Gifts for building

The church has had a long history of misunderstanding the five gifts of service mentioned in Ephesians 4:11-13. What is perfectly clear is that Christ himself provides apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers to equip us to serve - that is what the passage says. And his purpose is clear too, he wants us to reach unity in the faith, to be knowledgeable about him, mature, and growing to fully measure up to him.

Gifts for building

What a stunning objective!

If we are to get anywhere near this stated objective of Jesus, we will need apostolic, prophetic, evangelistic, shepherding and teaching gifts firing on all cylinders wherever there is an expression of church. And because much of this was lost many centuries ago, we will have to overcome a lot of mistaken opinion and well-intentioned teaching along the way.

The truth is, all of these gifts of grace are present in all of his people to some degree. Verse seven is clear on this, 'To each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.' To begin to see this with our own eyes we need to know what the gifts look like so that we can notice them in one another. We also need to encourage each other in using them.

Here's a short quote from the section on being disciples in JDMC. Can you spot the five gifts here? Can you spot them in your believing brothers and sisters?

I can guarantee that everyone in your group has taken the lead in some way, great or small. Can you identify some of these leading abilities? It might be initiating something, reminding the group to listen to what the Spirit is saying, spreading a good idea to another group, caring for someone or explaining something.

Read Ephesians 4:1-16 and pay attention to verses 11-13 in context.