them one as we are one!” The “laying down of your life for your brethren” is the mandatory ingredient for unity, and the Holy Spirit who works with the heart and the spirit of man can do that by bringing repentance, revival, and restoration.

Let’s continue to look at scenarios of how the Holy Spirit can work in this model, uniquely through the people yielding to it and their specific situations.

Five-Fold Prophetic Word Continued

 Part III: The Prophetic Five-Fold Word of 1993:

     On the evening of April 15, 1993, while sitting quietly in my living room, I asked the Lord a question, “What is the five fold ministry all about.  How is it to work? “

     Here is what I wrote down that night: (Continuation of the last two days blogs)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

     In Acts 2 apostle Peter sees a glimpse of the whole Body as people begin speaking in the native tongues of many languages of nations of their known world.  Little did Peter know that he had much to learn about vision of apostleship (House of Cornelius, acceptance of Gentiles, etc.), but the apostolic vision came upon Him (vs. 5-13)

     When questioned, Peter kicked into the prophetic (vs. 14-21) as he quoted Joel 2:28-32  and shows its fulfillment.

      (Versus 22-36) Peter flows as a teacher, explaining the prophecies of Joel using Psalms 16:8-11 as a teaching text, and explains the purpose of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. When he proclaims Jesus as the Messiah, it “pierced their hearts”.

     (Versus 37-41)  Peter, the evangelist, manifests himself as he leads 3,000 to the Lord’s gracious salvation.

     (Versus 42-45) illustrates the pastoring that took place in those early days to the 120, then 3,000, then 3,000 plus as they grew.

     The results was the birthing of the five fold ministry and its fruits:

          1)  Unity in faith - continuing with one mind (Acts 2:46);

          2)  Knowledge of the Son of God - Peters sermon of Acts 2:14-42;

          3)  Maturity - fellowshiping with gladness and sincerity of heart (Acts 2:26);

          4)  Measure of Stature - having favor with all the people (Acts 2:46);

     Acts 2 is only a measure compared to what we are about to see:

          Pastoring:  Who would have ever dreamed of Pastor Cho’s church reaching the 3/4 million mark?

          Evangelist:  If Peter could have seen into the future at how Billy Graham has been used with massive meetings and satellite TV international hookups, he would have said, “What is only 3,000”!

          Prophecy:  As we are currently witnessing this movement, the Lord is exhorting, encouraging, edifying, purifying, and challenging His Body as the Church is again “hearing from the Lord”

          Apostolic:  The Holy Spirit is birthing vision of Jesus and His Church in men and women who will “see over” the work of the Holy Spirit who is doing the work, not try to “oversee” the work of the Holy Spirit and interfering with it, and will have their spiritual eyes open to the revelation of Jesus Christ as He prepares to return for His Bride.

     We are truly living in an exciting time:

          The Evangelist will need the prophet to give him/her direction and spiritual insight to break down the darkness of a city and bring revival.  Old evangelistic modes will be replaced with new strategies planned and implemented by the Holy Spirit.  The evangelist needs the pastor to nurture the new converts, and the teacher to teach them while the apostle watched over them to “guard this new body” and develop it toward maturity”.

          The Pastor needs the evangelist to birth his flock; the teacher and/or the prophet to nurture and verify the flock, and the apostle to help it mature into the “fullness of Christ”.

          The Teacher needs to hear the apostle’s vision, and the prophet’s fresh word, then dig into the Word, the Bible, to verify it and teach its principles.  He/She needs the evangelist and pastor to prepare the ground and planting of the seed for his watering through the Word.

          The Prophet needs the pastor to balance his/her assertiveness; the teacher to authenticate the Word; the evangelist to initiate the word, and the apostle to verify the fresh word.

          The Apostle needs the prophet to give a fresh Word to verify his vision or revelation of Jesus; the teacher to check it out through the word; the pastor to see if his “heart” lines up with the Word as a shepherd, and the evangelist to birth the Word.

          Together they function 1) in unity 2) in revealing the knowledge of the Son of God; 3) maturing or preparing the church, the Bride, for her Groom, and 4) measuring the stature or having the church as the Revelation of Jesus Christ shining, bringing respectability.

Five-Fold Prophetic Word Continued

 Part II: The Prophetic Five-Fold Word of 1993:

           On the evening of April 15, 1993, while sitting quietly in my living room, I asked the Lord a question, “What is the five fold ministry all about.  How is it to work? “

           Here is what I wrote down that night: (Continuation of yesterday’s blog entry)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

          There will be NO TOP DOG in this church structure.  The apostle is not the top dog, neither is the prophet, evangelist, pastor, or teacher.  The day of the super pastor, super evangelist, super teacher, and super prophet are gone.  Instead we will be in a new day, a day of the supernatural pastor, the supernatural evangelist, the supernatural teacher, the supernatural prophet, and the supernatural apostle.  No office will be greater or lesser than another.  In the past we have been fed teaching emphasizing the greater spiritual gifts by the way that they are listed in the Bible, and blew it, for that is not true.  Beware we do not do the same thing to the five fold offices.

          Only as the members of the five fold ministry allow their star to rotate, will they see “the light of Jesus” radiating from them.  That rotating (Circle on the diagram) is the life flow of the Church!

            I see in the spirit, like on a clear night the sky being full of stars displaying the splendor of the heavens, so the earth will become like the heavens, each Spirit lead, five (fold ministry) pointed star local body, glimmering, making up county, state, and national galaxies of stars.  When the Lord returns all these star galaxies around the world will come together to shine in the Second Coming or the Feast of Lights in its “fullness”, Jesus Christ.

          The Lord showed me how these offices worked in Acts 2 when on Pentecost a “measure of His Spirit” birthed His Church, and those same offices brought “unity”, gave “knowledge of the Son of God”, began to “mature the saints”, and gave “stature or form”.  (Ephesians 4: 13) The Body of Christ will mature into His “fullness” as His Second Coming approaches.

          An apostle had to be an eye witness of Jesus Christ in the First Century, and Paul defended His apostleship by having his road to Damascus experience.  An apostle in the end times church too will have a revelation of Jesus Christ, not in a vision of His earthly or His resurrected body, but as a revelation of His Body, His Church, seeing the big picture, the reason for all five points of the star.

          The apostle will see the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, becoming fulfilled.  Instead of the book being viewed as eschatology, as a book of end times tragedies and joys (Biblical scholars were blinded in their charts and theories of Jesus’ First Coming, why would they not be any different in His Second Coming?), the apostle will see it as it’s subtitle reads, The Revelation of Jesus Christ.  The Holy Spirit will open his eyes to reveal Jesus’ Church, His end time’s body to the apostle.

           The Old Testament priesthood is archaic: the New Testament priesthood is going from its birthing in Acts 2 to its fulfillment in the “fullness of Christ”.  The Church is about to experience a newness, another drastic change in its preparation for the communion of the Bride.  It will learn how to “sing a new song” not only individually, but corporately.  It will learn worship that they thought only could happen in the heavenlies as depicted in the book of Revelations, but that worship will be activated in the earth.

          The Church will experience a “communion” of worship with the heavenlies and the Church on the earth.  The heavenlies too sense His soon return, and will join in with the saints on earth, so when the trumpet sounds the groom's coming, His Bride will be ready and waiting because she will be in the act of worshiping, adoring, exalting, lifting up her coming Groom.  The Church, the Bride, is about to experience a “true romance” as it anticipates its coming Groom.  This will take place in her worship and in the relationship of her members to the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and to each other in a depth that she has never yet experienced.

          So the apostle will “see over” the local star, or national, or international galaxy, not “oversee” it as church leaders have done in the past.  The apostle can not do this without the other four points or offices of the five fold ministry, or they can not see the whole picture.  Rejecting one of the other offices by not communicating, serving, receiving, being accountable to, or accepting them will cause spiritual blindness and cause the apostle to see “only dimly” or “in part” when the Holy Spirit wants to show the apostle the “fullness of Christ” for his local body and clarity.

                                    (Continues in next blog…..)

Five-Fold Prophetic Word

Part I: The Prophetic Five-Fold Word of 1993:

     On the evening of April 15, 1993, while sitting quietly in my living room, I asked the Lord a question, “What is the five fold ministry all about.  How is it to work? “

             Here is what I wrote down that night:

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

  The Lord began to show me how He wants His Church, His Body, to represent Him ruling and reigning in this time.  Jesus is currently reigning in the heavenlies on the right hand of His Father interceding for His Church, His Body, or the remnants of his earthly body, His true (Spirit and Truth worshipers) believers.  His glorified body is sitting by the Father.  The Holy Spirit has been activated to get his Bride, the Church, ready to be in a position, condition, or place to be prepared for His Second Coming, so they too can be glorified with Him.

