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EPHESIANS 4:11-13 NKJV11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.All of the five fold ministers function like coaches - they demonstrate how the work of the ministry is done, so that the saints may be equipped to do the work of the ministry. God's plan is multiplication of His Kingdom. God's foot soldiers are His people. It is God's will that none should perish, not one.The saying is true, "Shepherds don't have sheep; shepherds tend sheep. Sheep have sheep!" The secret to church growth is equipping the saints to do the work of the ministry, carried along, empowered by the Holy Spirit. The secret to building up the body of Christ is an accessible five fold ministry. The key to seeing the body of Christ united in the faith, and in knowledge, and with a maturity approaching that of Jesus Christ, is the operations of the five fold ministry.The five fold ministers are a wonderful blessing and aid to the Body of Christ. Most exponents are genuine. However there are a few who claim to be five fold ministers who are not. The Body of Christ need not be troubled by these impostors. Within these pages you will find such quantities of truth as to have received a vaccination forever against error, at least where these ministries are concerned.My aim in writing this book is to equip the saints with a thorough knowledge of what each of these ministries looks like, and the outcomes they can expect in each case. After reading this book even a new Christian should be able to discern between what is true, and what is false. False apostles, false prophets, false evangelists, false shepherds and false teachers are not numerous, but they do exist. So if I can borrow an argument the apostle Paul uses with respect to the spiritual gifts: God would not have us ignorant.1 CORINTHIANS 13:4-8a,13 RSV4 Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; 5 it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends ... 13 So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.The word for love used in the King James Version in the above passage is "charity" and on this occasion that translation is helpful. That is to say, when encountering a five fold minister for the first time our attitude should be charitable. We ought to be believing the best, and hoping the best where that ministry is concerned, measuring their output against the Word of God.
