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Unless otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2010 by Biblica, Inc.™ www.xulonpress.com. Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version. Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Emphasis within Scripture quotations is the author’s own.

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul stated that Jesus has given His church a set of “gifts”—apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers—to equip the people of God to fulfill their purpose and mission in the earth, ultimately glorifying Him through love, maturity, and unity (Eph. 4:11-16).

The teachings and opinions on the subject of the “fivefold ministry” are both extensive and convoluted. Many of them have been wonderful, unifying contributions to the body of Christ, while others have repeatedly been used as divisive tools that generate fear, frustration, and control. These misuses have led to extremes such as rejecting the validity of modern-day apostles and prophets, or constructing oppressive hierarchies that over-empower particular individuals in religious networks or organizations. It is vital that we sort out the misunderstandings, confusion, and misapplications of these gifts to the church and restore them to their proper place and function in church government. Without these gifts, the saints will not be properly equipped.

We who are leaders in the body of Christ need some serious adjustments in the way we think about the purpose and structure of government in the church. First, we must return to the ultimate purpose Jesus revealed in the prayer He taught us to pray: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). Our role as leaders is to equip the body of Christ—not to give money, build great programs, and live morally upright lives—but to make earth look more and more like heaven.

Next, we need to realign our governmental structure with the Scriptural designation of who comes “first.” Paul wrote: “And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that workers of miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues” (1 Cor. 12:28). Throughout most of the church today, we have determined that we will have “first” pastors and teachers, then administrative leaders and evangelists. Our set of priorities flies in the face of what “God has appointed in the church.” We carry both an ignorance and arrogance that somehow the five gifts of Christ are no longer applicable or useful, and that we can narrow our leadership roles down to the three we think we can use as we build the church. This works to a certain degree as we spread the gospel around the world. All it costs us is heaven.

In short, Jesus taught us to prioritize heaven on earth, and to build a leadership structure that would work as a receptacle for heaven on earth. I don’t know where we lost this focus and understanding, but I am excited to see it being reestablished all over the world today. It amazes me that Jesus would trust us with such valuable opportunities and resources at this place in time and history. There is no greater privilege than to be trusted by Christ with His Spirit and His Bride, and to co-labor with Him to establish His kingdom in the earth.

Equipping the Equippers is a book for our time, and is right on time. Dr. Jonathan Welton takes us on a Scriptural journey through the functions of each of these five gifts of Christ and how they work together, and shows us how to apply the useful structure in the modern-day church. He is deeply thorough and clear in presenting a teaching that I hope leads to paradigm shifts throughout the body of Christ. Whether you are considering a fresh perspective on the subject or looking for ammunition to further your case, this is an excellent book.

The green military jeep came to a screeching halt in the mud outside a soggy tent. The general’s boots splashed as he stepped from the jeep into the darkness. He entered the tent to find five officers standing around a large map stretched across a table. The officers snapped to attention.

The general wasted no time. “Tell me what is going on here!” he ordered. “Headquarters keeps getting reports that you have a brutally high level of casualties and your units are dysfunctional!”

One of the weary officers exchanged glances with the men and women standing near him. He coughed and then looked back at the general: “Do we have permission to speak freely, sir?”

“Permission granted,” the general answered, his face a mask of sternness.

“Well sir, honestly … we were not equipped for this. We were taught to be shepherds. We can fix marriages, help raise godly children, and teach people how to live healthy Christian lives, but we weren’t built for frontline warfare. I don’t even know what I am doing here! I am constantly asked to do things that are beyond my training and capacity. I am shell-shocked and living on the edge of burnout.”

The general’s expression softened. He scanned the faces of the officers standing before him. In a less harsh voice, he asked, “Does this represent what is happening here?”

They nodded sheepishly and one said, “More or less.”

The general clasped his hands behind his back. “Where are the prophets who are meant to be in this unit to regularly bring communication from headquarters and encourage you to keep pushing forward?”

The officers looked at each other for a long moment. A woman finally spoke, “We typically have a roving prophet visit us once a year—sometimes less.”

The general asked, “And the teachers who are meant to bring fresh bread and cutting-edge strategies for advancing the kingdom?”

Another officer answered, “We sometimes read their books—if we can find the time …” His voice trailed off, and he stared down toward the battle map.

“And the evangelists?” said the general. “Please tell me that you have some of those to rescue the captives and bring in new soldiers?”

