The gift of Pastor/Shepherd
Primary Text: Ephesians 4:11-14
The gift of Pastor/Shepherd is the ability to assume responsibility for the spiritual growth and Christian community of a group of believers, and its purpose is to provide loving leadership and encouragement for people within the body of Christ to grow spiritually and be built into the local church.
Cautions about this gift include:
•Anything less than 100% sincerity in encouraging people in their faith.
•Having a sense of superiority about people who are less mature spiritually.
•Becoming cynical about the motives of other people.
• Shepherding people with the wrong motives.
Evidence that you might have this gift might be:
You receive joy from seeing others walk more closely with Jesus Christ.
•You care deeply about the spiritual welfare of the people in your local church.
•You are loyal and dedicated to your local church.
•You have the gift of Teaching and/or Exhortation
•You are process oriented and people are your focus.
Obviously, this would be a good gift for your pastor to have, and certainly it would be handy for Elders (or whatever you call them in your locality) to have, yet it isn’t always the case for everyone in leadership. We need to remember that Church is a team sport, and within any local leadership, there will be multiple gifts that aren’t all held by one person. I’ve been in church leadership a long time, and I don’t have this one, but one of the others always did, and there were plenty of times when someone with this gift would help me to see that I was about to trample over someone in my desire to get things moving, and thus we made a good team. Yep, the other guys might get a nudge from me to keep on target, and I might get a nudge from them to be sensitive to the needs and feelings of others: Teamwork!
The gift of Apostleship
Primary Text: Ephesians 4:11-14; 1 Corinthians 12:28 and Acts 15:22-35
The gift of Apostleship is the ability to provide spiritual leadership over a number of pastors and churches, resulting in tangible fruit for ministry. Its purpose is to strategically and spiritually lead, equip and organize others for the specific mission of building the local church.
This is not to be confused with an “Apostle” in the New Testament church in the sense of the “Twelve” who first traveled with Christ, or with Paul who was later recognized by Divine action as an Apostle. This type of Apostle is described in 2 Corinthians 12:12, and is NOT what we are talking about here. In addition, any position that is associated with the line of “Apostolic Succession” as used in the Catholic tradition, or anyone who has taken upon himself this title in a manner related in any way to Apostolic Succession, is outside the scope of this study and not what we are talking about here.
Where I come from, this is most often the function found in a “Church Planter,” In many denominations with a formal structure of hierarchy, what we are talking about here would be most often found in someone (hopefully) with a title like “bishop.”
The function of apostle as seen in Acts 15:22-35:
- Selecting ministers to send to other churches.
- Spiritual authority and guidance.
- Develop Biblical policy for the church.
Yes, the word “apostle” creates some confusion in our time!
Cautions about the gift:
• Misusing the authority granted to you.
•Following your own agenda rather than God’s.
Evidence that you might have this gift might include:
• You have the spiritual gifts of Leadership and Faith.
•You have an unusual anointing on your leadership.
•You have the spiritual gifts of Administration and Wisdom.
•You possess a desire to pioneer and establish new ministries in churches.
•The body of Christ has and continues to affirm you in or toward a leadership role.
Next time we’ll take a look at Missionary and Prophet, see you then!
Life Project Blog 
Love the teaching as it seems today there are many who are afraid to tackle the subject of the ministry and spiritual gifts. Back in the 70’s it was taught a lot and then seems to have disappeared except for a few churches here and there.
Man has a nature that strongly covets power and authority and it isn’t any different in the church world today than it was in the “church” world in which Christ Jesus walked. The TRUTH of the Word of God still needs to be taught in it’s whole!
I love that you pointed out that many are confused with the “titles” that the Scriptures speak of and how because of our modern ways, many of the ministry gifts are not understood. A prime example I love to give in my teaching is the different ideas used to denote a Prophet and Prophecy in the modern church.
I have found that the main reason is that in general, there are too many of God’s children who rely wholly upon the Pastor or Teacher to do the work for them that the Lord states in Scripture should be our individual responsibility, “Study to show YOURSELVES approved….” At times if I dwell on it too much, I feel a deep spirit of sadness and if you and I and other leads feel that “wounding” in the spirit, how must our Redeemer and Savior feel?!
I’ve been feeling pretty good the last several days and have been trying to make the rounds of the sites I follow and it has felt good to feel the keys under my fingers. Fibromyalgia at times hinders me from typing, but I believe the Lord IS doing a work. Anyway, I get encouraged and inspired by my brother’s and sister’s insights and teachings!! God bless you continually as you serve (minister) to our Lord and to all who read your inspired teachings.
Thank you Pastor Roland for your encouragement and insight; you’ve made so many excellent points I hardly know where to begin, other than just to say thank you once again!
Excellent comment on a fine post.
I won’t try to tackle all the points you mentioned, but I do wish to express the fact I share your concern over the general ignorance of scripture.
I suppose it does no good to place the blame for this problem, but the solution lies with parents.
If parents want their children to be steeped in the word of God, they have to take full responsibility for the education of their children. Unfortunately, they have given that responsibility over to politicians, people nobody trusts. If that doesn’t show a scary lack of wisdom, it is hard to imagine what would.
What does taking responsibility for the education of our children entail? We have to set an example by studying ourselves. We also have take the matter of educating our children as seriously as we do when we buy a house (or a car). We have to shop. We choose the school. We verify the curriculum contains what we want. We make certain the teachers love Jesus and are competent to teach the subjects we want them to teach. And politicians do none of that well.
So then you are suggesting that parents actually take some effort in these areas!? That would surely shock our modern sensibilities! 🙂
That is one of the reasons why so many of my prays go up for the children in the world today and sadly especially in the U.S. We should know better as we have been the most blessed and yet so many U.S. parents today state that “when my child is old enough, they can make their own decision” and that is exactly what the enemy of our souls wants, because by the time a child is old enough, they have no foundation of which to base any decision on. I truly am fearful for our children as we are talking about eternal consequences. Thanks for your reply and I’ll stop by your site sometime later today! God bless and keep praying!
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Hi Don … been following your blog for awhile now, and have benefited from your obvious understanding of God’s Word. Because of the “cautions” you cite, I prefer not to use any titles at all, other than we are “helpers of their joy” to our brethren. We already have our “Apostle and High Priest” in Jesus Christ Heb. 3:1. He is our “Head” Eph. 1:22, our Chief Shepherd, Good Shepherd, Shepherd and Bishop of our souls, Author and Finisher of our faith, ect … It has been my bitter experience that the use of titles by men leads to huge ego problems, and over-reliance on men and their assumed “authority” over their brethren. Christ only has been given “all authority in heaven and on earth”, and when brethren come to understand that, and rely on HIM in His rightful offices and responsibilities, they become more firmly rooted in the faith, because their trust is in HIM, and not in me.
We are of the same mind on this Dan! Thanks for sharing your insight; I hope all will take this to heart
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