Equipping the Equippers

The topic of fivefold ministry—the apostle, prophet, teacher, pastor, and evangelist appointed by Christ to equip His church (Eph. 4:11)—was central to two movements in previous decades: the Shepherding Movement in the 1970s, and the New Apostolic Reformation in the 1990s and early 2000s. While both movements saw important elements of this ministry restored to the church, they also saw misunderstandings and abuses that prevented the fivefold from becoming more widely established in doctrine and practice. Yet a fresh wave of fivefold restoration is coming to the body of Christ—and with it, fresh understanding about why this ministry is so critical to the growth, health, and success of both the local and global church. In Equipping the Equippers, Dr. Jonathan Welton offers a wealth of insight accumulated through his study of and experience with the fivefold ministry, and presents biblical support for the following: • Each fivefold leader has a God-given metron to care for • Each fivefold leader has a unique measure of grace • Anointing and grace are not the same thing • Fivefold leaders “adjust the bones” in the body of Christ • According to Paul’s analogy, the fivefold functions as the waste and reproductive systems in the body of Christ • How to dismantle 11 common myths of fivefold ministry • Seven things that spiritual fathers and mothers should and shouldn’t be doing • All fivefold graces are available to both genders • How to begin to implement the fivefold in your local church The fivefold is not meant to come and go with movements, but to be forever established as the equipping ministry in the church. Equipping the Equippers will enable church leaders and believers alike to pursue the fivefold with solid biblical teaching and purpose, and most importantly, begin to receive a fresh flow of the fivefold graces in their lives and churches.