     As a child I used to put my hands together, interlocking fingers, and begin to recite, “Here’s the church; there’s the steeple” while raising my two pointing fingers up.  Then I opened my thumbs while saying, “Open the door”  as I unfolded my hands showing my interlocking fingers, “and there’s the people”!  God’s Church is still His people. It never was meant to be a building, and never will be.  But the Lord is calling His people to the Five Fold Ministry in these end times.  He gave me a diagram to illustrate this point.  We think of a church building to be in this shape.  We put a cross at the top of it to distinguish it from any other building. The Lord is building a building, not in the natural, but in the supernatural. The building has five points.  Each point is a member of Ephesians 4:11’s Five Fold Ministry. (There is no set position for each office on the diagram.  They can be rotated.)

Each house or building or local (national or international) church of believers needs in it at least one apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher to:

     1)  Equip the saints (vs. 12);  

     2)  Build up the body (vs. 12); until we all attain to: (vs. 13)

          a)  Unity of faith;

          b)  Knowledge of the Son of God;

          c)  Maturity;

          d)  Measure of Stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

Currently we only have a “measure”, but the Holy Spirit wants to lead us towards the “fullness” as He prepares the Bride who will be ‘without spot or wrinkle’, the glorified Body of the Church in the ‘fullness of Christ’ for the coming groom at Christ’s Second Coming!”

The Lord has assured me that men will make mistakes as the Holy Spirit leads them through this end times process of preparation, for one way man learns is through error.  Repentance can only come after a fall or mistake, so He will develop a repentant heart, a repentant Church.

The Lord has shown me how in my life time that He has raised up evangelists, pastors, teachers, prophets, and soon apostles not only locally but of international proportions.

In the 1970’s when the charismatic gifts were being poured out, in man’s lack of Godly wisdom and understanding, many were seeking “their gift” not knowing that the Lord’s desire is for us individually and the Church corporately to grow into the “fullness of Christ”, not in meager mustard seed measures.  We are, as a Church, to blossom into His fullness, the Bride ready for the groom.  In the ‘90’s many will scramble to find “their office”, again showing their lack of maturity in Christ.  If people scramble to do this, we will only have the shell (see diagram) of another Church structure with no life in it, and legalism will set in, and self appointed “offices” will fight and bicker with each other, and like other empty structures the Church has built in history, it too will crumble.

The Lord showed me that the star stood over where the Christ child lay during his First Coming, and a star will also mark His Second Coming.  This star will not be in the heavens above the earth, but inside the framework of the Church.  (See diagram)  That star, that light, will be the Holy Spirit manifesting Jesus Christ in His  Church through the five fold ministry.  Each “office” of the five fold ministry can not stand alone, just like a Lone Ranger Christian can not stand alone, but they need to be:

          1) Communicating with each other;

          2) Accountable to each other (Each office is a point of the star and will keep its point sharpened by the other four!)

          3) Serve each other, never Lord over each other.  There is no jockeying for positions, for you can rotate a five pointed star and no one is ever always on top.  They must give to each other!

          4) We will have to learn to receive from each other too!

          5) We will have to accept one another as peers, equals, not a hierarchy positioning.

                                    (Continues in next blog…..)

The Five Fold Option?

Part IV: Possible Linear Pattern To Evaluate!

If we are demolishing old structures and looking for new, what possibilities are there? One may be the five fold model under the following pretenses:

• The five fold is not offices or positions but passions, desires, and points of view that drive a believer in a certain direction.      
• The five fold is not part of a hierarchal system of professionals with titles over nonprofessional believers.
• The five fold is evidenced by what one does, what motivates that person, what drives them, not who they are or what position they hold.      
• The five fold is a linear process of believers walking beside other believers in their Emmaus walk of faith together, not hovering “over” someone.
• Since each of the five fold separately has divided the Church so far in history, each must learn to serve each other and submit to one another, being willing to “lay down their lives for their brethren” in order for it to work.

Each of the five fold:

• Is a peer to the others, an equal in the faith, that is driven by a passion, desire and point of view.     
• Needs the other four, for one’s gifting, or strength, augments the other’s weaknesses.
• Needs the other four to become balanced in ministry and approach.     
• Walks beside one another serving, not ruling. (Jesus modeled this when on earth as a man.)     
• Is relational to the others either birthing, nurturing, teaching, developing, or networking through service     

Every local church, body of believers:

• Needs an evangelist to birth new converts, birth new projects, be the midwife to what the Holy Spirit is doing    
• Needs an shepherd to nurture, care and develop the sheep in practical day to day faith.      
• Needs an prophet to bring spiritual life to a church, draw others into worship, and listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit through obedience.       
• Needs a teacher to keep everyone grounded in the Word, the Bible through apostolic teaching rather than religious dogma      
• Needs an apostle to network people serving people from their strengths and callings      
• Needs the five fold to bring birth, develop maturity, and cultivate unity.     

The five fold is a linear model worth evaluating to see if the Holy Spirit can be released among God’s people in the spirit of service.

Small Groups And The Five-Fold

The Need For The Five-Fold In Small Groups, Cell Groups, Home Groups

Pastor Cho discovered the necessity of small groups in his church in Korea that became the backbone of establishing the largest in the world. The reason is that in small settings, interactive relationships are established forcing one to make the Logos, the written Word, a Rhema, or living Word.  One has to live out their faith when rubbing elbows with others in very practical day-to-day experiences.

Many small home cell groups have been tools for evangelistic expansion as they divide and multiply producing growth while cementing old relationships and establishing new ones, calling on talents of older experienced members, but living on the freshness and motivation of new ones. Many small home cell groups have stagnated, keeping the same participants and becoming cliquish. How can a group prevent this from happening? The answer lies in embracing the five fold in the midst of the group.

Every small group needs a member driven evangelistically, always winning the lost, bringing new members to the group.  This newness brings vibrancy to the group, and propels it forward evangelistically. If the group is missing this link, stagnation can quickly set in.

Every group needs someone as a five fold teacher to walk out one’s faith scripturally but practically, not as a theologian, but through relationships in practical applications in one’s daily life, like Jesus did when walking and living with the twelve disciples. This way it does not become a religious exercise or class or course with only academic training, but practicality becomes its main principle.

The group needs someone prophetic to bring the practical reality of worship to the group, the challenge of allowing the supernatural to work amongst them, and to challenge each member individually and the group corporately to be drawn into the likeness of Jesus Christ. Someone apostolic, who sees the big picture of the corporate group, and naturally networks the talents of the group within itself to minister to one another in sacrificial love is also needed.

These are not formal offices, nor even positions, but passions within believers in the group that just motivate them to serve one another from their passions as well as receive from differing passions differ that augment them. These passions just surface when needed or all called upon to help mature the saints within the group, or call the corporate group to action as a body. If they all are “released” to flow in freedom and to also receive from the other diverse passions, a synergy is created strengthening the group to be more Christ-like individually and as a group. The Word becomes “life”.

If your small group is struggling, ask yourself, is there someone in the group that likes to “ignite” the group, the catalyst, one who “births” things, then release their “evangelistic” spirit and let they go, let them flow. If some nurtures, mother-hens the group, becomes spiritual parents to everyone, release them to “shepherd” their pastoral gifting. If some live to study the Word, the Bible, allow them to share their spiritual truths in practical ways to produce an “Emmaus Road” experience of walking out their faith with everyone. If some are prophetic in nature, release them to minister spiritual life, releasing supernatural faith in very natural situations. Finally if one is like the eagle of the group, soaring above situations, keenly observing with wisdom, always seeking to allow others in the group to minister, release them to release others through networking to bring the group together in purpose, direction, and unity.

If you release the five fold in your group in this way, you will have newness in life through the evangelistic, nurturing through shepherding, spiritual growth grounded on the Word, living faith, and proper over sight and coordination; the five fold. There will be balance in ministry, constant flowing of the Holy Spirit, and a freedom to “release” one another, yet draw from one another.

As the group expands, mentoring new members in your passions, prepare them for their callings, as the group “equips the saints for the work of service” for the next spiritual generation of the group. There will be a time when the group realizes that it is time to “release” the once new, now “equipped” members to begin their new group, and the Church expands, grows.

