Understanding & Working with the Fivefold Ministries: Course Outline

In Ephesians 4 Paul describes the Church as “growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of His body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love”.

I long to be part of something like that! In the context of this chapter Paul has been describing the gift and significance of Apostolic, Prophetic, Evangelistic, Pastoring and Teaching ministries in the Church. There is no magic bullet, but Paul does underline the significance of these five functioning well together for the health of the Church. These five are often referred to simply as The Fivefold Ministries or just The Fivefold.

So, how might we recover a proper understanding of these gifts of Christ to the Church and how they can operate well together? What might it look like for us to see them functioning healthily across a town? That is the purpose behind three Saturday morning interactive studies, running from 10am until 1pm on January 18th; February 8th and March 14th 2020.

Session 1. Introduction: Exploring what the fivefold ministries are, their purpose in the Church and their presence throughout the created order.

Session 2. Growing as the person God created you to be; a chance to explore our personal ministry function and how that works together with the other four ministries.

Session 3.Growing towards a fuller expression of the Body of Christ; how the fivefold functioning effectively helps the church grow to maturity (what Paul describes as The Fullness of Christ in Ephesians 4).

Each session will consist of teaching input, group discussion and reflective practise. The first session stands alone as an introduction and overview to the Fivefold and the second two apply this both to the individual and how a fivefold team might function well together.

This training is based around:
5Q and
Activating 5Q: A Users Guide both by Alan Hirsch
It also draws on:
The Forgotten Ways, Alan Hirsch
Primal Fire Neil Cole
The Shaping Of Things to Come Michael Frost & Alan Hirsch
A Passionate Life (Lifeshapes from Sheffield, part of the DNA of Missional Communities) Mike Breen & Walt Kallestad