Heaven’s Wineskin: The Five-Fold Ministry
By Jeremy Groves
My journey with the five-fold ministry paradigm began when the Holy Spirit drew me to pursue global revival. I've been privileged to experience the fruit of this paradigm firsthand and to travel, teaching and training others in the gifts and graces of the five-fold.
The Holy Spirit first introduced me to this concept several years ago, when I was praying about what the wineskin would look like that could sustain and multiply a global move of God. It's a journey that requires personal commitment and engagement from each of us.
The result of this seeking was the Holy Spirit revealing to me the biblical blueprint of the five-fold ministry, which I believe is Heaven’s wineskin for global revival and reformation.
This paradigm, with its transformative power, is not confined to a specific ministry structure, but it is a divine design that, when honored, can bring about profound change and bear abundant fruit.
Jesus shared a profound truth with his disciples in Luke 5:36-39:
"No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, 'The old is better.'" (NIV, 1973/2011)
Jesus shared this parable with his disciples after they asked him why they did not do the same things as the disciples of John the Baptist and the Pharisees. His response was revolutionary.
The parable of the new wine and old wineskins is a metaphor for the need for a new approach to ministry, one that is not constrained by old traditions and structures. Merriam-Webster's dictionary defines "revolutionary" as something or someone "constituting or bringing about a major or fundamental change” (Merriam-Webster, n.d.).
Jesus, the Son of God, did not come into the Earth through a woman to make minor adjustments to how his people had been doing things. Jesus had come to fulfill all that had been spoken by the law and the prophets about himself so that humanity could start anew in a brand-new covenant filled with radical transformation for all who would say yes to him.
Jesus came as a revolutionary to bring about significant changes in the way we live. He came to inaugurate a better covenant with better promises. He did not want us to continue trying to live up to an impossible moral standard.
He came to destroy the power of sin and death once and for all, so that He could give birth to His Church and release them into the world as His revolutionaries, bringing life and transformation everywhere they go. The truth Jesus was instilling in his disciples in this passage is that the old ways worked for a season, but the new has come.
The old and new have different purposes. They were both important for their time, but if they wanted to cling to the old, they would miss the endless possibilities available through the new. He told them to watch, learn, and follow him as he revealed a new wineskin to them, a new way of ministry and living as his covenant people.
In this context, the 'new wineskin' refers to a fresh approach to ministry, one that aligns with the teachings and example of Jesus. He was and still is today, revealing the wineskin of the Kingdom of God. Over the following few paragraphs, we will delve into some key elements of the new wineskin Church that Jesus inaugurated and how these truths are reflected in the modern Church.
Why the Five-Fold Ministry?
Throughout his ministry, Jesus was dismantling old-wineskin thinking in the disciples and building new-wineskin mentalities in them. These were the men God had chosen for Jesus to lead the Church through when he took his rightful place at his Father's right hand.
He taught them to be servant leaders, to love, to demonstrate His kingdom, to deliver the oppressed, and to heal the broken. He taught them his mission and their role in carrying it on. He called them apostles to reveal a new-wineskin perspective on ministry and to show them how he desired them to represent and carry out their mission. Jesus modeled the life and ministry he desired them to have.
In his short time with them, he taught them all they would need to begin their ministry, telling them that the Spirit would come and lead them to full maturity. Jesus modeled the five-fold ministry to show the disciples how they would build a healthy, fluid, and powerful ministry wineskin for the Church, equipping it to be well-established, multiply, and grow into maturity.
I believe the lack of the five-fold in our churches today is why we do not see more multiplication and maturity. Ephesians 4:11-16 describes the purpose of the five-fold ministry as equipping or aligning the saints with their heavenly callings, bringing them into unity, and building them up into the full maturity the Messiah desires for us, revealing and representing Him perfectly in every way.
The "doma" gifts of grace to the Body of the Messiah, described in Ephesians 4 and often referred to as the "five-fold ministry," are the offices of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher. Jesus operated in the fullness of the five-fold to model their function and reveal the standard of maturity required to operate in them well.
When Jesus ascended, he apportioned the fullness of his ministry to the five-fold ministry gifts. He sprinkled them with varying measures and purposes throughout his Church so that when they walk in unity, the fullness of his ministry is activated and released through his Church.
To see the fullness of the Messiah's ministry released, we must see unity among the five-fold offices, which are designed to function interdependently. A single five-fold minister can never manifest the fullness of the Messiah's ministry.
We are designed to do it together. The five-fold offices are designed to walk in unity, modeling a surrendered and obedient lifestyle for the saints of God, equipping them with five-fold grace. The byproduct of this understanding and practice will be a unified, mature, five-fold Church manifesting the fullness of the Messiah's ministry on Earth.
The Five-Fold Offices Defined: An Army Fit for War
I aim to summarize the primary graces and functions I have observed in scripture and experience that flow through the five-fold ministry offices and then illustrate how they can work together to fulfill their mission. I will initially say that I believe men and women can operate in the five-fold offices, and that it is not man who calls, trains, and appoints them; rather, God does, alongside our partnership.