The five fold is a very practical way to bring and keep life to your group and growth to your church.

Five-Fold Recipe

Ingredients for Five-Fold Revival

If the Holy Spirit is “cooking” up the next revival, what would be the ingredients needed for such an adventure? Here may be a few suggestions that I would have.  None of these are new. They have been addressed in previously written blogs, but together they could become a powerful pastry!

- A Recognition That The Holy Spirit Is In Control – Without the Holy Spirit, there is no revival, yet so often we, the established church, try to dictate the dosage allowed. Often we want enough of the Holy Spirit to bring revival but keep it clean, neat, and orderly, but not enough to lose control, but without allowing the Holy Spirit total freedom, there will be no true revival.

- A Dose of the Doctrine of the Priesthood of Believers – Revival begins at the grass roots level with the masses, the believers in Jesus, the Church. I Peter 2:9-10 states, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” When God’s people and their voices get marginalized, revival validates their voice, their position in Christ, and takes them out of their darkened state into enlightenment.  Peer acceptance and equality are standard ingredients for revival.

- Diversity in the Body, the Church, is a Mandatory Ingredient - Galatians 3 verse 26 states, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ", and verse 28 concludes, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free man, neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Although there is great diversity in the Body of Christ, the Church, there is equality and acceptance as peers, as priests in a united priesthood. The Body of Christ transcends nationalities, races, denominations, and political points of view. The Great Commission calls the Church to be comprehensive on a world wide scale, and with today’s world-wide-web of internet activity, the church needs to look at a new set of ingredients that will “raise” the bar of evangelism, nurture, teaching, prophetic insight, and apostolic over sight to a world wide level of influence.

- Leveling The Playing Field – Today’s younger generation looks at the world from a “flat world” mentality, of peer relationships and acceptance rather than hierarchal structures of leadership. They look for leadership to be walking beside them, rather than being over them in dictatorial fashion. The Church needs to examine its hierarchal structures of leadership, modify, adjust, and sometimes even scrap the old for a more linear relationship built model based on service and sacrifice.

- A Large Dosage Of New Mindsets – If we are to embrace this next generation, their broadening world view, their peer acceptance, and their yearning for linear, meaningful relationships built on trust, respect, and acceptance, then we, the Church, must embrace new mindsets on how we do church, what it means to be the Church, and how the Church is to function among its diverse members to develop individual Christian maturity in the image of Jesus producing group unity. This is why the five fold would be the best ingredient possible to attain those goals according to Ephesians 4.

- Cook Slowly, Simmer, Heat Thoroughly – When “the heat is on” revival flourishes. Persecution and martyrdom were the ingredients that brought expansion to the 1^st Century Church. What “heat” will need to be produced to bring a “world wide” revival that transcends countries, nations, and continents. What will the Church have to experience globally to bring it to its knees, in humble recognition and obedience to a sovereign, merciful God who created this world, and whose kingdom is to reign over it? The Church in the past has looked at “revival” as a time of blessing, but this time it will come at a price: the “laying down your life for your brethren” (I John 3:16) which will bring unity, not division, preparing the Bride of Christ, the Church, for the Groom’s, Jesus’ return to a Church without spot or wrinkle. Setting the oven the right temperature always is a prerequisite for properly baked goods. You don’t want to under-bake it nor burn it, and the same is true for revival.

There you have it: some of the ingredients needed for the next revival. Come Holy Spirit, supply the ingredients, mix the diversity into one united batter, then heat precisely to have it raise it into a beautiful baked work of art. Holy Spirit, bring revival!

Diversity Is Mandatory

Diversity Is The Strength Of The Five Fold

Churches are known for producing “look-alikes”, replicas. People who come in our church doors are as diverse as the weather conditions around the world. They come in all shapes and sizes, races, nationalities, talents, and interests. They leave packaged! Usually packaged by denominational standards, by moral codes, often by the way they dress, their appearance. In the American political world we label one as a Republican, Democrat, or Independent. In the Church world we too have labels: Roman Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Baptist, Pentecostal, Mainline, Organic, Missional, Independent, etc. Each group has their own organizations, their own seminaries and educational institutions, their own hierarchy of leadership. Though they may have different doctrines in theology, the people they produce under their banners are looking pretty generic. That is a good thing, for it is ripe for revival!

In the past diversity in the church usually meant future church splits, division. Paul wrote several times, “I heard there are divisions among you.” Often they were caused by the polarization of the diversity present. In this next major revival, the five fold will restore unity as part of its wave or movement. The purpose of the five fold as outlined in Ephesians 4 is “for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”

The Lord doesn’t want to stifle diversity; He wants to actually use it for the good of the Body of Christ. Every local church needs the evangelistic spirit, the nurturing caregiver, the grounded Bible teacher, the prophetic insight, and the apostolic over sight, the five fold, five different passions, drives, points of view that are in individual believers in Jesus Christ. If each of those five operate out of the I John 3:16 principle of “laying down your life for your brethren,” by unconditionally serving the others and allowing the others to serve them, a unity will be bonded like the Church hasn’t seen in centuries.

Unfortunately, when sitting through most church services, you do not see the diversity among the saints, the common believers, arise because of the preplanned, orchestrated service which renders God’s people to be inactive, passive. In I Corinthians 12 Paul explains how the body has many parts, relying on each other, and the significance of each diverse part. At the end of the chapter he lists some of the diversity amongst the Corinthians: apostles, prophets, teachers, doers of miracles, healers, administrators, etc. There is diversity among them. Now allow the Holy Spirit to mold them into one body, one voice, one purpose, that is not generic, nor sterile, but vibrant, alive, and unique to each individual local church body.

We, the Church, need to get back to recognizing the diversity among us, and begin “accepting” that diversity as a gift from God, not looking at it with fear and trembling. “Acceptance” of one another is a key component in the success of the next revival.

We, the Church, need to recognize each other as “peers” in Jesus Christ, equals in Christ, all capable of following the leading of the Holy Spirit while being grounded in the Word and living the Word. No group is better than the other. No individual believer is above another in stature or in spirit. “The Priesthood of Believers” is also another key component in this revival.

We, the Church, need to allow the Holy Spirit to orchestrate this next revival. A good orchestra has much diversity in its instrumentation. The greater the diversity; the richer the sound. Let’s allow the Holy Spirit to be the conductor, bringing out unique, diverse solos when needed, but bringing all the members of this orchestra to play in harmony, together, at once, in the richness of a new sound to glorify Jesus and bring unity. If we don’t, there will be no revival! God’s symphony will remain silent. The Holy Spirit is tapping his baton, signaling that He’s ready to lead God’s orchestra in the symphony of the ages.

Five Fold In A Practical Situation

 Successful Summer Sr. High Camp

Last week, as a speaker for the Sr. High Camp at Camp Timberedge, in Beach Lake, PA, I enjoyed beautiful weak of perfect weather, heart warming fellowship, and an experience that changed lives. Pondering its success, I realized that all five passions, points of view, and drives were evident in very practical ways.

I combined the evangelist with the teaching component as the evening speaker, sharing Biblical principles that sparked small group and individual discussions. The camp counselors provided the pastoral, shepherding, nurturing care to those in their cabins/tents. They took what I had taught and applied it to their everyday life, helping the campers to walk out the principles.  They also reinforced the teaching component in a more intimate setting. Their nurturing care developed a “family” atmosphere rather than a camper/counselor pyramidal structure. Their built relationship with the campers was genuine, real, and caring, not authoritative.

The worship leader had a prophetic passion, drawing everyone into a more intimate desire to grow in Jesus all weekend, sensing tit-bits of directions, information, and encouragement, leaning everyone even closer to Jesus in their personal relationship with him. “Worship” was monumental to him and his band. He brought Rhema, or life, to the Logos or written word that I taught.

The couple who were camp directors had apostolic talents, networking everyone in their staff as well as campers in serving one another, taking personal interest in each camper’s spiritual growth as well as the corporate growth of the entire group. They let counselors be counselors, never micromanaging, allowed me to be myself, and basically “saw over” what the holy spirit was leading and doing rather than “overseeing” from an authoritarian position as many administrators do.

I taught about service and grace, and the counselors, staff, and leaders practice it. Campers willingly volunteered to do dishes after every meal, clean up the camp, throw out trash, watch or play with the staff’s young children. The owners of the camp complimented the staff at how immaculately clean the camp was at the end of the week. Everyone served willingly, not out of obligation. They submitted to each other through service, and it worked!