“Evangelists? Not really. Most of our people are afraid of the darkness. We get together and sing, take offerings, listen to familiar messages, and hope reinforcements will come.”

The general gave a resigned nod. “And I’m guessing you have no apostles either. Am I right?”

A woman nodded. “Correct, sir. You are the first we have seen in decades.”

The general leaned forward. “Do you know what an apostle does?”

“No sir, not really.”

“Well, ultimately, I am here to serve you so that you can best serve the kingdom. To implement my advice, you will need to make some dramatic adjustments, but you will end up better for it.” He looked each officer in the eye in turn. “I will bring in my team, which consists of five types of leaders. We will raise up prophets from within your unit who can communicate direction from headquarters and speak life and courage into your people. I will train teachers, who will feed your people and make them strong and healthy. I will build evangelists, who will push everyone out of their foxholes and on to the battlefield to advance the kingdom.”

As the general spoke, the officers’ stance slowly changed from weary to invigorated. In unison, they said, “Yes, sir!”

The general nodded. “By the time I am done here, the shepherd casualty rate will have dropped dramatically, and you will have the strongest and most well-rounded soldiers available in the kingdom. It will take a major overhaul, but we can get back to the original blueprint and set up your outpost correctly. Thank you for allowing me to bring these adjustments to you. It is my pleasure to serve you. Let’s begin.”

The officers breathed a collective sigh of relief. They had been waiting decades for new apostles to appear. The last wave of apostles had flunked out of basic training when they tried to control people rather than humbly serving them. For years, rumors had circulated that a new batch of apostles had actually been released into the battlefront. Now they had finally arrived, and together, they could begin to advance the kingdom.

Modern Christianity has struggled with the reality that God is releasing apostles in the current church system. Yet this is not a new problem. I believe that every generation has struggled with this same problem, because the apostolic grace is unique, and it creates challenges for current systems, which may have become more cozy than effective. For the sake of time, I will not be reviewing how every generation of church history has responded to the new apostles God has released, but I do want to look at how the very first generation of apostles encountered this exact challenge:

In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) and said, “Brothers and sisters, the Scripture had to be fulfilled in which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus. He was one of our number and shared in our ministry.”

(With the payment he received for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out. Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

“For,” said Peter, “it is written in the Book of Psalms: ‘May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it,’ and, ‘May another take his place of leadership.’

“Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus was living among us, beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.”

So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.” Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles. (Acts 1:15-26)

Peter quoted from two proof texts in Psalms to show that Judas’ death was predicted and that he should be replaced. Notice that the eleven apostles had two qualified candidates in front of them, yet from their perspective they only needed one, because they were simply trying to get back to the number twelve. Later in Acts, the number ends up at eleven again because of the death of the first apostle, James:

It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. (Acts 12:1-3)

When James was put to death, the other eleven did not reconvene to replace him and return to twelve apostles. Peter did not stand up again and quote from Psalms, and no one predicted that James would be martyred. I believe that what we see in the original group of apostles, which I refer to as the Jerusalem apostles, is a system that would have died out. After replacing Judas, the group had no plan for implementing new apostles. Even in Acts 1, when they had two qualified candidates, they only chose one! Eventually, all twelve apostles would have been martyred without having raised up new ones. But the Holy Spirit had a different plan.

Over in Antioch, the Holy Spirit began to speak through the prophets and teachers about raising up two new apostles. This not only replaced the martyred James; it actually moved the number of overall apostles to thirteen:

Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. (Acts 13:1-3)

The original model is straightforward: apostles create apostles. Jesus, “our apostle” (Heb. 3:1) created the twelve (Luke 6:1-3), and the eleven raised up Matthias (Acts 1:26). Yet the Jerusalem apostles weren’t raising up any new apostles. Therefore, the Holy Spirit went to the prophets and teachers in Antioch and had them raise up the new apostles. Not only did the Holy Spirit break the barrier of the limited number of apostles by expanding it to thirteen, but these new apostles could also carry a revelation to the Gentiles, unencumbered by prejudice. We read of the new apostles, Paul and Barnabas, carrying the gospel all throughout the known world, while the Jerusalem apostles struggled with the uncircumcised receiving the gospel and were weighed down with an old perspective. These new apostles were able to carry a grace that was different from the grace the old ones carried:

“On the contrary, they recognized that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised. For God, who was at work in Peter as an apostle to the circumcised, was also at work in me as an apostle to the Gentiles.” (Gal. 2:7-8)

Nowadays, the Holy Spirit has been speaking through prophets and teachers, declaring that a new move of apostles will be released in the earth. We have been seeing some of these apostles coming forth in the last two decades, but we have also seen a lot of confusion, mistakes, and abuse. It is with this new batch of grace-dipped, kingdom officers in mind that I write this book to help equip the equippers.

