"Male" and "female" ministries in the Church - fivefold ministry

This article describes which of the five ministries listed in Ephesians 4:11 are portrayed as "male ministries" by the Scriptures and which are portrayed as "female ministries". The Holy Spirit wants us to differentiate between the two types of ministries in order to understand what has gone wrong in the Church up until now and to understand the Lord’s prophetic purposes for us in these latter days.

We will share about the spiritual implications of "male" and "female" ministries in future articles.

Index
Samuel's five siblings
"Male" and "female" functionality

1. The role of an apostle
2. The role of a prophet
3. The role of an evangelist
4. The role of pastors
5. and teachers

Samuel’s five siblings
"And the LORD visited Hannah, so that she conceived, and bare three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before the LORD" (1 Samuel 2:21)

This passage says that the Lord visited Hannah after she gave Samuel over to the Lord at the temple, and that she conceived and gave birth to 3 sons and 2 daughters. It is interesting to note that the Bible never mentions these 5 siblings of Samuel ever again. Why, then, would the Holy Spirit inspire the writer of 1 Samuel to record this in Scripture?

They are there as a figure of the fivefold ministry in Ephesians 4:11:

"And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers" (Ephesians 4:11)

Samuel's 5 siblings are a prophetic figure of the restoration of all 5 ministries in the latter days, since Samuel himself is a prophetic figure of the remnant Church that the Lord will raise up in these latter days to manifest the latter-rain glory. Why are there 3 male siblings and 2 female siblings? Which of the 5 ministries have a "male" functionality and which have a "female" functionality?

"Male" and "female" functionality
To answer this, we first have to ask ourselves the following question, "In a traditional couple, what is the role of the man and the woman?" The man's traditional role is generally to go out and work and acquire provisions for the family, while the woman's traditional role is generally to stay home and to administer and nurture that which the man has gone out to acquire. The man's role (in a figurative sense, of course) is a role of "outward projection" and of "bringing home things", while the traditional woman's role would be one of "staying home" and of "nurturing and administering".

Please don't misunderstand me when I speak of a woman's role in this sense. The Lord has spoken to me about what He will do with women in these latter days.

There is prophetic Word in the Scriptures that shows that God will restore the ministry of women in these days and that He will raise up mighty female apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Galatians 3:28 clearly declares that, in Christ (in other words, in the "Anointed One"), there is neither male nor female. In other words, when a person moves in the Anointing, he or she moves in the authority of the Spirit, and there is no difference between male and female.

When the Lord began speaking to me about the man's and the woman's roles in a household, He was referring to the typical functionality of each, or, in other words, the functionality that each, by nature, is most adapted to in the natural realm, as God designed it. Fathers tend to be good providers for their children, but tend to be bad "nurturers", whereas mothers tend to be great "nurturers" and administrators of the resources that men bring home. When we use the terms "male" and "female", therefore, we are not speaking of literal men and women. We are speaking about functionality. A literal "female" believer can be called by the Lord to perform a "male" ministry, and a literal "male" believer can be called by the Lord to perform a "female" ministry.

If the "male functionality" is one of "outward projection", which 3 of the 5 ministries are "projected out"? And, if the "female functionality" is one of "staying home to nurture", which 2 of the 5 ministries are called to "stay home to nurture"? To answer this, we have to analyze each ministry briefly. God willing, we will be posting future articles that study each ministry more closely, but, for now, we will focus on the question of whether or not a given ministry is "male" or "female".

 The role of an apostle
To understand the role of the apostolic anointing in every believer, we have to look at the following passages of Scripture:

"For we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure, as though we reached not unto you: for we are come as far as to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ: Not boasting of things without our measure, that is, of other men’s labours; but having hope, when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly, To preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man’s line of things made ready to our hand." (2 Corinthians 10:14-16)

"Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man’s foundation: But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see: and they that have not heard shall understand." (Romans 15:20-21)

In these passages, the Holy Spirit is revealing the apostle Paul’s natural tendency to go to new territories. Apostles, by nature, are "trail blazers" who have an innate desire to "break new ground", to go into spheres of spiritual influence where others have not gone before.

Apostolic ministries such as Paul's tend to be gifted with a special wisdom from the Lord that gives apostles a special revelation anointing in various spiritual arenas. Galatians 1:11-17 shows how the Lord gave Paul a special revelation over the Gospel of grace that he was called to preach to the Gentiles. Considering that the Greek word apostolos means "one sent", apostles are messengers sent by God with a special message, and it generally is a message that has not been heard before.

Apostles are many times sent into hostile territories, as Paul usually was, to announce revelation that defies the mental paradigms that are accepted in those places. It's no wonder that the Lord said in Luke 11:49 that prophets and apostles are murdered and persecuted. As 1 Corinthians 4:9-13 shows, apostles are called by God to pay a price so that they can pave the way for others. They are called to suffer and travail so that others coming after them can receive the benefits of the path that God has opened through them. In that sense, John the Baptist was an apostle, since he was sent (Malachi 4:5, Matthew 17:10-13) to prepare the way for the Lord (Luke 3:4).

I do NOT agree about everything from this source (Shamah-Elim) below but it is partly very inspiring:
Male and female ministries in the Church

www.shamah-elim.info

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