HELEN SANDERS
7-10-2026
THE FIVEFOLD MINISTRY

You may have heard the term, “fivefold ministry” and wondered exactly what it meant. We see the answer in Ephesians 4. Paul is speaking about unity in chapter 4. He writes that there is one body. It isn’t Methodist, Messianic Jewish, Pentecostal, Baptist, Presbyterian, or any other denomination. Any person that is born again is in ONE BODY [Eph. 4:4]. It is not divided into denominations.

He goes on to say how that ONE BODY of Christ develops and comes into unity. In verse 8 he speaks about Jesus giving gifts unto men. Then he reiterates what those gifts are in verse 11, being: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. These gifts are not given so someone gets puffed up and thinks they are better than anyone else. They have a purpose, and that is to serve.

In verses 12-14 he gives the reason for the gifts. “For the perfecting [equipping] of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying [building up] of the body of Christ: 13 Till WE ALL COME INTO THE UNITY of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight [tricks] of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.”

Without these five gifts, apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher, the body of Christ will never come into unity. They are needed now more than ever. Any church that believes these gifts are no longer valid disagrees with scripture. We cannot have unity and maturity in the body of Christ without them.