Most of us are very familiar with how most churches and ministries function in the United States. Typically, there is one anointed leader that is the “front-person” for that church or ministry. Everyone and everything else supports the vision of this leader.
Other than the charlatans, the vast majority of these leaders are wonderful, amazing men and women of God that have been called and gifted by the Lord to function in a very powerful way for the betterment of the body of Christ they are called to. Over the past century, there has been much good that has come through these wonderful leaders!
However, I’d like to propose an alternative model to what most of us know. Actually, the alternative is not a radical idea, but actually Jesus’s original plan found directly in His Word.
What you are about to read will be radically different than how most of the Church is currently structured and functions. Before you throw rotten tomatoes at me, I invite you to set aside what you’ve always been taught and what has been modeled before you. Let’s look at what the Word actually says rather than what you think or have been told it says.
Ephesians 4:11-12 says “And He gave some apostles; and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and some teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ”
We typically refer to these as the five-fold offices. However, the word “office” as it relates to these five gifts given to the body of Christ is not found in the New Testament. “Offices” denotes a hierarchy in the Kingdom, which is not what Jesus taught. In this area, I believe we brought the Old Testament model of “the man of God” into the New Testament model that Jesus established.
Rather than refer to these five-fold gifts as “offices”, let’s begin to refer to them as “functional roles” in the Kingdom. This aligns to Jesus’ original plan and to what the Apostles actually did as evidenced in scripture.
The prophet, evangelist, pastor and teachers listed in Ephesians 4:11 ARE the elders we read about throughout Acts and the epistles. THEY ARE THE ELDERS. A pastor is one of four functional roles as elders Jesus has given to His church. The apostles have a different functional role than the elders. (As you look at your hand, you have four fingers and one thumb. The four fingers of prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher are the elders. The thumb represents the apostle. I’ll cover this in much more detail below).
This next truth will shock you. Jesus did not establish a one-person ministry leader system. Most of our churches (and ministries) are set up with the Senior Pastor, then associate Pastor(s), then elders, the board and the congregation with a strong leader at the top that has the final say. Jesus has used what we’ve set up and has blessed us to the degree that He can and yes, much good has come of it. However, Jesus had an optimal plan and it’s called “team ministry” with the purpose of “completely furnishing” (equipping) every believer. As you shift your mind set from the focus of the minister to the focus of the believer, you’ll catch Jesus’s heart in why He did what He did.
Jesus set in elders (plural) to fully equip believers for the work of the ministry. Below are just a few scripture references, but please “search a matter out” and do a word search on “elders” in the New Testament.
Acts 11:30 elders in the Jerusalem church
Acts 13:1-3 - elders in the Antioch church
Acts 20:17 - elders in the Ephesian church
1 Peter 1:1, 5:1 - elders in the churches throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia
1 Peter 5:1 - Peter writes to the elders in these churches and refers to himself as a co-elder (in Jerusalem)
Highlighting the church at Antioch, we see they had five elders at this particular point in time.
“Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabus…Simeon…Lucius…Manaen…Saul”. How do we know they were the elders? Scripture tells us they were “prophets and teachers”, that’s who Jesus gave as gifts to the Church.
These five men worked as a peer-team, no one person had the final say above the others. Some functioned as prophets and some as teachers. Collectively as a team, they were able to more fully equip, furnish and prepare these believers for the work of the ministry.
“Separate me Paul and Barnabus…”. Holy Spirit called Paul and Barnabus to function as apostles (both previous elders). Notice even as apostles, they were called to function together as a team.
APOSTLES
The apostolic functional role is different than the elder roles in that their primary role is to establish new bodies of believers, recognize who Holy Spirit has assigned to be the local elders amongst them, set them in as the local elders over that body and then commend them to the Lord.
Apostles set in elders and commend them to the Lord:
Acts 14:21-23
Acts 20:18
Apostles and prophets also have the added functional role of “laying the foundation of Jesus” into a local body. The goal of apostles and prophets is to lay the foundation of Jesus in that local body (not to be put on a man/woman to follow, but on Jesus alone). Once the foundation has been laid, elders continue on with building people up on Jesus in their respective functional roles and continue to build up “unto a perfect (mature) man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Chris”. Ephesians 4:13.
Jesus is building a house in the neighborhood. Apostles and prophets first lay / pour the foundation. The foundation is Jesus Himself. The elders then build on top of the foundation that was laid. Elders build the first floor and all the rooms in it, the second floor and all of the rooms in it. Elders are building people up and maturing them on and in Jesus.
Jesus is THE foundation. Once elders are eventually set in by the leading of Holy Spirit, the elders continue to strengthen each believer as onto Jesus in their respective roles.
Ephesians 2:20-22
1 Corinthian 3:10-15
Apostles and prophets lay the foundation of Jesus. Elders “build up” on top of the foundation that was laid, namely and only Jesus.
ELDERS
Why did Jesus establish elders (prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher) into local bodies of believers? Each elder has a functional role in that local body that equips the believers in different ways. You could think of it this way; each functional role has the ability to equip believers up to 20% as they build-up believers “onto” Jesus (not onto a man/woman).
