The Evangelist, The Pastor, The Teacher
The Evangelist
The office of the evangelist has the ability to preach about Jesus Christ with the power of God in demonstration. This office is gifted at getting people delivered, saved, and healed. A true evangelist will be anointed in a special way with the power of God and gifts of the Holy Spirit to set the captive free.
Satan has muddied the water in the church in regards to the ministry gifts for years to hinder God’s plan. In our circles, we seem scared to call someone what they are, so they fail to fully identify and embrace their calling. Dad Hagin wasn’t big on titles, but he did acknowledge his office.
In other circles, it seems that they call anything that moves some type of ministry gift or give them some kind of title, whether they are a ministry gift or not. That is just as wrong as in our circles not even acknowledging any ministry gift but the pastor, teacher or evangelist. Most of the time, what we call an evangelist really stands in the office of an exhorter or teacher or nothing because their are no gifts of the Spirit operating through them.
The Pastor
The office of the pastor is anointed to be the shepherd of God’s sheep in a local church body. They nurture, protect, and instruct Christians in the way they should believe, act and live their lives. I am convinced the pastor ought to be equipped with the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, and tongues and interpretation.
Pastors are responsible to be the example for the flock to follow, and they are responsible for taking the time to prepare themselves so they can follow the move of God’s Spirit. What often happens to some pastors is that when God does begin to move in their churches they draw back from the supernatural instead of guiding it correctly and finding out what God’s plan and purpose is for their church. Failing to follow God’s plan and move with Him kills the move of the Spirit. The church becomes dead and dry. I encourage pastors to seek God’s plan for their church and their services and allow the Holy Spirit to interrupt their plans.
Yes, we greatly need and appreciate our pastors, but if that is all you ever receive from you will never mature as a Christian. If you can mature with one ministry gift, the Bible is certainly a false document.
The Teacher
The office of the teacher has a divine ability to cause Christians to understand exactly what the Bible is saying about a certain subject or doctrine. They make the Word of God so plain that even the simple minded can comprehend it. Gifts of the Spirit operate through them also. They do not fulfill the office of teacher based on natural abilities or a knowledge of the Bible but rather by supernatural ability. Sunday School teachers are not the same as the teaching gift described in the Bible.
The teaching office is more important than working miracles or gifts of healings, because it is a foundational office in the church. Similar to other ministry gifts, the teaching gift is given to the teacher to minister to others, not to themselves. While the teacher may benefit from their own teaching, the gift is not for personal edification. Some teachers are called to teach Sunday school classes or other Bible study classes in their local church, while others are called to travel to churches across the country and minister to the broader body of Christ.
As Dad Hagin said, “Some teachers have missed it by thinking that because they are called to teach, that automatically means God wants them to minister throughout the Body of Christ at large. But God calls some teachers just to minister as a Sunday school teacher or a Bible teacher in some other capacity in their own local church.” Regardless of their call, God will anoint them in their ministry if they are faithful.
Anointed To Stand In More Than One Office
A person can stand in more than one office of ministry. A combination of the ministry gifts, operating through one individual, is used by the Lord to accomplish what He desires. Some apostles can stand in any of the five offices as the Lord wills, but just because someone is an apostle does not mean that would be true in their life. The Lord chooses whom He wants to use this way.
Will The Real Ministry Gifts Please Stand Up
There are a lot of people who proclaim that they are apostles, prophets, evangelist, pastors and teachers but they aren’t. They have brought much confusion and error into the church of Jesus Christ. The reason this has happened is because many of the real ones haven’t stood up.
All five gifts are needed to guide the Christian world because each one of them has a different anointing to accomplish a certain task in the church of Jesus Christ. Please pray that they will take their place and the Gifts of the Spirit will be in full manifestation. The church will come into the fullness of His Glory because we will seek His face and take our place in obedience to Him.
