A quick note to keep it real before we give human effort too much credit. For the sake of easy conversation, we might say an apostle plants churches, but only God does that by bringing his children together. He might use an apostle to help do the work. He might not. We might say a shepherd cares for the flock, and yet, only God does that, he may use a shepherd to help do the work, but he may not.
Ordained: (1 Timothy 2:7) It means to have been put into place, or appointed Our modern definition is: make (someone) a priest or minister; confer holy orders on. However, by "ordain" as Paul meant it God placed him as a preacher and an apostle. When a church ordains, they are supposed to simply align with, agree with, what God said, and appoint the way God already has. They are not to make a preacher out of a man or to grant a special platform or privilege to a man. Biblically, ordain & appoint are the same meaning Another point, whenever people are ordained or appointed by other people in the New Testament, it's only elders, deacons, and maybe bishops. I haven't found any New Testament support for ordaining the 5-fold ministry. So, if a church body gathers together, it would be wise for them to appoint a wise mature man or several depending on the size of the group to see after things, to host, etc. An elder you might say, or a bishop. Or they could also appoint someone to meet the physical needs of the poor in the group, a deacon. I use appoint because, in our modern definitions, it's correct. Our modern definitions are: Appoint: Give someone a responsibility to fulfill. Ordain: To make someone a priest or a minister. As humans, we don't get to MAKE anyone a minister. That's what God does in that person's heart through their obedience in their walk with Him. We only get to put the minister God made to work.
Bishop: Occurs on its own or in a word about six times in King James Version. The modern definition of "bishop" that I found is: a senior member of the Christian clergy, usually in charge of a diocese and empowered to confer holy orders However, the Greek word that King James translated to "bishop" means superintendent, and a superintendent is a person who manages or superintends an organization or activity. So, what if when we ordain a bishop we are actually thinking of raising a spiritual giant to look after us when instead we should be appointing a mature man to look after the gathering and make sure everything goes well? So, instead of ordaining a bishop, let's appoint a superintendent.
Elder: Appears many, many times in old and new Testament both, and for the sake of this, I will focus on it as a church position (and for the other words that appear many times, I will treat them similarly) as Paul wrote about it in 1 Timothy 5, and Titus 1:5. It simply means, an older person, the idea being, if there are 2 mature Christians, then the older one probably has more wisdom. So, let's appoint elders for their wisdom, as Paul did, they don't get to live the younger man's life for him, or control the way he does it. No, they offer their wisdom and share their vast experience. There are physical and spiritual aspects to being an elder. A 36-year-old who was living in the faith as a disciple for 20 years is probably more of an elder than the 63-year-old who just met Jesus last week. An elder has a combination of physical and spiritual experiences that cause others to look up to him. So, they spotted these men in the New Testament churches and appointed them to look after the groups they were a part of.
Preacher: In the New Testament it's anyone who is an official messenger (herald) of divine truth, and especially, the gospel. Not just the famous ones with big platforms and a crowd of people listening in passive respect. There is no evidence that the church appointed any preachers. Shouldn't we all be preachers as defined in scripture?
Deacon: In the New Testament, it means to be an attendant, or a waiter, someone who serves, and looks after people in a church, similarly to what you might see a waitress/waiter in a restaurant do. Our modern definition:(in Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox Churches) an ordained minister of an order ranking below that of the priest. (in some Protestant churches) a lay officer appointed to assist a minister, especially in secular affairs.
Minister: The Greek word Paul used is the same as the word translated to deacon. The modern definition is a member of the clergy, especially in Protestant churches.
Apostle: In the New Testament it's a delegate, or an ambassador, someone who is commissioned or sent out with a message. Often, but not necessarily always they plant churches. In modern times, it is either a term given for a modern catholic style bishop when a church is too cool to use the word "bishop" Or it is not allowed to exist as a function anymore, and a lot of the work is farmed out to mission organizations who send missionaries, which may in many cases are probably biblical apostles disguised as missionaries. In the New Testament, the apostles can seem like heroes to us for they carried the gospel to the far reaches and planted all these churches. Yet, they were not ordained/appointed to stay by a church and lead it like an elder. They were typically sent out. This is one of the 5-fold gifts to the body of Christ, let it function, but don't ordain or appoint a man under this label.