By mid week, campers were praying for one another, supporting one another, serving one another, yet still being themselves competitively playing quirky games, challenges, and competitions. Friday night’s “Country Fair”, featuring booths for dart throwing at balloons, knocking over milk jars, floating duck pulls, ping pong balls in fish bowls, etc. to earn tickets for cotton candy, funnel cake, and drinks in ball jars with straws, could have been taken as “old fashion boring” by most teenagers, but these kids engaged in them all as a family, cheering for one another, supporting one another, making sure everyone was a winner. Even at the talent show, when talent was thin, everyone cheered, clapped, and supported one another. There were no rude remarks or catcalls as teenagers are normally prone to do. Truly everyone felt like part of the family that night.

The lessons that I taught became practical applications by the staff the next day, real life experiences for the campers. These campers opened up in worship, extended grace instead of blame, never criticizing only complimenting, served one another, and bonded in friendship and unity. They even began to minister to the staff.

The power of evangelism, nurturing, caring, teaching by doing, prophetically bringing life, and apostolic oversight by networking were just some of the ingredients to the week’s success. The staff sacrificially laid down their lives for the campers and each other, and their serving attitude was reflected by the campers by the end of the week.

I saw typical teenagers coming to camp, but experienced dramatically changed lives by the time they left. They came, not sure how to define God in “godly” or Christ in “Christ-like” but became living examples of them before their departure. I worked with the staff where no internal conflict was evident to me, but attitude of service, understanding, and open communications pervaded.

The five fold doesn’t have to be “spiritual”; it is just practical! 

Rethinking Our Theology

What Does “Equipping The Saints” Mean? – Part XI

In Greek Theo = God; ology = Study of; thus theology = study of God, yet if we take a higher level graduate theology course at a seminary we discover it is a collection of a lot of theologian’s, men who claim to be studying God, views on various religious topics.  It is all about how we, man, have interpreted scriptures.  It is basically what we as an individual believes about God.  Every man has his own theology: how he perceives God at that moment.  I have discovered that my theology has changed over the years, for I have often boxed in God, trivialized my faith, sought to systematically place things in order so they made intellectual sense, organize, characterize, even politicize my religious experience. 

Like Saul, who later became Paul, I have sat under and read the works of some remarkable religious theologians who have molded what I believe God to be, sat under thousands of hours of religious training during my 50 years as a Christian believer, often being doctrinated by the religious camp who was doing the teaching. The Westernized Church honors the theologian for his highly intellectual interpretation of the Scriptures. Introduction to the Bible 101 is an entry level course, but Theology 502 is a high level graduate course.  Saul and I both have sat under some incredible theological teachers, but where did it get us?

We, the Church, honor our scribes and Pharisees, the intellectual religious leaders of our day, just as the Jewish people honored theirs in Jesus’ day, yet they are the very people Jesus criticizes heavily, “Woe, you scribes and Pharisees…..”  It was the theologians of his day that received his verbal wrath.  Saul, “the Pharisee of Pharisees”, has to literally get knocked off his horse and blinded before he is willing to see the deception of his religious zeal of persecuting the very thing he should be advocating.  He was forced to rethink his thinking!  This experience led him to he wilderness to rethink and cleans himself of his old beliefs and reestablish and build upon the new before being released to become one of the greatest apostles and theologians of his time.

A friend once had a vision of me in a bird cage with the door to the cage open, but I remained inside perched in peace, unwilling to fly to my freedom. Why? After struggling for an answer, the Holy Spirit spoke to my friend who said I was the bird inside, the cage was the religious structure I had build around myself.  In it I found safety, comfort, and peace, so I chose to remain content, perched inside.  Who knows what would happen if I left the cage and became free?  Where would I perch? Is there a haven of safety somewhere else? What would being free really mean to me?  I realized that I had become a Pharisee like Saul, and a transformation from the safe confines of my religious experience would be needed in order to “fly in the spirit” on “wings as eagles”. That flying in the unknown would change my theology, the way I perceived God in my life’s experience.  God was still God, faith, unchanging; it was my perception of him that changed!

It is that perception of who God is in our individual lives that is so important.  That is why it is so important to “trust” the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ to “teach us all things”, for He, and only He can be the revealer of Truth to us through the Word of God.  Equipping the saints is all about guiding a person, directing someone, releasing them to discover for themselves the Truth, the Revelation of Jesus Christ, in their personal lives so their life becomes a “Living Gospel”, not a legalistic, written, intellectually driven gospel.  It is different “to know God”, to experience God, than it is “to know about God” or study, or theologize God!

But “What are we to believe?” you may ask. “What do we know is truth?” Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal that to you through the Logos Word, the Bible, and make it the Rhema Word, the living word in your life.  I believe, in the five fold, the Holy Spirit gives the apostolic passion of the Church the wisdom to “know the mysteries of God”, the truths, the nuggets of the gospel that brings unity. That is what I call the Apostolic Teaching!  It is not doctrinal teaching that has divided the church into its many sects, divisions, and denominations.  I have learned over the year that doctrine divides, the Holy Spirit unites, so we must “trust” and “rely” on the Holy Spirit to reveal “apostolic” truth for the “entire Church” in order to see sectarianism diminish and eventually disappear.

In order “to equip the church for the work of service” we must equip our future evangelists, shepherds, teachers, prophets, and apostles with the knowledge on how to “trust the Holy Spirit” of Jesus Christ, the Revealor, to reveal universal truths to His entire Church, truths that will be shared and honored by every member of the Body of Christ, truths that will draw all men toward Jesus Christ, truths that will unite not divide.

Going through such a drastic change from intellectualism to practical experience, the living out of the gospel will bring radical change. When Saul met the “living God”, he was literally knocked off his horse.  The transformation from what he “knew about God” to “knowing God” caused such a radical change in his life, like his Father Abram who changed his name to Abraham, Saul changed his name to Paul and started “life anew”, a life transformed, a life free of studying about God, to a life of intimately knowing God.  That is one of the goals for preparation and equipping the saints.

What Does “Equipping The Saints” Mean? – Part X

Equipping Through Community

Can you imaging your local church going from approximately 120 to 3,120 in one weekend. That is what happened to the church at Jerusalem because of Pentecost.  Churches today pray for “revival”, but if 3,000 were saved in one weekend, what would your church do with these new converts?  How would they nurture them, disciple them, effectively teach them the Word particularly if they did not have a religious background, and live out what they learn?  Initially everyone would gather because of the excitement of the newness of the movement, but eventually numbers would begin to dwindle. With the new income from 3,000 people coming into their coffers, today’s churches would react by hiring more staff and starting a new building program to house all the people. All looks glorious at the beginning, but as numbers dwindle, so does the financial support, and soon layoffs occur and the huge building becomes a fiscal albatross.

In the Old Testament, priests were created to commune with God. They were a select group, one-tenth of the population, exclusively from the tribe of Levi.  In the New Testament the priesthood was no longer a selective group but a collective group of anyone who had accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  The Old Testament elevates the priest, but nowhere in the New Testament does it talk about being a priest, only establishing a “royal priesthood”.  It is the collective group that is elevated.  It is the community of faith, the believers corporately in Jesus Christ, the Church. I contend that it is the Church’s job to prepare and equip these new believers corporately to do the corporate work of service. How did this community get established?

The book of Acts vividly points out in its early chapters that this new movement of believers in Jesus Christ met in homes.  They “continued to break bread together”, in other words, fellowshipped with each other. They just did not “hang out” with one another on Sundays, but daily ate meals together, fellowshipped with one another, talked with one another, shared their day, their lives, intricately becoming a part of each other.  They accepted their differences, but began to blend into a group, a community, a family, a body, the Body of Christ, the Church. 

They began to sacrificially give, not to build a “church” building to hold the growing numbers in their congregation, not to add new staff, for there was no staff with academic degrees to hire, not to build a Bible School or Theological Seminary to advance the academia of this new movement, but they laid their finances at the feet of Jesus, literally at the feet of the Apostles, who used it to feed the poor, take care of the needy, the widows, the homeless, and the hurting. Deacons arose “to serve tables”, or do the work of service to those in need.

