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In Part 1 of this instalment, I began to explore the implications of David Bryant’s fifth phase of his seven phases of historical revival from his 1995 book, The Hope at Hand: National and World Revival for the Twenty-First Century. There, I dealt with the process, which is like one side of a coin: “The church experiences renewal through the unleashing of the fruits of the Spirit.” The other side of that coin which I will now explore is “renaissance through the unleashing of the gifts of the Spirit”.

It’s this “unleashing” of the charismatic gifts which I believe will ultimately produce the “renovation” of the very programs and structures of the church to fit in with what Bryant sees as “God’s new day for His people”.

In fact, it’s this aspect that I have given much thought to over recent years, which focuses on the passage he quotes from after that:

“And He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of people, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is, Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.” (Ephesians 4:11-16 NASB)

Complementary Gifts

Many years ago, I came to the conclusion that in this passage, Paul was providing a template for the structure of church leadership. He gives us five leadership roles, or “offices”: “apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastors and teachers” (though some have argued that in the Greek, the last two are expressed as one role, I believe they still have definite distinctives).

Just prior to this, in v.7, he tells us that “to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift”. This means that, although few of us are endowed with these five gifts in a leadership capacity, we are all endowed with spiritual gifts, including those given to the five leadership offices, though not in the same measure or with the same authority.

It is the responsibility of those in leadership to recognise, foster and encourage each of those in their care in the discovery and healthy operation of all the spiritual gifts. As Paul put it, they are intended “for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ”. This is the purpose behind v.7. We each have a “measure” given to us for the purpose of our own spiritual growth, as well as the growth we will each bring to the wider Body of Christ “for the work of ministry”.

For example, we’re all called to be witnesses for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20; 1 Peter 3:15), and so we all qualify as evangelists. As such we can access those gifts which will facilitate that role to others. But there are those who have a particular anointing as evangelists, those who are leaders of outreach ministries and other evangelistic enterprises.

The same applies to prophecy, which is the gift above all others that Paul instructs us to “earnestly desire” (1 Corinthians 12:31).

And leadership aspects of the role of apostle can be identified in others in minor leadership roles, or even in those, for example, too young for leadership, but with those gifts already apparent.

Of course, this is no more than a thumbnail sketch of what a “five-fold ministry” scenario might look like. There is so much more that could be unpacked. And around the world there are now numerous groups of churches coming together under one apostolic banner, seeking to live out that model Paul gives us in Ephesians 4.

Even with the possibility of many of those going through a “trial and error” process along the way, this can only lead to a greater understanding of the apostolic and prophetic gifts. In fact, that’s actually an important part of the refining process we all go through in the maturing of our faith, isn’t it?

There will even be some who falsely claim to be apostles. But that has been an issue from the very beginning of the church, as Paul makes clear in his defence of his own office in 2 Corinthians 11. And it’s also in this chapter that we can find the chief characteristics of a true apostle. They will be “jealous… with a godly jealousy” (v.2) for the welfare and spiritual growth of those in their care. They work to build a “sincere and pure devotion to Christ” (v.3). They are also humble (v.7) and lead by serving (Romans 1:1, 2 Corinthians 4:5).

Prophecy

There will be some reading this, though, who will insist that the first two offices in Paul’s list, apostle and prophet, are no longer relevant, as they claim that the gifts of the Holy Spirit ceased to be operative once the founding apostles had departed. But I find that Cessationist view to be unconvincing, both from my decades of studying Scripture and from personal experience, in particular learning about and experiencing first-hand the gift of prophecy.

It seems ironic to me that there are those who insist that they follow the Reformers’ cry of “Sola Scriptura” (“By Scripture Alone”), yet wish to negate or render superfluous numerous passages of Scripture on the basis of this Cessationist view.

In that respect, there’s one verse that sticks out to me. It’s the last part of Revelation 19:10, where the angel accompanying the apostle John says to him, “Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Doesn’t it seem rather strange for John, the last of the original twelve apostles, to record something like this in his final few years on Earth if the gift of prophecy is to become redundant once he’s gone?

But thankfully, I did find one authority in that Reformed tradition, John Piper, who understands and respects the whole of Scripture on this issue.

The reality is that the gifts of the Holy Spirit, along with miracles, signs and wonders, did not cease. In fact, they have been evident throughout church history.

Growing Together

So, in relation to Paul’s leadership model here, which creates a single-layer leadership structure of “first among equals”, I would contend that it is far superior to that which the church ultimately became after the first few centuries, and especially after Christianity became the Roman Empire’s state religion.

From there, you see the increasing layers of hierarchical structure, which is still the model of church leadership in most denominations. They resemble governments and corporations far more than they do Paul’s model in Ephesians 4. In other words, it leads to a “top-down” bureaucratic style of leadership instead of Paul’s effective model focused on unity and maturity.