The goal of being a follower of Jesus is to be like Jesus. “Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did” (1 John 2:6). Yet when a book is written about the fivefold ministry (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers), it is easy to get lost in the weeds of church government or hierarchy. Somehow, we focus on the present reality of church politics and forget the New Testament models that have been handed down to us—even forgetting our ultimate goal of being like Jesus.

This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have books about the fivefold ministry; it simply means that we need those books to remember that the purpose of five-fold ministry is, in fact, to help us become like Jesus.

Jesus Himself is an apostle: “fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest” (Heb. 3:1b). As an apostle, Jesus replicated Himself in twelve apostles (Luke 6:12-13). None of the original foundational leaders were prophets, evangelists, pastors, or teachers; they were all apostles.

Then, on Pentecost, when the first 3,000 people accepted salvation through Jesus, we read: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:42).

This is the foundation: Jesus the Apostle is the model, the twelve apostles were the replicas of His model, and the early church was built on the model of the twelve (Acts 2:42). Paul later writes that the church is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone” (Eph. 2:20). Everything that flowed out of the original foundation of the early church was “apostolic”—meaning “apostle-like”—in nature. New covenant prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers only came along later.

The apostles are not only the foundation, but also the builders: “By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3:10-11).

If we are going to build with care, as Paul admonishes the Corinthians, we must build on the foundation of Jesus (the Apostle) and the other apostles. So everything that the modern church does must be built on an apostolic foundation. If we continue building on the pastoral foundation that tradition has handed us, that foundation could be seriously deficient and unable to support proper structure.

Many of the other books on the fivefold ministry have focused their argument on the fact that apostles and prophets still exist in the modern church. They have debated for the right to actually call someone an apostle, and they have aimed to give a definition of what an apostle is or looks like.

My starting point is that yes, apostles do exist today, and yes, if someone is functioning as an apostle, then they should be recognized as such. We also certainly need a better definition of these gifts and how they function.¹ However, I want to move beyond arguments about the nitty-gritty of the fivefold ministry.

Here are my five goals for this book:

At some points, I may seem to be focused exclusively on apostles, yet my larger focus is all five graces: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. However, the New Testament gives us abundant information about the apostles and comparatively little information about the other four. Also, the others were operating on the foundation of the apostles and prophets; therefore we must understand that foundation if we are to get the other ones correct.

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (Eph. 4:11-16)

Just as we find lists of the nine gifts of the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:1-11) and the nine fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23), here in this passage of Ephesians, we find nine fruit of the fivefold ministry in full operation:

6.Not falling into false teaching: “no longer … tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming” (4:14).

7.Being a mature representation: “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ” (4:15).

At the core of these nine fruit we find common themes: unity, maturity, knowledge, right relationships, and every part being involved. This is the fruit the fivefold produces, and it is what every healthy church leader desires to see in their congregation. Why should we spend time focused on these five graces? Because they produce what the church longs to see. They are like five farmers producing five different crops, but when they are all operating, the five harvests are the ingredients that combine into the perfect “nutrition” for sustaining the church. The Christlikeness that we desire to see in the church—and that the world is waiting for from the church—cannot be grown, harvested, and produced if we lack farmers in our midst.

… to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Eph. 4:12-13)

In Ephesians 4:12, the word translated “equip” is the Greek word katartizo, “a medical term meaning to put bones back together.”² Just as a chiropractor aligns bones, so the fivefold equips the body of Christ by bringing its members into alignment.

Not every person is a chiropractor, and not every Christian is called to adjust the bones in the body of Christ. The body of Christ needs those who are truly graced as fivefold leaders to bring adjustments and right alignment. Many of the problems the church faces would be dealt with quickly and graciously if the fivefold ministers were all fully functioning—in other words, if the equippers were all equipped.

Here are three examples of the types of adjustments we see fivefold leaders doing in the early church:

When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.