First, I define the office of an apostle as someone entrusted with great spiritual authority because they are submitted to God's authority and sent out as ambassadors of Heaven with the call to disciple nations or people groups. They have an extraordinary vision for God's purposes and the grace and authority to gather, equip, and send the saints to fulfill those purposes, establishing Heaven on Earth.
Second, I define the office of a prophet as someone graced and authorized to speak on behalf of the Lord with great authority, revealing the heart and mind of the Lord for people and nations. They align the saints with what Heaven is saying and equip them to hear for themselves so that they can express the heart and mind of the Lord in their areas of influence.
Third, I define the office of an evangelist as someone graced with the passion of Jesus for those disconnected from the love of the Father, who is enabled and sent by God as "covenant connectors" to seek out and bring the lost sheep home to the fold and their Good Shepherd. They are tasked with equipping the saints with the anointing for harvest and igniting fires of passion for the lost, launching laborers into the harvest field.
Fourth, I define the office of a pastor as someone anointed by God to bind up the brokenhearted, reinforcing their acceptance by a saving, healing, loving Father. They are anointed to be in the day-to-day with the saints, bringing them into healthy relationships in every context, endeavoring to "feed the sheep" and ensure the flock is well-tended and cared for. They equip others to do the same.
Fifth, I define the office of a teacher as someone anointed to uncover profound truth and partner with the Holy Spirit to establish the Church in healthy and doctrinally solid practice. They may not be the ones to lay the bricks, but they can tell us what they are made of and where they should be laid to ensure the structure's solid structural integrity.
They are powerful in discipleship, establishing the Word in people's lives, and bringing freedom from bondage and barriers to growth in the Messiah. They are very good at equipping the Body to take ownership of their pursuit of the truth that makes them free.
These are my simplistic personal definitions of the five-fold ministry offices. I touched on the importance of unity within the five-fold earlier, and now I want to share a quick illustration that gives a vision of the different roles and how they work together to accomplish their mission.
I have heard the Body of Christ likened to an army, and recent revelation has brought that truth to reality as we have discovered that every believer is called to take their place within God's army so that we can effectively bring transformation to the world.
The apostle is like a military general, with overall battle plans and a strategic vision for leading the army to victory. The prophet is like the scout who goes behind enemy lines, gathering intelligence and assessing the situation for the field general, so that they can formulate an informed strategy to accomplish their objectives.
The evangelist is like the recruiter who goes out and looks for capable men and women to connect them to the overall mission of the army and then walks them through the enlistment process.
The recruiter then hands the recruits over to the drill sergeant or the teacher who trains and establishes them in the operations of the army, so that they can accomplish their mission.
The pastor is the medic, the one running alongside the soldiers as they are engaged in battle and tending to their wounds to help them regain strength to return to the fight. All these roles working together produce a well-functioning army capable of winning the war at hand.
God’s Solution for the Present Hour: A Wineskin Reformation
I believe God has been working in this hour of history to bring unity and maturity to His Church through the five-fold ministry, without which I do not believe full maturity could ever come.
Over the last seventy years, he has progressively restored the revelation and practice of the five-fold offices and the everyday believer's role as a competent minister of the Gospel. Over the last thirty years, we have witnessed the resurgence of the apostolic ministry and its significant role today, leading to a global surge in church growth.
The late Dr. C. Peter Wagner in “Apostles Today” coined it as the "New Apostolic Reformation," saying, "It is a 'reformation' because we are currently witnessing the most radical change in the way of 'doing church' since the Protestant Reformation” (2012, p. 9).
I believe this reformation of the Church is the key to sustained revival, reformation, and cultural transformation. Why? The apostolic anointing is uniquely equipped to discern Heaven's blueprint for the Church and build it on earth, and I believe Heaven's blueprint is the five-fold ministry.
The re-emergence of the apostolic ministry that Jesus set in his Church to establish and release the five-fold ministry marks the return of "Heaven's wineskin." When we have a New Testament model, we receive New Testament fruit.
This explains why we have seen an acceleration in recent years in revival, reformation, and cultural transformation. Our wineskins are changing to receive God's "new wine" and not burst. Let the new wine come, Lord!
I believe God is calling me to partner with His five-fold plan by pursuing a deeper understanding of it and how to implement it to bring forth the full maturity of the kingdom within my areas of influence.
Discovering this paradigm and experiencing its fruit has inspired me to continue seeking the five-fold gifting within people God has entrusted to me and to provide them with avenues of expression to release their grace for the benefit of the Body, especially among our currently established five-fold team.
I am also sobered to dig deeply into my own apostolic anointing and to pursue greater measures of maturity to accurately and powerfully represent the One who has sent me forth.
Now more than ever, I am emboldened to pursue "Heaven's wineskin" and pay whatever price necessary to see it brought into full recognition and maturity in our present day. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for the five-fold ministry. Let your Kingdom come and your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven!
References
Holy Bible: New International Version. (2011). Zondervan. (Original work published 1973)
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Definition of revolutionary. Retrieved March 25, 2023, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/revolutionary
Wagner, C. P. (2012). Apostles today. Chosen Books.