Apostolic Gifts for Multiplication

     Hello everybody, my name is Dean Davis and this is “Multiply,” the podcast that provides a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters.

Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has given grace to his Body, the Church, so that we can all be built up together, live in unity, and walk by faith.  The grace, favor, and power that He gives the church is expressed in many ways. But one of the most interesting and important ways that Christ gives grace to the church is through its people. Even though we are all members of one Body, we each contribute to the strength of that Body in different ways. Ephesians 4:7 says, “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

The Apostle Paul goes on to describe the ways Christ gives grace to the Church by saying in Ephesians 4:11 - 13, “Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

This is a remarkable truth that Paul is expressing to the newly planted church in Ephesus. Christ has given five kinds of people to build up the Body of Christ.  He gives these five kinds of people to the Body of Christ so that it might grow and be strong: Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teacher.

So, If Jesus gives these kinds of people to the Body, shouldn’t we be looking for them among the members of our churches?  Shouldn’t we be asking ourselves, “Who among our church members are the apostles that we have been given?”  Who are the prophets? Which ones are the evangelists?  How about the pastors and teachers?  

To answer these questions, we often wait until a church member has emerged and taken a place of significant leadership before we say, “Oh, that one is an evangelist, this one is a prophet, and she is a teacher.”  And many people are very reluctant to suggest that a church member may have apostolic gifts.  The term “apostle” has so many different meanings. Different church traditions reserve the term for different kinds of people. But the word “apostle” in the New Testament means “a person who is sent” or “a messenger.” Apostles go out, commissioned by the Lord and by his church to spread the message of salvation and start new churches.

So, in the context of Ephesians 4, an apostle is a person who has been given grace, favor, wisdom and strength from Jesus Christ that results in the message of Christ spreading and church being planted and multiplied in new locations.

Who are the people in your church who have the drive, initiative, and ability to start and multiply churches in places where they have never existed before? You would be wise to identify them, pray for them, encourage them and coach them for a greater harvest. Who knows? You may do for your people what Barnabas did for the Apostle Paul. He blessed Paul before anyone else recognized his apostolic gifting. By doing so, Barnabas joined with Jesus in strengthening the church in ways we still feel today.

I’m Dean Davis asking, “Who will you share this encouraging word with today?

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