NEW CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: Ephesian 4 Ministers

Introduction
In the three years Paul’s team was in Ephesus he established a church, which continued to dramatically influence the world church for centuries to come. The vitality of the Ephesian church is perhaps best captured in Acts 19:10: “And this took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.”

During his time in Ephesus not only did this church thrive and reproduce churches, but church planters from that city went out and planted churches throughout the whole province of Asia. When Paul’s team exited Ephesus after 3 years the church seems to be at a level of maturity not seen by any of the other churches Paul had planted. Not only had bands of church planters been sent out and penetrated all of Asia, but elders had been ordained, deacons put in place, and the Ephesian 4 ministries were effectively functioning in the city and likely in the churches of the Province of Asia. (See addendum at the end of this chapter for an overview of church leadership.)

How did he do this? Our experience has been far from this. This chapter will attempt to look at the complex interconnection of the leadership structure and function of the church in Ephesus and how it was able to produce such a thriving community. In this chapter I will relate how my own thinking has evolved in my journey from Rhode Island to England which led to a more thorough study and hopefully understanding of Paul church planting model in Ephesus.

The Failure and Resulting Questions
Why had we not seen these results in our efforts in Rhode Island? One reason is that in Rhode Island the church planting team used Paul and Barnabus’ experience in Galatia (Acts 14) as normative. We were very concerned that the authority of the church planting team should not supplant that of the elders they would appoint. We believed (and still believe!) that the elders were the final authority appointed by God to oversee His church (Cf. Acts 20:17,28).

As we looked at Paul and Barnabus on their first missionary journey in Galatia they seemed to move quickly along from one city to another. They would gather believers into communities of faith and then move on, eventually returning to appoint elders in ever city and then exiting (Cf. Acts 13 and 14, especially 14:23). Certainly with such a strategy where the church planters were often absent the role and authority of the elders would be protected from being usurped by the apostolic team. With this as a guide our strategy in Rhode Island was to plant a church, appoint elders and then exit as soon as possible. The team’s task was done once elders were appointed.

What we found, though, was that shortly after the team would exit, momentum would be lost and growth and reproduction would slowly be arrested. If the team worked back into the churches then momentum would often return. But then the team would never really exit. So what was the missing ingredient? How were we failing to get to spontaneous expansion of the church without the ongoing direct aid of a church planting team?

Ephesian 4 Ministries as a Key to Reproduction
When I moved to England God began to impress upon me, from my contact with British church planters, another key ingredient in reproducing that I had missed for years while laboring in Rhode Island. When I moved to England it seemed like everyone wanted to know my position on the Ephesian 4 ministries. I had no position because I had not even considered that the list was any more then just a component of all the spiritual gifts lists. After all, the list only appears once in the New Testament (Ephesians 4:12) with an imperfect echo in I Corinthians 12:28.

As I became more exposed to the thinking of these British church planters, however, as well as reviewing Paul’s progressive church planting evolution, I became persuaded of the critical importance of these gifted people in enabling the church to sustain vital growth and reproduction after the apostolic team had exited.

In Ephesians 4:11-16 Paul specifies that “apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers” are given “to equip the saints for the work of service…from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies…causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.” (For the sake of avoiding some of the mistaken connotations of the words “apostles” and “pastors”, I will often use “church planter” for apostle and “shepherd” for pastor below.)

In this passage Paul emphasizes that every member of the body, every regenerate follower of Christ, has a crucial ministry for the maturing of Christ’s church. The gifted ones in Ephesians 4:11 are NOT the ministers of the church, but the equippers of the ministers. And every saint is called to be a minister. Hence these gifts are critically important to the equipping of all the various ministers in the church so that they can function as healthy body. These gifted people are thus a critical key for reproduction.

The Planting of the Church in Ephesus
In the first stage of church planting it seems very clear that the apostles (which lead the list) set the pace of equipping all the saints. The team would have practiced the equipping ministries of Ephesians 4:11 as they planted the church. They would have evangelized and gathered the early groups which would become the house churches in a city (Cf. Acts 18:5-8; Acts 19:1-8). They were responsible for getting God’s mind for the church and declaring it to them (e.g. prophecy. See Acts 20:20,27-31). They would have taught the believers (Acts 20:20), and they would have shepherded the flock until new shepherds were raised up (Acts 20:31-38). Hence all the Ephesian 4 ministries were carried out initially by the members of the apostolic team.

In Paul’s team’s extended time in Ephesus, it seems like the first year was given over to planting a network of house churches, and then further training the elders (Compare Acts 20:31 with 19:10).

The next two years the team apparently gave themselves to developing a network of teams that went out and evangelized all the province of Asia (Acts 19:9-10). Although the core of the team remained in Ephesus during this time, Paul set up shop at the school of Tyrannus where he could focus on the broader, strategic issues of reaching all Asia with the gospel. Doing this outside of church meetings and life would allow the Ephesian church, and its eldership, to continue to develop without disruption while the apostolic team focused on the broader work in all of Asia.

Paul held a full time job during this time of ministry, having set up a tent making business with Aquila (Cf. Acts 18:2,3; 20:34f). So probably his time at the school of Tyrannus was during the heat of the day when the school was not in session. We should not think of it as Paul setting up a school. Here, during the siesta, he could meet with whoever was in town, and thus leaders of outlying churches (like Philemon) could visit him as well as these other roving church planting teams that would go out and return as needed to the surrounding towns of Asia. Of course he was always available for informal consultation at his tent making stand!

