Surreal! That is what the last 3 and a half months have been. It started with a spur-of-the-moment decision to spend two weeks in Egypt on our way to the USA for our son’s wedding! We spent 3 weeks in the USA only to return to have to pack up our home of the last 11 years within 2 weeks and move to our new home. It was a good time but clearly messed up my writing rhythm! Sorry to all those who have been waiting patiently; I hope this post doesn’t disappoint!
The process of packing up one’s home allows one to engage in a bit of introspection. It is amazing what you collect and store over the course of many years in a single home. Many people have experienced the dilemma of having to gauge what “stuff” do they keep, what “stuff” do they toss and, very importantly, what new “stuff” do they purchase to match the new home. And we experienced the exact same process, having to face up to the hoarding that we had done over the years (without realizing it!). We had to ask “what do we get rid of and what do we need to buy to fill the house”. The outcome of the process is often determined by what the new home can accommodate in terms of space, what of our old stuff holds enough value to us to be taken with and lastly after we have tossed and reviewed what the home can accommodate, what new items need to be purchased.
As I sat wrestling with this, I realised that it is exactly the same with our doctrines, theologies and world views! We often talk about God doing a new thing or bringing a shift, or bringing new perspective and there is nothing wrong with that. Still, we fail to realize (until it is too late) that once we decide to follow the path to the new, it inevitably, at some point, brings us to the place where we are challenged to review our closely held theologies and our world views that have served us well in our past. We are confronted with the fact that the new place or shift in God often doesn’t accommodate what we have learnt and accumulated in our past.
Often, just like the baggage from our old homes, there is no place for some of our old theologies and thoughts in our new “home”. And we come to crossroads in our journey with God where the only way we can make a move to the new is when we “toss” aside some of those dearly beloved thoughts and teachings that we have accumulated over many years!
With the benefit of this insight, I want to pose the question, “what is the role of what is commonly called the Ephesians 4 gift ministries in the context of the new understanding that God is releasing regarding the Ekklesia”? Asked differently, “is it not time that we “toss” aside some of what we have been taught on the subject and allow God to shift our paradigms and understanding, ushering in something fresh and new, something that can be accommodated in our new “home”?”
Ephesians 4:11 states “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds (Pastors) and teachers,12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood,[c] to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” (ESV)
If we view this passage in light of Ekklesia, which is a community of Gods people, ruling and governing in specific spheres of culture we see the following:
Because the Ephesians 4 gifts are to equip the body the equipping needs to empower the Ekklesia in all spheres of culture and not just in our traditional church understanding. If the intention behind the Ephesians 4 gifts’ is meant to build up the Ekklesia, then the focus of the Ephesians 4 ministry should be directed towards all the mountains of culture and not just the religious one. There should be an empowering of people to govern in the gates and not simply contribute towards successful church services that only encourage one cultural sphere. Ephesians 4 gifts are meant to speak truth that allows the Ekklesia to grow. When we consider this from the new understanding of Ekklesia it means that the the words or truth spoken by Ephesians 4 ministries need to unlock kingdom desires, destinies and purposes within Ekklesia so that the kingdom comes into the all the spheres of culture of today. Therefore our preaching needs to shift from simply building up our local churches and possibly our “apostolic” streams, to empowering and encouraging the members of our local churches to rule in the gates of divinely assigned spheres of influence.
There has to be a shift in the way leadership of churches function, and it starts with Ephesians 4 gifting’s asking the question, “does what I am doing now by way of teaching, preaching and advocating actually encourage and empower the Ekklesia to discover and unlock the kingdom in all spheres? Or is it simply just focussing on the religious mountain to which I as an individual may be called to?”
If the principle of “every joint supplying what it needs to builds up the body into maturity” is to be followed, then I believe it is time to be bold and look at our worldview of Ephesians 4, to cast aside that which is not accommodated in the new shift that God is asking us to make. We need to seek the Father to help us acquire new outlooks on the role and function of Ephesians 4 gifts in the context of His kingdom. If we want to really impact society in this present moment, we need Ephesians 4 gifts to gain a kingdom perspective. A perspective that unlocks and doesn’t restrain the full potential of the Ekklesia by recognising God is actually interested in cultural points besides what we term “church”. This perspective should recognise Father has anointed and called many amongst the Ekklesia to exercise authority and influence in these other cultural gates. As Moses cried to Pharaoh “let me people go” so I believe the Lord is asking the same of many Ephesians 4 ministries & church leaders at this moment:
“Let my people go.”
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living from Eternity 
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