Equipping Gifts

 

Welcome to Multiply; a podcast to encourage church planters, pastors and Christian leaders and I am Daneille Snowden.

As a Christian leader, we know that Jesus; “…gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 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." Ephesians 4:11 

God has a special purpose for each member in His Church! As stated in the VCP Reader Term 4, each church planter accepts the fact that we do not have all the equipping gifts. This is exciting because this unifies us all to work and flow together powerfully as one. 

Author Shirley Giles defines equip: “…as to supply with necessities such as tools or provisions, to furnish with the qualities necessary for performance.  It’s an action word—leaders are engaged in ministry, but their primary engagement is to use those gifts to engage others.” 

The first equipping gift listed is apostles. They are individuals that are sent out, especially to new areas. They are visionary in the ministry God has called them. [Read VCP Reader Term 4]

“The term apostle came from the Roman Empire. When the Roman Empire would conquer a city, instead of destroying it, they would send out apostles with the kingdom mindset to shift the government and how the city functions.” D. Kovalevich

Second is prophets. They are proclaimers of God’s Word and share it with others. They also equip others to be prophets. 

Third are the evangelists. They are the ones who share the Gospel of Jesus to many who have not heard the ‘Good News!’ They also equip other evangelists and send them off to evangelize.

Fourth are the pastors. They are the nurturing shepherds of the flock, the church. They guard and protect through God’s Word, His Love and prayer. They do this by preaching and teaching.

Fifth are the teachers! They are instructors, who clearly teach God’s Word. They equip the church to not only live in this world but be fully equipped to do God’s Work. 

The equipping gifts bring a unifying balance to the church, as it can then function as God created the church to be! 

I personally have enjoyed teaching on the equipping gifts throughout my ministry, as I did, I could see individual’s faces as they would lite-up with a revelation of what God has gifted them to do. 

Thank you for listening, please share this podcast with others. Our website is www.vcpencouragement.org, we are on Facebook and YouTube as well.