FIVE SMOOTH STONES - The Five Ascension Gifts in the Heavenly Shepherds Bag

FIVE SMOOTH STONES — The Five Ascension Gifts in the Heavenly Shepherd’s Bag

Chapter Nineteen

EVANGELISTS AND APOSTLES

I t is not probable that all of the original twelve apostles chosen by Jesus were evangelists, but all were sent out to evangelize. All apostles must evangelize as well as serve in each of the five ministries for some portion of their ministry time. This is not to say than any apostle, save Jesus, is called to all five of the ministries, however, an apostle must be able to function in each gift ministry as needed. The apostle must also be able to function as a mentor and father to others who are called into the various fivefold ministries, to minister to them and provide instruction. It is more likely that any fivefold minister will function in some aspect of each ministry than all aspects of any single ministry, as only Jesus fulfilled perfectly the attributes of all of the five ministries. However, in the New Testament we see each of the ministers functioning together with apostles. This is because there are certain functions in the Church which we only see apostles fulfill in the kingdom. Ordaining elders is one of the functions of an apostle in the Bible, as well as establishing Churches on the proper foundation. We have already covered the difference between planting a Church and establishing a Church and dispelled the notion that only apostles can plant Churches. There is more recorded in the book of Acts about Philip the evangelist than any other evangelist. He was one of the seven chosen to serve as deacons to assist the apostles in serving the Church and therefore we know that he fulfilled the requirements for this position. Those requirements, set out by the twelve apostles, were to have a good reputation, be full of the Holy Spirit, and full of wisdom (Acts 6:3). Stephen also was one of the seven chosen to serve in this capacity, and while the Bible does not say that Stephen specifically was also an evangelist we certainly know that he exhibited the fruit, as Acts 6:8 states, “ Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, performed amazing

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