In the last blog, we talked about what it means for churches to be built from a “Bottom-up” biblical perspective. We have apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. How do they fit together to build the foundation of the Body of Christ, that includes ALL members, not just themselves?
Understanding The Shift
After the Holy Spirit’s release in Acts 2, the Bible’s religious structure changed; it was no longer a “top-down” leadership model. Peter, along with all the Jewish believers, had to shift into the new way of doing “church.” The Jewish hierarchy included a High Priest along with several priests who attended the sacrifices at the temple. Once Jesus was crucified, their system changed. No longer were sacrifices required, which pretty much brought that system to an end. Because not all Jews believed Jesus was the Messiah, sacrifices continued until the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD.
The old model was replaced with what the modern-day church calls “The Five-Fold Ministry” of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.
The Early Church
The church leadership in the New Testament undergoes a dramatic shift. The eleven disciples (remember, Judas killed himself) have now become apostles. The Greek word for disciple is mathetes, which means “learner.” In other words, the eleven had graduated from being students to being leaders. What did that look like? I’m glad you asked!
Throughout the Book of Acts, the apostles teach, heal, collect money, and distribute food. In Acts 6, a problem arises when Hellenistic Jewish widows are upset with the native Jewish widows, believing they have been overlooked in the daily distribution of food.
The twelve apostles (Mattias replaced Judas) summoned their disciples:
2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables.” (Acts 6:2 NIV underline/italics mine)
Did you catch it? The apostles were now discipling the next generation of believers, and they called ALL of them together. The chapter continues:
3 Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”
5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. (Acts 6: 3-5 NIV underline/italics mine).
Those in charge of the early church (the apostles) didn’t think they knew everything. They knew they needed to delegate some of their workload, and they had no issues asking those whom they were teaching what they thought. They also trusted their disciples to choose those with the Spirit and wisdom.
This pattern happens more than once. Another great example is when Peter visits Cornelius’ house. Understand, this was big doings! At this time, the Jews believed what they were experiencing was only for the Jews. Cornelius was an Italian soldier who pursued the God of the Jews. Long story short, Peter has a visit from God, who tells him to go with the men looking for him. At that time, Jews were not allowed to eat with Gentiles (non-Jews). Cornelius and his entire household received the Holy Spirit, just as the Jewish people did in Acts 2.
Peter returned to Jerusalem to meet with the apostles and Jewish believers. At first, they were not happy, but when Peter explained all that had happened, the group began to praise God for what He was doing with the Gentiles. Peter wasn’t “so high up” that he refused to take counsel from others, and the group listened to his report and realized that their initial reaction was incorrect. See people being included and submitting to one another? That’s the church I want to go to!
All Aboard!
While we do see the above-listed titles in churches today, that doesn’t mean the people who hold them actually function well in those positions. Often, churches create titles to distinguish who is in leadership, but they don’t always have the gifting to fill those roles.
For example, I once attended a very traditional church led by a pastor. Pastors, by definition, are shepherds of small groups (more on that in another blog). Every time the pastor changed, the church’s vision shifted to align with the new pastor’s giftings. We had a pastor who was truly an evangelist, and another who was absolutely a teacher. They don’t always work well in leadership. Why? God created them to work together!
Those five giftings are needed to build the foundation. If you’re missing one, you are missing a piece of the building’s base. One gift is not higher or greater than another. The Bible is very clear that they should submit to one another. Someone who isn’t an evangelist may not be the best person to tell the evangelist how they should use their gifting. That person needs to submit to what the evangelist needs and figure out how, and whether, they should help them. More on this next time.
Until next time under the palm, be blessed!
