Neglecting the Five-fold Ministry in Your Foundation

2010 leaders must be built for the long term. It starts with a strong foundation laid through discipline, training, and trials of life with men and women of character imparting into that life.

We are in a season of building solid foundations and repairing faulty foundations in business and ministry. Eph. 2:19-22 says the church is ‘built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus as the chief cornerstone’. Every church and ministry foundation should have the apostolic and prophetic ministries along with the central focus of Jesus Christ as their foundation for ministry.

According to Eph. 4:9-14 there are 5 key ministries involved in building the church: apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher. The two most overlooked in the modern church are the apostolic and prophetic ministries. Apostles are leaders with the big picture in mind and focused on the ‘kingdom’ perspective of the church. Prophets speak to specific situations revealing a divine strategy or warning of a curve in the road ahead.

Unfortunately much of the church and business does not recognize apostles and prophets, thereby ignoring the importance of the foundation to the long term durability of the structure. They are building a structure designed to crumble.

I encourage you to inspect your leadership foundation. Is it built for the long term? Is it intact or does it need some crack repair? Do sections of your spiritual foundation need to be reconstructed? Do you have a ‘Christ’s kingdom’ perspective or is it more about ‘your kingdom’? Can you see and predict the curves in the road ahead?

But Praise God!!! If you find some cracks all is not lost! The Lord will use it for good as you begin the repair. Seek out the apostolic and prophetic ministry to help with the repair. His Word says that ‘we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose’ (Rom. 8:28) and so repair the cracks will work out for your good. God desires to mend, restore, and repair His people and His church.