By fellowshipping together, living together, participating in each other’s lives on a daily basis, “relationships” were born and established.  Christianity is all about “relationships”.  John 3:16 points us to our relationships with God the Father through his son, Jesus Christ, re-establishing a broken relationship caused by sin, yet sanctified through the Cross.  The vertical relationship with God and man has been restored. I John 3:16 points us to our relationship with each other through the principle of “laying down one’s life” for each other.  People who are willing to sacrificially do that, as Jesus had done during his life, will discover that it develops a very close community, a community that even persecution can not dissolve, a community built on intimate, committed relationships.

Soon passions of “service” arose from this new group: some wanting to go out and evangelize, telling those who have not heard about this gospel, this “good news”; some wanting to nurture those who were already in their midst, to help them grow toward maturity in their new faith in Jesus Christ; some who discovered that all this had been foreshadowed and written about in the Torah, the Old Testament, among the prophets and the writings of David and Solomon, and diligently began to search the scriptures to reveal the truth; some to make sure this new revealed scriptural truth did not become just academic nor legalistic, but continue to be pliable, active, living.  In spite of this diversity, they continued to fellowship in unity of faith and purpose. They learned to give to one another and take from one another, thus causing their relationships to deepen even further.

When persecution finally did hit Jerusalem, the Church had already prepared and equipped their believers to move on in their flight for safety to all different regions throughout the world, and the Church continued to grow, develop, mature, preparing and equipping another generation to “serve” their God and “serve” one another.  Soon the Church was no longer looked upon as a new Jewish sect, but a vibrant, living, organism to be reckoned with, challenging all the already existing religions and leaders of its day.

 As we have institutionalized the Church over the centuries we have lost the sense of community among believers, instead establishing divisions among us through clergy and laity and through denominational distinctions, labels and beliefs.  We claim to be one body, but are so fragmented, divided, and even hostile towards one another because of our divisions.  Large portions of our church budgets finance large institutions and magnificent edifices while minimal amounts go toward the poor, the widows, the homeless, and the hurting.  To reestablish the power of the first century Church back into our institutions, we will have to first again establish community and the willingness to “lay down our lives” for one another, breaking bread with one another, fellowshipping daily among one another.  We will have to establish community back into the Church.

Equipping The Saints Soccer Analogy

What Does “Equipping The Saints” Mean? – Part VIII

In Elizabethtown College Soccer History it has been eulogized as “The Game”!  The year before Elizabethtown College battled Hartwick College for the Division III NCAA National Soccer Championship to a nil-nil tie after six overtime periods. To prevent another tie when they met for a rematch for the National Division III title again, they started the game an hour early, just incase history would repeat itself.  It did! When regulation play ended, neither team had put the ball into the goal for the second straight year. In the fifth overtime period, during an offensive attack by Hartwick the Etown goalie was drawn out from his net and a Hartwick attacker fired a thunderous shot taking the breath out of every Etown fan. A sigh of relief was replaced by thunderous exaltation when big Dale Beiber, the son of an African missionary, placed his enormous thigh in front of the ball, knocking it down, and then kicking it down the field to safety.

After playing 90 minutes of regulation play, and 5 ten-minute overtime periods, every player, exhausted, was running on pure adrenaline. Each team was looking for the “break” that would tip the scale. That came when Sandy Kilo, the shortest player on the field, drew the Hartwick goalie out of his goal on a break away, and lobbed the ball gently over his head into the goal! Elizabethtown won 1-0! A front page pictorial of their victory lap on the Etownian, the official weekly Elizabethtown College paper, recorded history.

Why did Etown win? They were in phenomenal physical shape which provided the stamina needed and one-third of the student body weathered the 7 hour trip to create a “home game” atmosphere . Months earlier, before the student body arrived for the fall semester, the team had extensive two-time a day practices and drills. I recall one soccer player’s return from the late afternoon practice, where he took off his soccer spikes and collapsed on the hard stone porch, falling a sleep there in spite of the student traffic throughout the evening. Those exhaustive practices prepared the team for the stamina needed later.  I also was part of the masses who crammed into any vehicle heading towards New England for the game and the long, joyous, return home before the team bus arrived for a victory celebration like the College had never experienced before.

Elizabethtown had been better “equipped” for the game.  They had invested their time in physical conditioning, had worked hours upon hours on their soccer skills, had worked hard on developing a “team” concept, and had built a radical fan base that would travel anywhere to support them. They were prepared; they were equipped.

We, the Church, can learn from their experience.  We should be “equipping the saints for works of service.”  “Prepare ye the way!” is the cry heard throughout the Bible.  Preparation always precedes ministry. Jesus prepared his disciples for when he would leave the earth: he prepared them for apostleship; he prepared them to be the foundation of this new movement, the Church.  He not only prepared them, he equipped them with the Holy Spirit to “teach them all things”; he equipped them through the Word; he equipped them by teaching them the principle of laying down your life for your brethren (IJohn 3:16) so that they would establish community, a community that would survive even the most brutal persecution possible.  Preparing and equipping were essential principles needed in birthing and establishing the Church.  They are still needed today in the maintaining of the Body of Christ, the Church.

Any good building needs a foundation and needs the proper equipment to build that foundation. God knows what foundation the Church needed and equipped the Church with evangelists, shepherds, teachers, prophets, and apostles.  I personally believe that evangelists, shepherds, teachers, prophets, and apostles are still currently in most churches, but we need to equip them for service, then release them to do the calling they have been prepared and equipped for.  The more we prepare them, the higher we raise the bar for success, the more effective the Church will become.  Instead of dead-beat Christians who are enabled by a professional staff, we need to develop a new mindset of how to prepare them, equip them, and release them for works of service.

Life sometimes seems as exhaustive as a six overtime period soccer match, a tug of war, back and forth free-for-all that we can only win if we have been properly prepared and equipped. Like the terrific fan support, the Church needs to rally around each other as a community of faith, of believers, as priests unto the Holy Spirit, who are willing to “lay down our lives” for one another.  When that occurs, the Church will be ready to obtain that definitive score that will win the match, or “The Game” of “life”.

What Does “Equipping The Saints” Mean? – Part VII

Stop, Look, and LISTEN! The Art of Listening

In earlier blogs I have written about the power of being in God’s “Rest” as outlined in Hebrews 3. The formula is simple, for it is written on signs at railroad crossings: Stop, Look, & Listen.  Often we need to just stop what we are doing, look for the answers and look to God to reveal those answers, and listen for His small voice, the voice of the Holy Spirit to tell us the answers to which we so desperately seek.  The hardest part of the formula comes after those three steps, for being “obedient” to what we have seen and heard is the key to its success.  We then have to be the “doers” of the word, “doers” of the revelation for it to be completed.

If we want to equip the saints for the works of service, we need to teach the saints how to “listen”.  There is so much “noise” around our lives today, we have lost the art of fine tune listening.  We play music on our IPads, our Iphones, our computers, our stereos or surround sound wired rooms.  We don’t hear honking horns when in the car due to the volume of our radios.  I can be typing this article while having the television on watching a sports event while wearing headsets listening to music. We call it “multi-tasking”, and somehow through it all, we have lost the art of focusing on one item, on one sound, on one message.  I know a lot of songs by tune, but not by lyrics because I do not listen close enough to catch the lyrics.

One of the assets of having a wife is she demands that I listen to her.  In the early years of our marriage she would often say, “You aren’t listening to me. You didn’t hear what I said,” even though I was looking at her and heard every word she had spoken, but somehow the “message” of what she said was lost or didn’t register. 

We are great at telling others what we think, but fail to stop and really listen to them. That is the way most of us do prayer.  We think prayer is petitioning God, pleading with God, telling him about our day, what we need, what we think He should do for us, or what we think is the answer to solutions that we want Him to bless. We don’t think of prayer as the art of listening.  Maybe we shouldn’t speak until we hear something!  For example: Let’s say we have been asked to pray for the Christians being persecuted by Muslim extremists in Africa. How should we pray? Particularly if I know little of Africa, its culture, the Muslim faith, or the clash of extremism there? I can do a generic prayer asking for God to save them, protect them, and bless them, or I can just sit and listen and pray, “Holy Spirit reveal to me what is on Your heart, being led by Your Spirit, then just sit and listen and say nothing until told. Prayer is just communicating with God, and communicating requires speaking and listening.  We need to learn how to listen.

If we teach the saints to listen, then they can go directly to the source, the Holy Spirit, for answers.  We may not have the answers, but “all things are possible in Christ Jesus who strengthens us.”  He has the answers; let’s allow him to tell them to us.  We just need to be obedient then to what he has said and revealed.