Prophet: A foreteller, someone who hears what God is saying and shares it. In modern times, they aren't really allowed to exist biblically in many cases because they are either not allowed to speak due to potentially upsetting a church's hierarchy, or are given power and control, called a pastor, and then hurt others with harsh rhetoric. Prophets were not appointed in the New Testament that I can see. They are important. They can be like the spiritual umpire who calls balls and strikes. Churches that refuse to listen to mature prophets are dangerous places. Heresies can multiply like rabbits in such settings. This is one of the 5-fold gifts to the body of Christ, let it function, but don't ordain or appoint a man under this label.
Evangelist: A preacher of the gospel. Or, it appears to mean, a preacher who specializes in sharing the gospel. In modern times, the evangelist is still allowed to exist, but the main abuse seems to be that everyone thinks an evangelist is Billy Graham, and that isn't the case, lots of great evangelists share the gospel in a "piecemeal discipleship" way in their workspace. This is one of the 5-fold gifts to the body of Christ, let it function, but don't ordain or appoint a man under this label.
Pastor: The word pastor only appears once in the New Testament, and then, it is plural. The Greek word "poimen" which is translated as "pastors" once, appears other times as "shepherd". So, the greek meaning confirms that shepherd is a more accurate translation in our modern times because that's what poimen means. A shepherd is someone who tends and rears sheep. In the church context, we are likened to sheep. Biblically speaking, a pastor is a sheep who cares for and looks after other sheep. The modern definition of a pastor is a minister in charge of a Christian church or congregation. All a pastor should have, and all he really needs to have to function is permission to care. What it takes for him to have permission to care spiritually, and emotionally is people who are willing to look in, and see what is going on in there, what needs to be renewed and surrendered. Physically, they should be willing and ready to admit they need help. The current institutional church climate does not offer any framework in A Sunday meeting for a person to be this vulnerable, or for a true biblical shepherd to respond to it. So, many of your true biblical shepherds end up doing some form of Christian counseling. This is one of the 5-fold gifts to the body of Christ, let it function, but don't ordain or appoint a man under this label.
Teacher: Most of the time, in KJV, a teacher is a fairly accurate translation in our modern English, the Greek word would mean something like an instructor. The only case I came across that was different was when talking specifically about a Jewish rabbi, i.e. a teacher of the law. I find it interesting and rather obvious, that this would be the one position, in our intellectual institutional Christian culture that is still fairly true to the biblical definition. Teachers are very important, God made them for a reason, but, this thing of ordaining, has silenced a lot of gifted teachers. I find it hard to believe that in a group of 50 men, only 3 are capable of giving a good 30-minute talk on a deep and meaningful truth from God on a given Sunday. On the other side of the coin, sometimes the thing of having to fill a time window every Sunday is stifling to the true spirit-filled teacher. What if a teacher is feeling led to make a 2-week long seminar that goes deep into the beatitudes, but no, he must spend his energy teaching the church every Sunday instead. This is one of the 5-fold gifts to the body of Christ, let it function, but don't ordain or appoint a man under this label.
It's clear by now that I don't believe in appointing any of the 5-fold gifts or some of the others. Why? Because they are gifts, not people. Let's use the ever-popular pastor as an example. There are pastors, but they are pastors because of the gifting God put in them for this season. If you appoint an elder who cares for people well then you have an elder who is also a pastor. Now, what if heresy comes along? God might empower him to bellow "strike" in a kind way of course. If he's appointed an elder, then he'd be doing his job as a spiritual older brother and wiser sheep by doing that even though that particular gift "smells" of a prophet. If he's appointed as a pastor, then he's out of line. Because he wasn't appointed to be a prophet. The gifts are too specific, they don't move enough. This is good, they are supposed to be gifts, not walls to confine a leader inside of.
So, what's the answer? If you're reading this from a place of the laity, I would encourage you to start showing your leadership biblical respect, but don't bow to them. It hurts them to be put on a pedestal, they get overworked and have way too much pressure on their shoulders. Even if they think they enjoy it. I am not telling you to leave a toxic controlling environment, but pray into that and see what God would have you do to be free to get discipleship from God and grow into the person you are. If you read this from a place of leadership, be you, and by being you and allowing God to continually renew you, you will manifest in whichever one or combination of these roles that God has called you to. I also want to tell you that I'm sorry. I'm sorry for the pressure you have felt, to be perfect, to do all the work, and for the times you wanted your peers to be your friends and equals but instead they seemed to almost worship you. If we all move toward God's desire, our churches will begin to change almost immediately.
Revised and updated on 01/06/2023.
-Loren Yoder
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