Life Shapes: Pentagon part 1

The pentagon, being 5 sides, represents the five-fold gifts of leadership in the ministry of the church. That's not to say all gifts, talents and anointings are limited to these, but simply that these are a complete framework of leadership gifts (which others will be based around).

The five-fold gifts come from Ephesians 4:11 "It was he who gave some to be (1) apostles, some to be (2) prophets, some to be (3) evangelists, and some to be (4) pastors and (5) teachers." Ephesians 4 talks about the growth and maturity of the body of Christ (the church) and tells us God gave us these five in order for growth to happen.

So what do these five areas of ministry mean?

(1) The apostle. The original meaning from the Greek word (apostolos) means "sent one", and carries the meaning of one who is "sent on a mission". Looking at the ministry of Jesus, it is no surprise then that the apostle is the one who comes first. Jesus only did what He saw His Father doing (John 5:19) and as such was a man on a mission in this world. Of course, His ultimate mission was to save the world by His death and resurrection, however His life's mission was seen in the second line of the Lord's prayer - "Your Kingdom come". His frequent talk and parables about the Kingdom of God emphasises this. And it seems this is the call of the apostle - he or she is sent out into the world, to bring the Kingdom.

(2) The prophet. This we can see throughout the Old Testament as God gave us the "prophets" - those who God spoke directly to, with a message for the people. In Jesus (who, by the way, perfectly embodies all of the five-fold), we see the prophetic not only as God the Father speaks through Him, but also as He speaks with authority to change situations (the commands to heal or the cursing of the fig tree). Prophecy (since Jesus) has been discussed by Paul in Corinthians as a spiritual gift. Books have been written on the prophetic, but for our purposes, all we will say is that despite the fact that God wants to speak to all of us, some He has called as prophets in order to hear from God concerning the leading of His people.

The New Testament says that the church is built on the ministry of the apostles and prophets - ie, it is the cornerstone. One way I have heard the two described is that the apostles are concerned with stepping out and bringing heaven (God's Kingdom) to earth, and prophets are concerned with "seeing" what's in heaven, and speaking it out on the earth. It is clear why the two are important, and why they should be at the helm. The next three follow.