Jesus’ prayer life was built around listening.  Often he would STOP what he was doing and go into seclusion away from his disciples and the crowd who demanded so much from him.  He would then LOOK to his Father, seeking his will in all maters, and He would LISTEN to His Father’s directions.  He would be obedient.  Jesus often knew what lay ahead because the Father revealed it to him in these times of stopping, looking, and listening.  He knew his life’s mission, the Cross, before it physically happened, and discussed it with his disciples, and was obedient to that revelation.  Once revealed, all things led to the cross:  He had LOOKED to His Father and LISTENED to the revelation given, and was OBEDIENT to the point of death.  He had mastered the art of listening.

Jesus, as a human, learned to listen to people, to hear their cries, hear their pleas, hear their hearts, hear their requests, hear exactly the message they were trying to convey.  On the contrary his disciples did not perfect the art of listening until after Pentecost for they often floundered, failed, and wabbled in their faith.  After Pentecost they learned to LOOK to the Jesus for answers, allow the Holy Spirit to speak to them while they just LISTENED, and then became OBEDIENT to what had been revealed.  Jesus, while a human, taught his disciples the art of listening, equipping them for after his ascension. He then sent the Holy Spirit to “teach them all things” if they were willing to listen, and the 12 disciples became the 12 apostles because of the equipping Jesus did when on earth.

We need to equip the younger saints in the Lord for the works of service, and teaching them the art of listening, which a key component. Let’s not be so quick as to give them books, nor tapes, nor video, etc. on topics they need, but give them the Word, the Bible, and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to them through His Word.  We need not do the teaching, the Holy Spirit will; we need to “equip” the saints with the art of listening. With them, we need to model how to STOP what we are doing in our multi-tasking busy lives, LOOK to Jesus for everything, LISTEN to the voice of the Holy Spirit, and then be OBEDIENT to what we have seen and heard, our revelation.  By doing it WITH other believers, our faith increases, so does theirs, and we are equipping them for their spiritual journey, to eventually stand away from us, not be dependent on our faith, but become dependent on the voice of the Holy Spirit.

What Does “Equipping The Saints” Mean? – Part VI

The Church’s Role In Releasing The Saints For The Work Of Service

What is the Church’s role corporately in “preparing”, “equipping”, and “releasing” the saints for the work of service?

Preparing:  The Church needs to get away from its program and organizational way of thinking, developing programs and structures that then need to be filled by positions and bodies.  Instead they need to begin to look at each individual member’s spiritual DNA, that which makes them up spiritually.  What is their passion, their desire, their dream, their calling, their goal, their point of view?  What spiritually makes them tick? How do they best function?

If they have a strong evangelistic strain in their spiritual DNA, what can the Church corporately do to prepare them to “live” and “give” the message of spiritual “birth” and “rebirth” that will be the core of their being?  The Church will have to guide them in learning what it means to “lay down your life for your brethren” (IJohn 3:16) so that believer can “live out” as an example the principle of what Jesus did for those who do not know him: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) What safer place to learn this kingdom of God place, than in the midst of the Church?  That’s preparing an evangelist to be an evangelist. The pastor/shepherd can nurture the practical life experiences of this dying and resurrecting principle, the teacher grounding it in the Word, the Bible, while the prophet can bring spiritual life to the principle, and the apostle coordinate is activity in the Christian believer’s life through the working of the Holy Spirit.

The same can be true for those strong with the pastoral/shepherding spiritual DNA strain, or teaching, prophetic, and apostolic DNA strains. The other four spiritual strains can exemplify, support, and strengthen the spiritual genetic make up of a believers growth in Jesus Christ toward maturity.

Equipping: While being prepared, the Church also needs to “equip” the believer toward his diverse unique calling in Jesus Christ. Corporately, the church can offer facilities, finances, mutual support from other believers and their giftings, callings, and DNA make up, as well as materials needed to support the effort of the individual calling of a believer.  In the Church “no man is an island; no man can stand alone.”  God has developed a body with different parts, different functions, different purposes that all work toward the health, stability, and function of the entire body. He has developed a priesthood of believers, a corporate function of all involved for one general purpose. When a person is about to be release into maturity, he knows he will not be sent alone, but with the blessing, the support, and the full backing of other believers which will serve him and whom he will serve.  When this occurs, he is now equipped.

Releasing: Now that the Holy Spirit has prepared the believer, the body of Christ, the Church has surrounded the believer in equipping him, the mature Christian is now ready to be released.  Even though released on his own, he still is, and always will be part of a corporate body of believers, the Church, who will surround him/her when needed to help fulfill their destiny and calling in Jesus Christ.  If when in the heat of spiritual battle, if one falls, they will fall into the arms of another Christian believer, another priest in the priesthood, who can administrate immediately what is needed to bring back their healing, their preparation, their equipping, to stand again in the faith.

In Conclusion: That in summary is the calling, the purpose, the direction of the five fold ministry, to prepare the individual believer for his calling in the corporate Church, to equip the individual believer by and through the corporate Church, to be released to do “works of service” glorifying the corporate Church, the Bride of Christ, the Body of Jesus Christ today!

What Does “Equipping The Saints” Mean? – Part V

 Releasing Different Personalities

In a previous blog, I have written about the song “Little Boxes”, where they all came out the same.  The Church as an institution is great at producing little boxes.  Baptist create little Baptist boxes. Lutheran boxes are different from Baptist boxes but all look the same. There are Pentecostal boxes, Roman Catholic boxes, even nondenominational boxes.  I don’t think those labels will be on the boxes when God’s UPS truck takes us to heaven!

If you are a parent having “several siblings”, you quickly learn that none of them are the same even though they possess the same DNA from the same parents!  The “perfect” child who slept throughout the night since birth is followed by the “child from hell” who screams, cries, and demands a feeding, diaper job, and cradling every two hours, twenty-four hours a day!  That is enough to quit having children, but then you stretch your limits and end up having a third child because you don’t remember making love while you both were sleep deprived!  The third child is even different from his/her other siblings!  How can this be?

There are spiritual parallels. Even though we have the same spiritual DNA of our Father God, it is amazing that almost every Christian I have ever met is different!  We have different drives, different passions, different looks, different cultures, different styles of dress, accents, and personalities.  Even though we carry the same label, Christian, we act differently, think differently, are motivated differently, etc.  We have come to learn that even though we are a Church, a body of Christ, maintaining the same image, that of Jesus Christ, we are still all uniquely made, uniquely designed, uniquely wired, physically, spiritually, and emotionally.  It is amazing how God loves us individually, accepts us unconditionally, yet sees us corporately!

If we are “to equip the saints for service”, then what is that to look like? What are we shaping, molding, developing, transforming? When we are finished, what does a mature Christian look like?  The answer is as nebulous as a painted portrait of Jesus Christ.  We do not know what he actually “physically” looked like, but we do know “spiritually” and even “emotionally” what that looks like? Then why do we as a church so often look at the “physical” appearance of what a mature Christian looks like rather than developing the “spiritual” or “emotional” Christian which we are supposedly preparing and equipping?  I suppose, because of the diversity of the human experience we all come out differently.

So maybe we need to learn to accept our diversity.  Maybe we should first see what the DNA make up of a person is before we try to transform them into “little boxes”, cloned images of what we think a Christian should appear or be. One person’s DNA may hold the passion and drive for the lost as a predominate gene, while another may possess the drive to care for others, to shepherd as their predominate gene.  Another may find the combination of spiritual molecules to make them strong in teaching, or the prophetic, or even the apostolic.  Each Christian has a different drive, a different bent, a different spiritual personality that still exemplifies Jesus, but in diverse ways with diverse degrees of emphasis.  The key to “equipping the saints” is giving them, “equipping them”, with what they need to be successful on their spiritual journey.

As the Body of Christ, the evangelist needs the equipping of a pastor/shepherd to nurture their spiritual growth and the growth of those they “birth” into the kingdom as well as a teacher to anchor their work and drive in the Logos Word, the written Word, making it a prophetic Rhema Word, a living Word, while being guided by the apostolic over sight of what and how the Holy Spirit is doing in one’s life in edifying the Body of Christ.  The laying down of the lives of the pastor/shepherd, teacher, prophet, and apostle around the evangelist is the “equipping” of that person, giving them what they need to have a mature, balanced ministry in the kingdom of God, the body of Christ, the Church.

The “equipping of the saint for the work of service” can be diversely different for every believer in Christ that could be a logistical nightmare for the way we do church today, but is not difficult for the Holy Spirit who sees over the entire body of Christ, individually and corporately.

