The Five-Fold ministers are recognised by fruit; they are sustained by character. This Part addresses the qualities that must be present in those who carry these gifts. The character qualifications of an elder in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 apply with at least equal weight to the Five-Fold — anyone whom Christ has given to His Church for the equipping of the saints must walk in the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23) and meet the moral standards scripture lays out for those entrusted with the Body of Christ.
3.1 The Character Foundation — The Fruit of the Spirit
The fruit of the Spirit is the soil in which all gifts grow. Document 2 (The Theology of the Gifts) closes with a sustained treatment of this point and it bears repeating here. A Five-Fold minister whose ministry is gifted but whose life lacks love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, or self-control will eventually destroy what they are building. The gift becomes a weapon; the people are wounded; the body is scattered.
Galatians 5:22–23
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
The body recognises a Five-Fold gift; the body also weighs the fruit of the Spirit in the Saint who carries it. Where the gift is strong but the fruit is missing, the body should slow the recognition process — the maturity is not yet there. Where the gift is strong and the fruit is steadily growing, the body can confidently move ahead.
3.2 The Elder Qualifications Apply
1 Timothy 3:1–7 and Titus 1:6–9 list the qualifications for the elder office. Document 6 (Elder & Deacon Identification) Section 3.2 walks through each in operational depth. Those same qualifications apply substantially to any Five-Fold minister, because the trust placed in a Five-Fold minister is at least as great as the trust placed in an elder. A summary of the relevant qualities, with their bearing on the Five-Fold, is given here.
Above reproach / blameless
The Saint’s life is one that cannot be credibly accused. Past sins forgiven; present life walked in integrity; reputation in the body and outside the body intact. A Five-Fold minister whose life is open to credible scandal cannot bear the weight of equipping the saints.
Faithful in marriage
Document 6 Section 3.2 develops the “faithful to his wife” / “husband of one wife” language in detail. A married Saint walks in faithfulness to their spouse, in word and deed, in physical and emotional fidelity, in honour of the marriage covenant. The marriage is a public testimony that bears on every aspect of the ministry.
Temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach
These are the marks of mature character. Temperate — not excessive in any direction. Self-controlled — master of appetites and impulses. Respectable — worthy of the body’s esteem. Hospitable — open-hearted and open-handed with the body and the stranger. Able to teach — capable of giving instruction in sound doctrine, which is essential to any Five-Fold ministry because all five gifts involve speaking truth into the body in some form.
Not given to drunkenness, not violent, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money
The negative qualifications are equally important. The Five-Fold minister is not drunk, not violent in temper or hand, not a quarreler who divides the body, not a lover of money who turns the ministry into a means of personal gain. Each of these negatives has destroyed many gifted ministers; the body must weigh each carefully.
Manages his own household well
Document 7 (Household Governance) develops this in detail. The Saint’s household is a small picture of the Saint’s ministry capacity. A household in chaos, marriage in unaddressed conflict, children in open rebellion against the Saint’s leadership — these are not disqualifications by themselves in every season, but they are weighty matters that the body must consider. The eldership and the Five-Fold work outwards from a faithful household.
Not a recent convert
The Five-Fold gifts carry weight. A young convert with apparent gifting is to be developed, mentored, given time to grow. The body should not rush a young convert into a Five-Fold ministry that will expose them to pride beyond their capacity to bear (1 Timothy 3:6).
Good reputation with outsiders
Five-Fold ministers, especially those with itinerant or evangelistic ministries, are seen by people outside the church. Their reputation in the wider community is part of the body’s weighing.
Holds firmly to the trustworthy message
Titus 1:9. The Saint holds the doctrine that has been taught — not drifting, not adapting under cultural pressure, not adding novel revelation that supersedes scripture. They can encourage others in sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.
3.3 The Five Common Qualities Across All Five Gifts
Beyond the elder qualifications, there are five qualities that the body should expect to see across all Five-Fold ministers. These are not exhaustive; they are characteristic.
A. A life of prayer and fasting
Acts 13:2–3 is the foundational text — the Five-Fold are recognised in the soil of a worshipping, fasting body. Those who carry the gifts are themselves people of prayer. Anna fasted and prayed night and day (Luke 2:37). Paul was often in fasting (2 Corinthians 11:27). The body should expect a Five-Fold minister to be a person of substantial prayer life, not platform-only.
B. Submission to the local body
Even where the gift is itinerant, the Saint is sent by a local body and remains anchored in one. “They placed their hands on them and sent them off” (Acts 13:3). A Five-Fold minister who has detached themselves from a sending body, an eldership that knows them, peers who can correct them, is a Five-Fold minister at risk.
