This week we wrap up our series on the APEST gifts found in Ephesians 4 and discuss the Evangelist, Shepherd, and Teacher gifts. If you haven't listened to part 1 yet, check it out first. If you don't know what your gifting is, a good place to start is fivefoldministry.com.

Evangelist

The primary concern of evangelist is helping the community to incarnate the good news in their neighborhood.  They help to cultivate a welcoming environment that helps the community practice hospitality as a way of life.  They invite the congregation to proclaim the good news by being witnesses and being redemptive agents in their vocation and neighborhood.  They help the community to live and share the good news.

Shepherd

The primary concern of soul healers is helping people to pursue wholeness and holiness.  They do this by cultivating a healing environment where people feel safe to be real and move from their false selves toward authentic community. They create a sense of family and belonging, helping the congregation to love one another, encourage one another, exhort one another, get along with each other, comfort one another as well as play with one another.  They help the community cultivate a life-giving spirituality and embody reconciliation.

Teacher

The primary concern of teachers is that the community inhabits the sacred text.  They create a learning environment where people immerse themselves in the scriptures in order to be formed by them.  They seek to help people understand God’s narrative so that they may live faithfully in God’s story and become signposts of the New Creation.  They also have a keen eye for structures and how things could get done best.