With the proper preparation needed, and the equipping of the five fold around them, believers in Christ can be “released” to allow their passion, their drive, their point of view, their motivation to arise, develop, and to flourish. This step is crucial in the development of every believer!

What does a “prepared” “equipped” believer in Jesus Christ, a mature Christian look like?  Because of the diversity of God’s DNA, it may look as varied as each grain of sand in the ocean!  That is why we need the Holy Spirit who is in each individual who professes Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord to arise and bring out the uniqueness of each individual to be combined with his corporate ability of unify and develop his Church into the image of Jesus Christ to be the agent, the teacher, the drive behind the development of believer in Jesus Christ individually and the Church as a whole corporately.  Only then will the diversity of the body of Christ be accepted, respected, and released!

What Does “Equipping The Saints” Mean? – Part IV

 The Only Way To Be Released Is To Release

One of the hardest things about parenting is releasing!  What! They’re 16 already, and its natural to want to be released from the “bondage” of going everywhere with your parents and counting on them for everything! They want the car keys, a driver’s license, to drive on their own? If we want them to be successful adults, we have to release them!  What! An 18 year old going off to college where there is drinking, partying, peer socializing in ways that were taboo when they lived at home! Can they morally stand on their own?  Be responsible enough to make 8 o’clock classes, develop their own proper study habits, hygiene habits? Release them!  I think it is harder for the parent experiencing an empty nest, than it is for the yearling to establish his/her own nest.  Both need to release each other: the caregiver from constantly giving, and the recipient from always receiving. It is a process called “growing up”!

Paul even is fascinated by what it takes for an immature Christian to “Grow Up” in the faith. When they are young in the faith, new in the experience of faith walking, they often stumble as new walkers do when first learning to stand on their own.  Paul calls them “carnal Christians”, those who would rather remain spoon-fed, diaper changed, cuddled and pampered rather than “growing up” and standing on their own.

The key to a Christian believer “growing up” from the perspective of the five fold who has birth them (evangelist), help them develop and grow in the faith (pastor/shepherd), taught them the Word, the Bible (teacher), guided them into how to hear from the Lord on their own (prophet), and help them to see the big picture of the Church, the family of God, as a corporate group (apostle) needing one another, is to “RELEASE”.  If we have done a proper job of “preparing” and “equipping”, no one can stand on their own unless “released”!

If we have become “enablers”, it is difficult to release, because who will do it for them if they cannot do it themselves?  Most church leadership looks at their members as never being “mature” enough to be released, thus constantly enabling them, then wonder why they haven’t grown or become independent from them! In spite of having a “heavy foot” on the gas pedal, a parent has to “release” their son/daughter to drive, even if it takes an accident to teach them why they need safe driving habits. Who hasn’t done “really stupid things” in their 20’s that they never want to admit about in their 40’s or 50’s as part of their learning process of “standing alone”, “growing up”!

When Jesus “discipled” his 12 disciples, they acted like 20 year olds, fighting for positions, trying to figure things out practically on their own, inserting foot in mouth, and often lacking the “faith” needed for the coming call.  Jesus, the Teacher, the Shepherd, had not only called them, birthed them, their Evangelist, he now was in the process of nurturing and developing them.  He was preparing them, equipping them, for what lay ahead. He didn’t freak out over their falls, their failures, their short comings, he kept pouring himself into them, willing to lay down his life for them.  He was “preparing” them!  Once he ascended into heaven, he then “equipped” them, sending His Holy Spirit. Now they were ready!

On Pentecost he RELEASED them! They were on their own, now grown up!  They were no longer called disciples nor thought of as disciples; they were apostles and began to walk, think, and act like apostles, standing tall, standing on their own.  They had been released, and were now called to “see over” what the Holy Spirit was doing to the Body of Christ, His Church, His Bride, for the purpose of “preparing” and “equipping” others to be “released” for the “kingdom of God” was no longer at hand; it was in full “Acts-tion”! They were released, a live moving forward. 

The book of Acts does not record the stupid 20-year old actions of their Pre-Pentecost experience, but records the “Acts-ions” of what they are doing as “grown up” Christians!

That is the goal of the five fold: To help the believers “Grow Up”!

And the only way to allow a child, a teen, an adolescent, to “grow up” is to eventually “release” them!  The final step to the “equipping the saints for the work of service” is the “releasing” of them.  It’s a “hands-off” policy, so the hand of God can be on them for the rest of their Christian lives of “service”.

What Does “Equipping The Saints” Mean? – Part III

Then How Is A Teacher To Be An Equipper?

After reading my last blog, you might have asked, “What is the role of the teacher in the five fold if they are ‘NOT THE TEACHER’”?  It is a different mindset than what the Westernized intellect has established.  The key may be found in how we define “equipping”?

Hypothetically, let’s say you want to “explore the North Pole”, the top of the world.  How do we prepare you for the trip; how do we equip you?  Well, Westernized intellectual thought would say to study, research, dig out all the information we can find about the North Pole, sub-zero weather conditions, climate, etc.  We want to “know”, intellectually, everything we can!  We go to school, earn a Bachelor’s, Master’s, even a Doctorate Degree in a specified area so that we become experts in the field. We rent a dog sled, because that is how early explorers got there, and go on our journey only to die by hardships; we freeze to death!  We knew everything about the journey, but did not “equip” ourselves for survival!  It takes more than intellectually “knowing” about a topic, but actually “experiencing” a topic.  If we survived enough to recuperate to go on a second expedition, we would invest in proper parkas, insulated boots and specialized gloves, proper heated, motorized equipment instead of dog sleds, etc. We will have learned from “experience” what is needed to succeed. It is a harsh climate out there! Those who follow us can read our written works, our journals, study our efforts, but it would not hurt them to call, visit, interview, and ask in depth questions from us about our “experience”.  Even with that, until they “experience” the frigid North for themselves will they truly be able to relate, to “know” what it is all about.

So it is in “learning” about faith in our spiritual journey.  Even though we have written accounts from the patriarch, Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob, and accounts of Moses’ journey, Samson’s story, Daniel’s faith adventures, the many prophet’s journey, the disciples walk, and even the church’s history in the book of Acts, we still do not fully understand the truths these men have learned until we “experience it ourselves”!  That is where the rubber meets the road; where it all is transformed from theory to actuality.

The drive of a five fold teacher is to “prepare” a person for their personal journey that he is about to “experience”.  To “equip” the person with all he needs for when he is ready to do the journey alone.   Walking with a brother/sister in the Lord, beside him, next to him through life’s experiences, teaching Kingdom of God principles to practical life applications is Jesus method of teaching his disciples. When the teacher is gone, hopefully you can stand on your own for he has “prepared” you to do so.  It is more than mentoring, for IJohn 3:16 says we ought to “lay down our lives for our brethren”.  I have had several Christian mentors in my life, but they were not willing to sacrificially lay down their lives for me when needed. Jesus, the ultimate teacher, was ready to “lay down his life” so his pupils, students, disciples, apostles, so they could stand on their own after his resurrection and ascension. He had prepared them.

He also “equipped” them.  He gave them everything that they needed upon his departure to stand on their own.  The same Spirit that descended upon Him at his baptism was given to them when the Holy Spirit fell upon them!  He had been led by the Spirit to the dessert, to places of quietness, to crowded areas, places of mass ministry, to the sick to heal them, and even to Jerusalem to the Cross to fulfill his life’s calling!  He has given each Christian believer that same Holy Spirit to “teach him all things”, to “say the right things for them when needed”, to “lead them, guide them”.  He has “equipped” them with “spiritual gifts” for effective communications with Him and through Him.  He has given them “faith”, “hope”, “love”, “peace”, “spiritual armor”, purpose, etc. Like the parka’s, transportation, etc. of the North Pole explorers, Jesus has given those things not only to “survive”, but those things needed to “strive”, to succeed to the goal!

The ultimate dream of a five fold teacher is to have his students “experience” God, faith, agape love, forgiveness, repentance, righteousness, holiness, obedience, etc. on his own, using the principles of the kingdom of God that they were taught when walking next to them in life’s experiences.  When they “experience” God on their own, standing firm in the faith, moving forward in the Spirit, toward the goal, the prize of the Kingdom, Jesus, as a five fold teacher you can have the satisfaction that you have succeeded!  That is the goal of a five fold teacher.