When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?” (Gal. 2:11-14)

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this? For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this. (1 Cor. 5:1-3)

Most of the modern church has operated under the pastoral church model, which does not even allow the possibility of apostles existing today. With the pastoral model as the foundation, the main concern becomes caring for the sheep. That is why we do not see the strong types of correction we read about in the three examples above in the modern church. If a church is built on the apostolic model, then we will see issues being confronted and dealt with much more assertively because the comfort of the sheep is not the main concern.

We have followed the “pastor-like” model for centuries, but we need to restore the “apostle-like” model. All fivefold are to be apostle-like. Apostles are not supposed to be like pastors, but pastors are supposed to be like apostles. The apostles were the models, beginning with Jesus Himself, and then the twelve.

2. They Are Wise Master Builders

According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. (1 Cor. 3:10 NASB)

If a billionaire says he is going to build a hotel in Manhattan, you wouldn’t expect to see him the next week in his new suit, on his hands and knees, trowel in hand, laying bricks.

Rather, you would expect him to call the best general contractor in the city to assemble a team, who would then build his hotel. The general contractor would be the “wise master builder” Paul claims he was. Apostles are the general contractors of the kingdom—the architects behind the entire building program.

I would extend this picture further to the other four graces. Each one would be like a different trade, for example:

Without the apostle acting as the architect, the other four graces will easily make mistakes and bring imbalance to the project. This is one of the reasons Paul said that apostles are first, prophets are second, and teachers are third (1 Cor. 12:28). There must be order to the fivefold for the church to be built right and for the kingdom to advance. Architects and general contractors are the ones who hold the blueprints for the project and give overall direction to the work.

Without architects, the church is like thousands of piles of bricks that gather each Sunday morning around the globe. But once an architect appears, those bricks begin to be put into place. We go from simply being a “gathering” of stones to being an “assembly.”⁴ This is the same metaphor used in the New Testament:

“you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:5)

“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.” (Eph. 2:19-22)

Christ is the chief cornerstone and the apostles and prophets are the foundation, yet we learned that the apostles also lay foundations (see 1 Cor. 3:10). They are foundational and they lay foundations for others to build on.

This is a principle in all of nature, but also in the kingdom. Each of the fivefold adjusts others into operating in their particular grace. Prophets get you prophesying, evangelists get you reaching the lost, pastors get you caring for other sheep, and teachers get you into the depths of the Word.

Then there is the apostle, who raises up apostles and the other fivefold. Apostles are focused on leadership and not directly focused on the saints. Wherever Paul and Barnabas went in the New Testament, they were raising up the saints who were called into the grace of leadership. Even in the apostolic letters from Paul to the apostles Titus and Timothy, we find that he instructs them to be putting others into positions of leadership (Titus 1:5; 2 Tim. 2:2). All fivefold reproduce after their own kind, but the apostle specifically reproduces other apostles as well as the other four graces. One implication of this is that pastors don’t make apostles. This creates a problem when we build the church on the pastoral foundation: apostles end up aborted in embryo form, which not only eliminates apostles, but also hinders the other fivefold graces from being raised up in the church.

At this point, you might be asking: How do we know that apostles raise up the other four of the fivefold? Well, we have to look at the fivefold origin story. When the New Testament opens, apostles and evangelists don’t exist yet, there were no prophets operating, and the spiritual shepherds and teachers of Israel had degenerated into the corrupt priesthood system.

Then the Messiah appeared. As I stated at the beginning of the chapter, Jesus Himself was a new breed of minister known as an apostle: “Fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest” (Heb. 3:1b). As an apostle, Jesus replicated Himself in twelve apostles (Luke 6:12-13), and the early church was built on the model of the twelve (Acts 2:42). New covenant prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers only came along later as they sprang up from the apostles’ foundation.

FOREWORD	by Danny Silk
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER ONE:	Fivefold: A Clearer Definition
CHAPTER TWO:	Fivefold Myths
CHAPTER THREE:	Metrons and Graces
CHAPTER FOUR:	Seven Points About Metrons
CHAPTER FIVE:	The Fivefold Heart: Servant-Hearted, Transparent, Affectionate
CHAPTER SIX:	False Fivefold Leaders
CHAPTER SEVEN:	The Residue of the Shepherding Movement
CHAPTER EIGHT:	Bringing Correction
CHAPTER NINE:	True Fivefold Leaders
CHAPTER TEN:	Implementing the Kingdom Model
CONCLUSION
APPENDIX ONE:	Practical Questions About Fivefold Ministry
APPENDIX TWO:	Women in Leadership