“Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.” Ephesians 4:11–12 NLT
I’m trying to grasp the significance of some of the things I’m learning and reading. This is a bit of a restating how I’m learning to view this scripture and the role of the APEST gifts.
APEST Gifts
Notice that these are gifts to the Church — not just specifically to or for individuals! For a person to fully embrace and embody ”the gift,” he or she must use the gifting to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry and to build up the Church. Apart from that work — of equipping, the bearer of the gift isn’t really fulfilling his/her call.
Primal Fire
Neil Cole writes about this in his wonderful book, Primal Fire. Cole makes clear the calling for individuals in each of these roles is an abdication of their calling if they aren’t using their “bents or gifts” to train others in the same gifting for the building up of the Body of Christ.
Operating or Equipping?
There’s a difference in operating in the gift — whichever one it might be — for the sake of equipping the body, rather than simply “being the gift” to the body. In other words, if someone has the Evangelist gift, they have the responsibility to train others as evangelists rather than simply being the evangelist for that particular body.
My guess is that you’re already operating in at least one of these gifts. Today’s call is to step back and wonder aloud to Him where I fit. It doesn’t have to be up on the stage or platform, but in simple everyday life terms. And in the “knowing,” rests the responsibility to use it to equip others in the gift -for the sake of the body!
A Prayer For Today
Lord, please show me where I fit in your body; where I have been granted the grace to employ the gift You’ve given me me to invest in others — for the sake of Your Body, the Church!