It also leads to a situation in individual congregations where you have a single (or small group of) ordained clergy through whom all the other three gifts are expected to be exercised. The minister is effectively the evangelist and the pastor and the teacher all rolled into one. No wonder burnout is such a huge problem among the clergy!

But in this five-fold ministry model, the foundation is Christ Himself, who embodied all five. As we are the Body of Christ, Paul stressed that the role of this five-fold leadership was to be the head responsible for “the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.” The essential purpose of the headship of the Body, which is endowed with the gifts that produce Christlikeness in leadership, produces the same in the Body: growth to full maturity and Christlikeness.

Most importantly, when you consider that growth is not just towards maturity, but in new converts. For this reason, those in five-fold leadership should be looking for those who will rise up to lead in the future to be the leaders of the next generation. As I heard one apostolic leader once when he spoke of new generations “building their floors on the previous generation’s ceilings”.

There’s also an irony I see where the two leadership gifts being rejected as being redundant are the very ones that Paul puts as of first importance in the direct consequence of “the building up of the body of Christ”, which is that “we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of people, by craftiness in deceitful scheming”.

Could it be that this division between Cessation and Continuation is precisely the kind of “wind of doctrine” situation described by Paul that his leadership template was designed to negate? If so, then we can see how re-activating these leadership gifts can help to facilitate “the unity of the faith”.

That’s one of the reasons why my focus in this instalment is on those first two of the five-fold leadership gifts. The other is that I see those gifts, used with the related gifts of discernment and wisdom, as being significant, in fact crucial, in the revival to come, by facilitating the renaissance Bryant refers to through the unleashing of all the spiritual gifts.

Renewal

This brings us to the second part of Bryant’s fifth phase, “Revitalization”:

“… the ensuing renovation of the very programs and structures of the church to fit in with God’s new day for His people. All of this brings forth a revived community that is experiencing in greater measure “the fullness of the stature of Christ” along with greater maturity in worship, discipleship, and ministry for Christ.”

Although I criticised the way denominations have become bureaucratic in their leadership structures, I don’t for a moment imagine that it’s possible to swing from one to the other. But there have been those who have suggested the idea of churches of all denominations in a given location, whether towns or in a particular area or municipality, combining in fellowship by identifying their “gift mix”.

There are many denominations that are exploring this facet of ministry on the personal level, that of the particular gift or gifts individuals have, and how they operate together within a congregation. However, I believe that applying this at a congregational level will reveal a corporate gift mix that can operate in partnership with other churches in each locality.

This is where those leadership gifts will come to the fore, in particular apostles and prophets.

There is a passage in 1 Corinthians where Paul emphasises this, as well as paralleling the passage in Ephesians 4:

“Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it. And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, and various kinds of tongues. All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they?

All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they? All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they? But earnestly desire the greater gifts.”
(1 Corinthians 12:27-31a NASB)

Notice first the final phrase, “earnestly desire the greater gifts”. Our English translations of the Greek word “zēloō” are far too polite. This is where we get our English words “zeal” and “zealous”. According to the Blue Letter Bible, it has these meanings in relation to this passage:

“to burn with zeal…in a good sense, to be zealous in the pursuit of good

to desire earnestly, pursue; to desire one earnestly, to strive after, busy one’s self about…”

In relation to this, I found an excellent outline by theologian Sam Storms.

This “burning with zeal” for those “higher gifts” will, I believe, bring us more organically to the “unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God”. In particular, I’m thinking of the reality that it was Christ who has modelled every single spiritual gift for us to follow His example.

Whatever form the “renovation of the very programs and structures of the church” noted by Bryant has taken before, we simply cannot predict what that will look like in a future revival. But I’m certain that they will be focused on, and structured around, those five leadership gifts. And they will be like nothing we can imagine now.

Notice, too, that there is an order to those gifts which Paul tells us that “God has appointed in the church”: “first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, and various kinds of tongues.”

Since Paul has now thrown miracles and healing into the mix, along with those whose gift is involved in the kind of “backroom jobs” that nobody notices, yet are vital to a healthy church, we now have a picture of a fully functioning body of believers, all engaged, involved and gifted by God for the purpose that Bryant has identified for us:

“… the ensuing renovation of the very programs and structures of the church to fit in with God’s new day for His people. All of this brings forth a revived community that is experiencing in greater measure “the fullness of the stature of Christ” along with greater maturity in worship, discipleship, and ministry for Christ.”

When this takes place, we will be fully prepared for the final phase of revival: the reformation of the surrounding culture, the subject of the next instalment.

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Photo by Shvets Production.