Paul continued to equip the leaders of Ephesus during the last two years of his ministry there (Cf. Acts 20:31). I also I think it was during these last two years that he built in this latest innovation in his church planting strategy; the Ephesians 4 ministries. Some of the driving force for this could have been in response to the fragmentation amongst the house church networks of Corinth (Cf. I Corinthians 3:1-5) which of course happened during his stay at Ephesus. The Ephesian 4 ministries would enable greater cross-pollination between house churches and thus cooperation and balance would result, rather than fragmentation. Traveling Ephesian 4 ministers would bring greater interdependence and cooperation between the churches.

Eventually Paul’s team exited Ephesus (Acts 20:4f) with a large number of new team members (apostles) who likely operated in multiple teams in coordination with Paul’s team. Acts 16:40-18:5 shows that Paul previously used his team to work in multiple cities at the same time, in this case leaving small teams in Philippi (Luke and Titus(?)), and Berea (Silas and Timothy). This would give great flexibility in responding to new initiatives of the Spirit.

When the team exited Ephesus they left behind a church for which we have more data than on any other New Testament churches. As I have studied the various passages which give insight into the church structure at Ephesus (Acts, Ephesians, 1, 2 Timothy, Colossians, Revelation) I am amazed at the complexity of the model. In our modern, western model of church we like simple, hierarchical structures. But Paul’s model seems much more complex and integrated in different dimensions. Part of this is due to the non-centralized structure of an underground church.

Ephesian 4 Ministries Operating in the Context of Local Elders and Deacons
The church in a large city like Ephesus would have consisted of a cluster of house churches. It seems like the elders of these churches would have been seen as the “elders of the church in the city” as opposed to the “elders of individual house churches”. I am not sure that the concept of “individual” house churches would have even entered the mind of the early church. The favorite phrase for these house churches is “the church meeting in the home of…”. So if we think of the church in the city as the basic entity of church, then meetings of this church would have been seen as occurring in homes. The whole church in the city likely seldom, if ever, met all together. So the early church would have looked very different from our modern churches.

The elders were responsible for overseeing the whole church. Part of their responsibility would be to make certain that the spiritual gifts God had given to His whole church were used throughout the church in the city (if not the province). In a church meeting in a home there certainly would not have been all the spiritual gifts present. So a home church might need gifts from other home churches in the city. Therefore there would have been a good deal of interaction between the various home churches, as gifted people from one house church would have been called on to use their gifts in other house churches. The elders would have been responsible for the oversight of the church in the city so that there would have been equity as the whole church was cared for. This I think is the genesis behind the Ephesian 4 ministries.

In this type of model we could liken the elders to the immune system of the church. They were responsible for the overall protection and care of “the church in Ephesus” (Acts 20:28). They would have had full time jobs (Acts 20:34f), family obligations (I Timothy 3:4f) as well as ministry obligations. They would have needed a lot of help from their deacon helpers. But the elders seemed to be finally responsible before God for the oversight and care of the church in Ephesus.

Deacons were recognized as helpers to the elders (I Timothy 3:8-13). It appears there were men and women deacons (v. 11, Romans 16:1f), whereas elders seemed to be only men (I Timothy 3:1, Titus 1:5). It seems like the older, women deacons were responsible for the younger women (I Timothy 3:11, Titus 2:3-5) and the men oversaw the men. The deacons likely carried a lot of responsibility for the day to day care and operation of the local house churches.

This bring us to the new dimension of ministry in the city church of Ephesus: equippers of the saints to carry out the equipping of the saints which was so necessary for a vital, reproducing church where every member was equipped and expected to minister (Ephesian 4:11,12). Once the apostles, who had once carried on the equipping ministries of prophecy, evangelizing, shepherding and teaching, had exited, their needed to be local people who were recognized to continue these equipping ministries. Other apostles would have either exited with the team being new “sent ones” (Acts 20:4f) or would have started new teams to go to the unreached areas.

It was the place and practice of these Ephesian 4 ministries that we had failed to grasp in Rhode Island. We, as an apostolic team, certainly understood that we were responsible to equip the saints so that the church could function in our absence. And we did so. But we did not realize that we had made no provision for ongoing equipping after we left by recognizing Ephesian 4 ministers who would carry on this crucial developmental work. Looking back it is no wonder that when the team left, momentum was lost for growth and reproduction. And likewise when we returned momentum was regained.

These gifted prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers, were developed in their local house churches, and were further equipped by the apostolic team. After being recognized by the team and elders they would have ministered beyond their local house church, equipping the members of other house churches (“the whole church” Eph. 4:16), to serve effectively. These were the folks (men and women) who assured that the church would continue to reproduce and fill the land! Even though Paul’s apostolic team, the first Ephesian 4 equippers, had left, they left behind those who were responsible for the ongoing equipping for the saints for works of ministry. In the years after the team had exited, the Ephesian 4 ministers would have continued to reproduce themselves as well as equipped the saints so that the vitality of the church could continue.

These Ephesians 4 servants would have been leaders as they led in the area of reproductive equipping. These leaders would have been different than the elders, probably not having formal authority in the churches since they operated under the authority of the elders. But they would have exerted considerable influence. We could think of the Ephesian 4 ministers as the circulation system of the body, bringing nutrients and oxygen to the various cells (house churches) so that growth and reproduction could happen. They would have operated under the authority of the elders, and yet been leaders in their own right. Because of the fact that they operated under the authority of the elders, I see no restriction on whether these Ephesian 4 servants were men or women. I think both operated in the church of Ephesus.

So we have evolved in our thinking so that no longer do we feel that the task of the team is done when we have a small cluster of house churches with a recognized eldership. Instead the task is complete when the Spirit has brought sufficient critical mass:
to produce a cluster of house churches,

• ordained elders and deacons to effectively care for and protect the churches
• recognize Ephesian 4 ministers for ongoing equipping of every saint to serve in building the body of Christ and carrying out the great commission.