Correct Ministry Application
The image of the old weigh scale above could be used to illustrate several spiritual principles related to the Fivefold Ministry. One principle is that some Fivefold Ministers carry more “weight” in different areas than others. Also, the walnuts in the image could be used to represent the different “fruit” of each Fivefold minister. This means that each Fivefold minister should stick with his calling and gifts and work together with others of different calling so that together they will have complete “fruit” with nothing lacking.
Evangelist working with Apostles
Acts 8:12-17 (NIV)
12 But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
13 Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.
14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them.
15 When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit,
16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.
17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
Philip was an Evangelist and that means that his gift was specifically for causing unbelievers to be saved. The Fivefold Ministry Gift of Evangelist is given by God to win souls and the Evangelist carries authority to command unbelievers to be saved and they respond. Typically the Evangelist will have signs and wonders following to prove to the unbelievers that God is real.
It should be noted however that Philip the Evangelist did not have the gift of imparting the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. It was known however that both Apostle Peter and Apostle John had this gift and so the church at Jerusalem sent these men to Samaria where the Evangelistic crusade of Philip was taking place. Then Peter and John prayed for the new converts in Samaria so that they might receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
This is an example of two different ministry gifts working together with the Evangelist winning souls and the two Apostles praying for the impartation of the Holy Spirit because both Peter and John were noted for having this gift.
Example of Evangelist and Apostle/Teacher
My own example of working with another ministry gift was when I was sent out with an interpreter and a van with movie projection equipment to show evangelistic movies. We were traveling in the island of Leyte in Southern Philippines and doing a crusade in a different place every night. We would show the movie then have an evangelistic call after the movie was shown. One night I decided to experiment with a spiritual theory based upon principles of natural human birth. I thought that a newborn baby is immediately given his mother’s breast milk as soon as he is born. If the baby never tasted milk then it would just lay there and die. But once the infant tastes milk it will cry out for it and want more and crave to have milk. I also knew that elementary doctrines of the bible are called “milk” teaching because it is something that spiritually newborn babies need. When the doctrine is for mature believers it is called “meat” teaching because it is hard to chew but will satisfy a mature believer. A newborn baby however will choke on meat because they do not have any teeth to chew it. With that principle in mind, I thought that if we just did an evangelistic call and these people were newly saved then it would be good to immediately give them a taste of spiritual milk of God’s word. If these new converts never taste the milk of God’s word, they will not cry out for it and will just die spiritually.
1 Peter 2:2-3 (NIV)
2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,
3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
Newborn babies are to crave the pure spiritual milk of God’s word so that they will grow spiritually. But they cannot crave something that they have never tasted before. So, what I did was to stand up immediately after the delivery of the evangelistic message and I taught them the word of God in simple manner.
Hebrews 6:1-2 (NIV)
1 Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God,
2 instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.
These things described in the scriptures above are all elementary teachings about Christ and these elementary teachings are “milk” of God’s word for new infant believers.
1 Corinthians 3:1-2 (NIV)
1 Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly–mere infants in Christ.
2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.
The Apostle Paul could not teach deep-revelation or weighty subjects or solid food which is like giving meat to a baby who would choke on it because they have no teeth to chew it. For the immature believers Paul could only teach them elementary doctrines or “milk” teaching because they were not ready for having solid food.
So, because I was dealing with newly saved converts (who just repeated a salvation prayer minutes before) I then decided to give them some spiritual “milk” of God’s word.
Hebrews 6:1 (NIV)
1 Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God,
Again, the scripture above lists “Faith in God” as a elementary teaching or a “milk” teaching for new believers. Therefore, I taught these new converts on the subject of having “faith” in God. I also made the teaching as elementary and simple as possible so that it would not choke them as newly born infants. My purpose was to give them a taste of the “spiritual milk” of God’s word which would cause them to hunger or crave for spiritual things.
I was amazed at their response because these were newly saved converts who were unbelievers just minutes before I gave them this simple “milk” teaching of God’s word. These people loved it and displayed their appreciation by setting down their beer bottles and cigarettes and they all started applauding as if they really enjoyed it and wanted more! I knew that if I could stay in that place and continue to teach then I would have had a congregation develop from these new converts and we would have had a new church in that place.
Having large crusades and trying to get names and addresses of new believers to get them into a church later generally does not work. Often the converts would give false addresses out and did not want to be bothered by strangers from some church. But if they have been given some spiritual milk first, they will keep coming back for more rather than hiding from church workers who are trying to get them to join a church. If the converts taste spiritual milk themselves, they will crave for it and seek it out without having someone trying to persuade them to attend a church.