What Does “Equipping The Saints” Mean? – Part II

 It’s Not Your Job To Be The Teacher

I have been a public school teacher for 40 years!  For forty years teaching has been my job.  That is how I financially supported my family.  It became my identity, defining who I am.  I would introduce myself as, “I am Anthony Bachman; I teach 8^th grade at Spring Grove Middle School.” Being acknowledged as “Teacher of the Year” by my school district during the last year of my career was a fulfilling honor, signifying my professional growth as a struggling “new teacher”, maturing into a master teacher, gleaning from other educators that I admired, being willing to change with the times, the climate, the new swing in educational philosophy over a four decade experience.  All that changed in June of 2011 when I retired”.  Then I discovered that I was still a teacher, in spite of my new employment status, for it was what drives me; it’s my passion.

I was fortunate having Clarence Barnhart who received the honor of being one of the Top 10 Qualifiers for Teacher Of The Year for the state of Pennsylvania as my educational mentor.  He was dynamic, creative, highly organized, motivated, loved kids, love coaching by introducing track to athletes and developing them for High School, great at intramurals, willing to try new ideas while incorporating multi-disciplines into his teaching style.  Rather than lecturing and showing filmstrips and films about the Revolutionary War, he taught students how to research history for themselves, how to dig for answers, how to discover history nationally, state wide, and even locally.  His students not only “knew” their history but “experienced” it!  That is what teaching is all about: not only knowing your subject matter, but experiencing it, living it, consuming it, making it part of your being!

As I began my retirement, I spent time reading my Bible.  I soon realized that Jesus’ model of teaching differed from my Westernized thought and experience.  Jesus never took a “course” or “earned a degree”, but confounded the spiritual intellects of his day at the Temple when he was only 12 years old!  He “earned the respect” of being called “rabbi”, teacher, for what he taught and how he taught with “power”.  Now a successful rabbi, he never founded a College or University on “new Jewish thought”, but chose 12 of the most unlikely candidates in which to invest his “teaching” career. He walked with them, discussed one on one with them, lived with them, ate with them, taught them through life experiences, even taking them to Jerusalem and to face the cross and his resurrection.  Their education continued on the Road to Emmaus, as they were explained “all things” and the fulfillment of the gospel by Jesus.  With his ascension, their education came through the Holy Spirit who taught them that in Christ there is no difference between male nor female, Jew or gentile, master or slave, nor rich or poor.  How I taught for forty years as a public school teacher was so foreign to the way Jesus taught in his three-year career as a rabbi, or teacher.  I taught academics; Jesus taught experience.  I taught intellectual theory; Jesus taught practical everyday life style.  I taught through my intellect; Jesus taught through His Spirit!

Just as I became a “professional” educator and thought my way was the correct way; it is easy to become a “professional” Christian, a member of the clergy, who can feel his way is the correct way.  We have been “trained” to think and act “professionally”, intellectually.  It’s our job!  It is the way we identify ourselves.  It becomes who we are, and if the Holy Spirit shows us that our mind set is foreign to the actual ways of teaching the gospel, we become defensive and personally assaulted. At least I did as a professional educator.  All my higher educated role models, professors, lectured “what they knew through their P.H.D. degrees” to us students; all our higher elevated role models, senior pastors, Bishops, etc., preach, religiously lecture, to us “what they know through their theological doctorate degrees”. Their methods of teaching are the same, yet “lecturing” has been proven one of the most ineffective ways of teaching! Having students “experience” their material is far more effective.

In “equipping the saints for the work of service,” we often feel we, the teachers in the Church, have to teach the materials that we are most comfortable with in our own faith journeys.  Here is the hard lesson that I have had to learn: I AM NOT the teacher; Jesus, His Holy Spirit, IS the teacher. Jesus, upon his ascension to heaven to sit at the right hand of God, promised to send the Holy Spirit “who will teach you all things”. He is the teacher. Jesus continually taught through example while being a human on earth. His teaching HAS NOT ceased, for His Holy Spirit has been sent to CONTINUE the job.  We need to get out of the way and allow the Holy Spirit to teach!

If someone opens the Bible on their own, the Holy Spirit can teach them its truth; it is called “revelation”. He, the Holy Spirit, is the “revealer of truth”!  Some of the best teaching comes through private daily devotions when it is only the individual believer with the Holy Spirit reading the Word, the Bible, together privately.  The Holy Spirit “recalls” those passages in the believers every day life, making the Logos Word, the written Word, the Rhema Word, the living word.  Not only does the Holy Spirit help the believer in Jesus to “hear” the Word in their private time together, but calls them to be “doers” of the Word, experiencing it!

Bottom Line: If we are to be teachers helping to “equip the saints for the work of service”, we need to teach them how to hear the Holy Spirit on their own, how to be obedient to what has been “revealed”, seen & heard, and learn to walk out their faith on their own, relying only on the Holy Spirit.  Then we have “equipped” them properly.  It has nothing to do with the intellect; it has everything to do with “obedience” to the Holy Spirit, so let’s allow the HOLY SPIRIT to be the TEACHER! It’s just NOT our job! It’s HIS!

What Does “Equipping The Saints” Mean? – Part I

Our Spiritual Library’s Story

I’ve been thinking about what does it mean to “equip the saints for the work of service”?  In most Westernize churches that means intellectual training: reading books, taking courses, and holding intellectual discussions.  If I am in a men’s ministry group, I will probably have to read a book called “10 Ways To Be A Better Christian Man” or “How To Be A Better Christian Husband”. If in a small home group atmosphere, I may be asked to read a book that every small group is reading to keep the message consistent throughout the body or read articles that complement the Pastor’s sermons.  If in a youth group, “How To Win Your School For Christ” may be the reading of choice. If in a women’s group, “Thousands Of Ways To Submit To Your Husband” could be another satirical title. If being a new attender, you might be asked to read, “What We Believe” book, or if you are a developing church leader, you might be asked to read “25 Steps Towards Righteous Leadership”!  If you attend a mid-week service, you might read “Missions, A Call To The World” to keep you informed of the church’s missionary endeavors.  If you are an “active” member, you could be reading multiple books at one time!  Then when meeting as a small group, you discuss whatever book you have read: “meet & discuss” sessions.  Application of what you have read will probably be done on your own, but at least you got to discuss the matter.

Being a Christian of over 50 years, I now have accumulated a large library of books (most of which I have now discarded), have taken a multitude of courses, have sat through thousands of teachings and sermons, have taken online/workbook individualized courses, have attended a multitude of conferences, to specifically train me for what?  When I get to heaven, will I have to read “10 Steps To Get Into Heaven” so Peter and I can discuss it before allowing me to enter?

The Bible says that we are not only to be hearers of the Word, but doers! Unfortunately, very seldom has reading a Christian themed book lead me to become a doer of its material.  I have become “aware” of its topics, “informed” of its topics, and maybe even “intellectually stimulated” by its themes, but usually not motivated to actually “do it”!  Why does almost everything in Western Christendom have to be intellectualized?  The Jewish culture, which is where God decided to immerse Himself, operates out of the heart, the emotion. King David is known as a man with God’s heart, not God’s head.  His son, Solomon, is known as the intellect, constantly trying to intellectualize his faith unlike his father. Knowing God with your heart means experiencing God!  Experience goes beyond just intellectualizing it, for if you feel it, you “do it” in order to “know it”!

Maybe to start out asking how we are “to equip the saints for the work of service”, we should ask how we can help people “experience” God for themselves, and stand beside them, behind them, next to them in “their” walk of faith, in “their” unique faith journey.  What can we do to “support” them in their walk, their growth, their journey?  Finally, can we “release” them to “do it” on their own, without our guidance, in other words, “grow up spiritually”, become mature in the faith?  How can we teach them to depend on the faithfulness of the Father, depend on Jesus, depend on the Holy Spirit rather than depending on an older mature Christian or a professional staff member?  Can we “release” them so we can move on as well as they move on in our faith walks?

Being an English teacher who emphasized reading good meaningful literature, it is ironic that I am saying that we need to at some time place aside the books written by other authors, and begin to write about our “Acts” of faith, our spiritual walk, what we are “doing” for the kingdom of God. This is not to put us under legalism of a “works” kick, but to free us to walks the journeys we are equipped to walk. 

In order to understand how “to equip the saints for works of service”, I propose that we need to first understand that this journey will NOT just be just an intellectual journey, but a journey of the heart, a journey of our emotions, a journey of experiencing our faith, a faith journey in Jesus, lead by the Holy Spirit.  We will continue to walk in this journey in the next series of blogs!