I grew up in a classical Pentecostal church and I am so grateful for my heritage in the faith. I learned so much about the gifts of the Spirit, the moving of the Spirit, and the conviction of the Spirit. There were so many things that were so foundational in the development of my theological belief system. During this time-frame, the church in general was primarily focused on getting people to accept Christ so they would not spend eternity in hell. One of the things that the church failed to properly steward was the importance of equipping people to grow up into all things in Christ. For this reason, the church produced Christians that were more focused on getting to heaven instead of expanding the Kingdom of God in the earth. I truly believe that we are entering a time of reformation in the church where our priorities are shifting from normal church settings into equipping centers.
In Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus, he details how the New Testament church was to operate in the development of the life of the believer. Ephesians 4:11-16 reads, And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. A healthy church will always produce healthy believers, and a healthy church begins with one that will accept and celebrate all 5 offices of the five-fold. It is only when we are willing to accept these offices and the way they function together that we can properly equip the saints to work in the ministry they’ve been called to.
For too many years the church has been known as a gathering place, but there is a wind of change that is blowing in the church that is creating houses that are more focused on sending than gathering. The five-fold was given to the church as gifts from Christ, and their primary focus is to equip and edify the body. The word edify means to be “thoroughly furnished.” We must become intentional about making sure that each believer is thoroughly furnished with everything that was made available through the finished work of Christ. When the church becomes deliberate in their pursuit of equipping the saints, the body will become the image bearers of Christ throughout the whole earth. Equipping centers will be a place where people can be taught how to walk in the gifts of the Spirit and how to produce the fruit of the Spirit. It will be a place where ministry will be completed by more than the pulpit. The kingdom will be manifested through the body, which will pull them into full maturity. This is the essence of what Jesus meant when He gave the great commission of disciplining nations.
One of the greatest differences found in an equipping center is those in leadership teach and equip everyone to hear the voice of the Lord. If the five-fold is doing their jobs properly, they will not just prophesy over the church, but they will teach the church how to prophesy. People that are truly hungry for a deeper relationship with God will be drawn to these equipping centers. I have made a decision concerning the direction that I want my local church and all the churches that I plant to look like. The early church in the book of Acts properly modeled what equipping centers are seeking to become. We will be more focused on raising up and sending out leaders than we will be known for trying to build large congregations. To do this well, we will need to intentionally teach the people of God to hear and think for themselves, and not be so dependent on the leadership of the local assembly to hear God for them.
As we walk this new model out, we must stay humble and passionate in our pursuit of biblical truth. We must be willing to be vulnerable before the church as we navigate this new territory and let them know that a lot of this new paradigm is brand new to us as well. This will go directly against the pride and arrogance of narcissistic leaders that want people to be solely dependent upon them. These are exciting and transformative times for the church, because we are seeing the rise of these equipping centers that will mirror the New Testament church.
John Purcell