C. Teachability
All five gifts speak in some form. The discipline that protects the speaker from drift is the willingness to be taught — by scripture, by other Five-Fold ministers, by elders, by the body, by mentors. Apollos was “a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the scriptures” and yet Priscilla and Aquila took him aside and explained the way of God more accurately, and Apollos received it (Acts 18:24–28). Teachability is not weakness; it is the safeguard of a strong gift.
D. Faithfulness in lesser things
Five-Fold ministers emerge from prior faithfulness. Philip the deacon became Philip the evangelist (Acts 6:5, 21:8). Saul taught at Antioch for a year before being sent (Acts 11:25–26, 13:1–3). Timothy was Paul’s long apprentice before independent leadership. The body that recognises a Five-Fold gift looks for the trail of small faithfulnesses that preceded the visible ministry.
E. Burden for the Body, not for the platform
The Five-Fold exist for the Saints (Ephesians 4:12). Those who carry the gifts must love the Body more than they love the platform their gift gives them access to. Where the Saint’s burden is conspicuously for their own visibility, growth, brand, or following, the gift may be present but it is not yet operating in the New Testament pattern.
3.4 Distinctive Qualities by Role
Beyond the common qualities, each role carries distinctive marks the body should look for.
Apostles — pioneer’s heart, foundation-laying capacity, itinerant relational reach, spiritual authority that travels, fruitfulness in church planting or major Kingdom advance. See Section 2.1.
Prophets — sensitivity to the Spirit’s voice, boldness to speak, submission to scripture and to the weighing of the body, burden for the body’s holiness and direction, sustained prayer and fasting. See Section 2.2.
Evangelists — burden for the lost, effectiveness in personal gospel conversation, clarity in gospel articulation, boldness in opportunity, equipping reach. See Section 2.3.
Pastors (shepherds) — knows the sheep, feeds the body on the Word, watches against wolves, restores the wandering, bears the weight of souls in prayer, leads by example. See Section 2.4.
Teachers — love of the text, capacity to make the obscure clear, doctrinal grounding, discernment of false teaching, care for those they teach, willingness to be judged more strictly. See Section 2.5.
3.5 The Question of Gender
Document 6 Section 1.4 and Section 3.1 develop the gender question in detail across the Five-Fold gifts. The summary, drawn directly from there, is set out below for completeness. The full exegetical case is in Document 6 and should be read there.
- Apostles (the Twelve) — closed and all-male. Historical, foundational, not continuing as an open office.
- Apostles (continuing sent-one gift) — open in its broader function (church planting, sending, itinerant equipping); Junia named in Romans 16:7. Where the gift intersects formal elder authority over the gathered body of men, the elder restriction applies.
- Prophets — open without restriction. OT and NT name multiple women. Pentecost extends the prophetic Spirit to sons and daughters.
- Evangelists — open without restriction. The Samaritan woman, Mary Magdalene, the women supporting Jesus, Phoebe.
- Pastors (the Ephesians 4 lead-shepherd sense) — restricted to qualified men, same grounds as elder, because the gift is the same word and the same work.
- Shepherding capacity in its broader sense — mothers, older women per Titus 2, mercy ministry, marketplace discipleship — widely exercised by women.
- Teachers (women teaching women, children, in writing, individually, in mission, in mercy ministry, in dyads like Priscilla with Apollos) — open.
- Teachers (formal authoritative teaching of the gathered body of men, equivalent to the elder’s teaching role) — restricted, same grounds as elder. 1 Timothy 2:11–15.
The integrating principle, from Document 6: office restricted, gifts wide. The body actively recognises and releases women into the gifts they carry, while holding the formal eldership and the lead pastor-teacher role over the gathered body in the pattern scripture lays out.
3.6 The Cost the Gift Carries
Each Five-Fold gift carries weight, and the body should be honest with candidates about it before commissioning.
Apostles carry the weight of multiple bodies and the costs of pioneering. Paul lists his sufferings in 2 Corinthians 11:23–28. The apostolic call is rarely comfortable.
Prophets carry the cost of speaking hard words. Many of the Old Testament prophets paid with imprisonment, exile, or death (Hebrews 11:32–38). The New Testament prophet faces lesser but real costs.
Evangelists carry the rejection of those who refuse the gospel and, often, the misunderstanding of the body when the work is unglamorous or slow.
Pastors carry the souls of the body. The weight is borne in prayer and in tears (Acts 20:31). The pastor who does not feel the weight has either grown numb or is not yet pastoring in the New Testament sense.
Teachers carry the stricter judgement (James 3:1) and the responsibility for what the body believes. To teach the Word is to bear, in some sense, an account for those who receive the teaching.
The body should not flinch from naming the cost during the recognition process — not to discourage the Saint, but to ensure their eyes are open and their heart is ready.