Jesus gave the church 5 functional roles to equip in different ways, which is why I say 20%. Together as a team, the “complete furnishing” (equipping) is possible to the strengthening of each believer for the work of the ministry.
But what about submitting to church leadership? Below are a few scriptures that define how servant / slave leaders should conduct themselves. Let’s zoom in on Peter’s words in 1 Peter 5:1-6 where he’s addressing the local elders of those churches as a co-elder himself. Below is my paraphrase of what Peter said:
“hey younger people, yield to the elders and oh actually, all of us (including “us elders”) should live lives yielded to each other … we should practice humility with each other because God resists the proud but gives grace to those that embrace humility”.
“Yea, all be subject one to another and be clothed in humility”. V.5
In a servant-leader attitude working as a collective peer team, elders are responsible for the building up, care and furnishing of believers to build them onto and up in Christ according to their functional role. As leaders, our focus should be the centrality of Jesus in everything we do – believers follow Jesus, not man.
FLIPPING THE MODEL
In most of the current models today, ministers do the ministering while the believers serve in the church.
In Jesus’ model, elders equip the believers to do the work of the ministry.
What is the work of the ministry? We have all been given a ministry of reconciliation.
2 Corinthians 5:18 “…and has given us the ministry of reconciliation”.
The Greek word for this particular word reconciliation is katallage, which means divine restoration. The believers’ primary ministry is to partner with Holy Spirit to engage in the lives of people and administer divine restoration in whatever area needed.
Please keep in mind, no believer can produce divine restoration on their own. Our role is to abide in Jesus, be in intimate relationship with Him and from that place, you get to partner with Holy Spirit. Let us remember, we can do nothing of any eternal value without the direct involvement of Holy Spirit.
The Lord gave me this analogy of how this all works together. Since I’m a sports guy and live in the United States, He begin speaking to me about how an NFL football team functions. Yes, Jesus spoke to me about football and connected the dots to how His Kingdom works.
LOCAL BODIES ARE LIKE NFL FOOTBALL TEAMS
A local gathering can be a likened to an NFL football team. As a local body, we are all on the same team but all have different roles on the team.
Some are coaches (elders). Most are players (believers).
When the whistle blows and the game begins, players run onto the field. The game is the ministry of reconciliation, the ministry of divine restoration in the lives of people in your eco-system.
COACHES
As it relates to the coaches, Jesus set up an assistant coaching staff that consists of the following coaches: Offensive coach, Defensive coach, Special teams coach, Strength coach. They are assistant coaches to the Head Coach, Jesus.
Offensive coach is the evangelist. They are all about scoring points, i.e. sharing the gospel, healing the sick, etc… to bring people into the Kingdom of Jesus.
Defensive coach is the pastor. They are all about stopping the opposing Kingdom from scoring points on you, i.e. caring for you, your family, marriage, etc… shepherding your well-being in Jesus.
Special teams coach is the prophet. They are all about demonstration in special ways, i.e. the power and prophetic voice of God to bring you deeper into Jesus.
Strength coach is the teacher. They are all about preparation and strengthening you for the game, i.e. getting you on the Word of God in various areas to shore up weaknesses and enable succeed while in the game.
Elders are responsible for player development not player dominion. Ephesians 4:11 “perfecting of the saints” means the maturing of the saints in Jesus. This is player development.
Philippians 2:1-8 should be our heart posture to all. Good coaches are there to help players succeed in the game! They are excited to see you score points and win victories for Jesus!
A healthy player view of an assistant coach is that they are there to help you grow and develop in the area they have been gifted as an assistant coach by Head Coach, Jesus.
Players should value coaches and coaches should value players as we respect and value the gifts each are to the collective team. Both coaches and believers play for and follow Jesus alone, the Head Coach. This is what the centrality of Jesus is all about.
Head Coach is Jesus. The assistant coaching staff should always be pointing everyone to Jesus as it relates to their respective role on the team. When Jesus blows the whistle, the assistant coaching staff and players should all come running to Him. He is responsible for His team. All eyes on Jesus at all times. 1 Peter 5:4 “…chief (head) Shepherd”
How can a coaching staff all be in unity on what is supposed to happen on a team (in a local church)? Set their personal agenda aside, yield to each other and all seek the Head Coach. If they’ll do that as a coaching staff, they will all hear the same thing from Jesus.
How can a local body all be in unity and hear the same thing from Jesus? If the elders will always point believers to Jesus, build them up in the “following and hearing” of Him for themselves, then we as a local body will all hear and be in unity over what Jesus is saying and what He’s doing in and for our local team.
PLAYERS
The goal is to have players on the foundation of Jesus, built up and partnered with the person of Holy Spirit. Each believer has their own function and assignment in the Kingdom. We are not robots! There are 11 roles on the offensive team, 11 roles on the defensive team, 11 roles on the Punt team, 11 roles on the Punt-return team, 11 roles on the Kick-off team and 11 roles on the Kick-return team.
What has Jesus put in your heart? Are you a running back? A defensive end? A special team kick-return player? A line-man that makes the way for other players?