Correct Ministry Application
The correct ministry application here is that an Apostle/Teacher should work together with an Evangelist. For example, an Evangelist could hold an evening crusade when the men are off work and can attend. Having an open-air crusade in a field or park is something that even Muslims will attend who would never enter a church building. But after the Evangelist displays God’s presence with signs and wonders and calls the unbelievers to be saved then the next step is to give them an immediate taste of the milk of God’s word. If newly saved converts do not taste spiritual milk of God’s word, they will not crave for it and will just die spiritually and nothing good will have resulted from the crusade even if a million people prayed to receive Jesus as their Lord.
What I would do is stand up immediately after the evangelistic call for salvation has been made and give them a taste of spiritual milk of God’s word. I would give them the most simple and elementary teaching possible (like having faith in God) and once they have tasted the milk, I would invite them to return every night. We could also do more milk teaching during the day time for those who are able to come. I would also provide a website address with all of the teaching material both elementary milk and advanced meat teaching so that converts could feed spiritually from home if they have a computer. Even those with a computer or printer could print off the material and teach others who have no access to the internet. Thus, we could save the harvest of souls because it has been proven to be almost worthless trying to get new converts to join a church when they are not interested in some stranger visiting them and trying to persuade them to come to a church. But the problem is that the converts were not given the “milk” of God’s word and because they never tasted it, they do not crave it and do not pursue it or seek for it. If we could remain for a time (like a week of meetings or more) then feed them spiritual milk and give a website address to them with complete teaching then they would start to feed spiritually and grow as new converts. This is how we could have a church develop instead of trying to coerce converts to come to some church building when they have never tasted milk before and have no desire for it. The word “coerce” means to try to persuade someone who is unwilling to come to a church. But if they had a taste of spiritual “milk” they will cry out for it and even pay any price to find it and access it.
A new convert who has tasted the good spiritual milk of God’s word will travel a hundred miles on foot just to hear it. He will crave it like a newborn infant who has tasted milk for the first time.
But if the infant never tastes milk they will just lay there and die without it not knowing what they are missing out on. It is therefore worthless to try to coerce a new convert to come to a church when he has never tasted spiritual milk before. Better to give that spiritual milk at a crusade immediately following an evangelistic call to salvation. Stay with the new converts teaching them until they are established and founded in the word and have developed a spiritual craving for the word of God which will govern their own actions causing them to seek it out as a great treasure.
Matthew 13:44-46 (NIV)
44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.
46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.
Once a new believer has tasted the milk of God’s word then they will crave for it and count it as if it were a great treasure. This can be compared to a man who discovers something of great value on a piece of property and then goes and sells everything he has in order to buy that land and obtain that treasure. It can also be compared to a merchant who finds a pearl of great price and sells everything in order to buy that one pearl. The things of God are like that and when a new convert tastes the good word of God, they will crave for it and long for it and want more. They will be the one to go and search for it without anyone trying to coerce them to do so.
Joint Ministry
Whenever possible those who are in the Fivefold ministry should engage in joint-ministry and use their gifts in conjunction with one another. The Evangelist is gifted to win souls to the Lord but this should not be done independently without an Apostle/Teacher to give these new converts the milk of God’s word immediately after the call to salvation has been made by the Evangelist. If the two ministry gifts work together, they can have a lasting work with “real” converts who long for God’s word and are willing to pay any price to get it. This is what makes them into true converts when by their own actions they seek out spiritual things as a thirsty man searching for water.
Also, those who are gifted in the area of imparting the Baptism of the Holy Spirit could also come and pray for the new converts for the infilling just as the Jewish Apostles Peter and John did for the new converts at Samaria. It was right and fitting that salvation and Baptism of the Holy Spirit were first brought to the Gentiles by Jewish Evangelists like Philip and Jewish Apostles like Peter and John. Today the ministry to the Gentiles is carried on with numerous Gentile Fivefold ministry gifts. This is an example of the wheat harvest of the Gentiles as depicted in the book of Ruth.
See the link “Ruth-A Spiritual Analogy” for more details.
Once the wheat harvest of the Gentiles comes full-circle then the barley harvest of the Jews will resume just at the time when Yeshua the Jewish Messiah appears. At that time all believers both Jewish and Gentiles (who are alive in that day) will behold the Lord when he comes to earth to rule and reign in Jerusalem!