Ephesians 4: 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 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.
Those of us in North american Church may know the ministry gifts but we may not have had opportunity to see them functioning together. Seeing the ministry gifts operating together is a beautiful, magnificent glorious pleasure. Most churches that I have been to do not have all of the ministry gifts in leadership. O it would be awesome if they were altogether!
Mostly we know Pastors who teach us and who lead us in the sacraments (water baptism, communion, marriage, baby dedication, burial etc) and care for us personally. The truth is most pastors have a teaching ministry. Some Pastors have a strong prophetic anointing.
I have been privileged to receive much from a Pastor who was a Prophet. He would be teaching and preaching a sermon and be moved on by God with a word of wisdom, or word of knowledge and he would call out people and pray over them. These pastors preach sermons that reach into the depths of your being - not just you but all the congregation.
An Apostolic Pastor is a mighty miracle working dynamite of faith. This type of Pastor teaches with an authority rarely discerned. The person is a Pastor of Pastors. He or she has an anointing to gather people, organize efforts, care for churches - plural - churches. In denominations they are sometimes called Leaders or Overseers but the truth is they care for all the churches in their sphere of influence and can effectively rally people for the purposes of Christ. Signs and wonders are evident when an Apostle is preaching. Demonstrations of God's glory follow the preached word. also, many people decide to commit themselves to ministry because of them. They are so excited about God - other people are inspired and ignited for service.
An Evangelistic Pastor will always be leading his or her sheep into Missionary endeavors. This person will often give salvation calls at church and also be able to gather people for missionary trips. I had one pastor who used to take the youth group on missionary trips regularly during March break or during summer. During their youth service - often he would assign the teenagers places throughout the city to pray. He would sometimes take the youth group to preach downtown on Friday nights -witnessing to people lined up going to bars or the movies. This pastor's heart was to share Christ and train and equip others to share Christ with as many people as possible.
Each pastor has a heart for the sheep. He or she cares for the people in the congregation and as the scripture teaches would lay down his or her life for the sheep. This person prays for the church; gives spiritual nourishment to the church; builds it; cares about all different kinds of people and knows he or she answers only to God. This compels him or her to live an excellent life of service. All pastors are servants of Jehovah. They are people oriented - they care about people.
Knowing your Pastors giftings may be something you didn't realize before. pray for your pastor. pray for his or her giftings to be developed. pray for his or her influence and that he or she will train, equip and build up the Body of Christ. In this way, not only will you be knowing the gifting - this is a key to receiving the blessings of the giftings, but you will also be praying blessing, protection and encouragement on someone who has given his or her life to serve God.
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