Every player has a vital role on the team. The goal of coaches is to help get you off the bench, properly prepared and into the game of divine restoration for the role Jesus designed for you!
HOLY SPIRIT
In the football analogy, Holy Spirit is the Divine Coach in the tower watching the entire game. He can see everything…before the game, during the game and in advance of the game…and He sees it all at once. He has already watched next weeks and next month’s games…today. He knows EVERYTHING and His absolute necessity cannot be overstated.
In the NFL, the quarterback is allowed a microphone in his helmet to hear plays from the coach. In this game, every player has a microphone in their heart and can hear directly from Holy Spirit on what to do, what to say, where to be, where not to be and so on. Holy Spirit is both in the tower and in your heart at the same time.
We need to train our players to listen to the voice of Holy Spirit for themselves while in the game to achieve incredible results!
APOSTLES
The role of apostles is to establish new football team franchises as Jesus instructs them to and to initially lay the foundation of Jesus in that body. Once the “Dallas Cowboys” are established on the foundation of Jesus and local elders set in and commended to the Lord, apostles are looking to establish the “Tennessee Titans” as the Lord leads and so on. Apostles establish new franchises (new local bodies of believers) thus expanding the number of well-functioning, operational teams for use in the Kingdom, set on the foundation of Jesus Himself.
TEAM WORK
From Jesus’ perspective, who’s more important, coaches or players? That’s like asking an eagle which wing is more important, the left or the right? They are both equally important and necessary to Jesus. Without players, we don’t have a team. Without coaches, we don’t have player development for optimal performance and a team culture. We need both working together, valuing the various roles each member brings to make a winning team. All eyes on Jesus, our Head Coach.
LOCKER ROOM
The locker room are the four walls we gather in on a weekly basis. The church building, the living room or backyard where we meet is the locker room for the team to huddle around each other and Jesus, our Head Coach. This is where we are refreshed, recharged and rejuvenated to run back onto the field.
FIELD
When the whistle blows, believers run back onto the field. Our field contains our work relationships, coffee shops, community relationships, parking lots, laundry mats and yes, whatever formal ministry you may be a part of. Your “field” are the “people” you come across in your eco-system. The ministry of reconciliation is you engaging in the lives of people in your eco-system through Holy Spirit partnership for divine restoration. Jesus sent believers out in teams as well.
Luke 10:1-11
JERSEY
Jesus created teams and has team jerseys for us to wear. Your team jersey is called humility.
“Likewise, you younger, submit (yield) yourselves unto the elder. Yes, all (elders and believers) be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble.” I Peter 5:5
We are at our greatest danger of falling to pride after our biggest victories. Pride is one of the opposing teams “plays” they run against us. When a player scores a touch-down, it can be easy to take your jersey off and flex for the cameras! Don’t do it. Keep your team jersey of humility on.
Pride will separate you from the team by putting the focus on you. This makes you vulnerable and easy to pick off by the enemy. Remaining clothed in humility keeps you protected in the team and by Jesus Himself. Every victory in Jesus is a team victory; think of all that have poured into you over the years, all that have prayed for you, all that have co-labored with you and so on.
Jesus established teams. Jesus is on a Divine team Himself.
“GOD” IS A TEAM
“God” functions as a Divine team. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit are all “God”. Although THEY function as a Divine team, THEY each have different functional roles in the Kingdom and are yielded to each other.
This is an oversimplification, but I believe this will help.
God the Father’s is the Designer.
God the Son is the Financier.
God the Holy Spirit is the Administrator.
Yet, THEY all work together as a unified team.
God functions in a team.
Elders function in a team.
Apostles function in a team.
Believers function in a team.
Jesus is into teams.
A FINAL WORD
With every truth that the Lord restores to His Church, there is no condemnation for what we’ve missed along the way. But rather, Jesus offers us grace to step into what He is showing to us now. None of us have it all or know it all. If others are functioning in a more traditional manner, you can share what you see in the Word, but do not push or judge as that is NOT the heart of Jesus. I have many personal friends that are Pastors in more traditional churches. I love them! They are my friends! We are on the same team! And yes, we do ministry stuff together!
Remember, we may have some level of truth one area, but no person has it all in every area.
Although not intentionally, I am 100% certain I am / we are missing it in other areas right now because we only see in part and know in part.
Jesus does not tear down other team members or other local teams and neither should you. Value what they bring to the Kingdom. We all play for the Head Coach, let’s be great teammates to each other.
As an assistant coach (teacher), even when I’m operating at full capacity as a teacher, I can only equip and build-up people onto Jesus up to 20% maximum. Jesus gave five functional roles to the Church with each role bringing 20% (1 out of 5) to the body. Once I personally had this revelation, I recognized my extreme need to work on a coaching team for the betterment of each players holistic development.
Ultimately, this is not about the coaches but about the players! Jesus NEEDS you in the game. You've already been given permission and a Divine person for you to partner with to bring divine restoration in the lives of people. It’s time we get all players off the bench and into the game. Jesus has blown His whistle and He's signaled for YOU to get in the game, will you go?
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