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Five-fold Ministry
When asked what kind of church is The Rock of Northwest Arkansas, I am put in a position to limit us to an existing denominational affiliation or the all-inclusive and rather nebulous “non-denominational” category. The truth is that we probably contain elements of many of these previously defined expressions but believe that there is more and that we are not to camp around any iron-clad doctrinal position. To state it plainly and succinctly, The Rock of Northwest Arkansas is a five-fold ministry ecclesia.
While most people would struggle to understand what is a five-fold ministry, one would only have to go as far as Ephesians 4 to read that Yahshua gave to the ecclesia (church), some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. He gave these ministry offices to the ecclesia for the purpose of equipping and perfecting the saints for works of ministry and building up and maturing the body of Christ. It is my firm belief that each of these ministry offices, presents and demonstrates the five-faceted anointing of Yahshua, the Christ.
The overall consensus today in the church is that there are no more apostles and prophets. Today’s church is willing to receive pastors, teachers, and evangelists as long as they are under the controlling authority of a board or council. In my opinion, this is the very reason that the church has had to become program oriented with the goal of entertainment rather than coming to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of Yahweh, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
The Rock of Northwest Arkansas is also an ecclesia, not to be confused with a church. As I mentioned previously, the church of today is program oriented and entertainment driven. The desire to see how many people can be assembled together has skewed the vision of the church and caused it to forfeit its ultimate purpose of expressing and establishing the Kingdom of Yahweh on the earth as it already exists in the heavens. The church is to be an intercessor, bridging the expanse between the spiritual realm of Yahweh’s perfection and the natural realm of man’s chaos.
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Posted: 04/22/2008 16:05
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