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Pastor Sam Manyika Tackling the ControVerse
WHILE every Bible believing Christian cannot dismiss the indispensability and importance of the prophetic ministry in the church of Jesus Christ, the notion, however, that the church can be built on the foundation of this ministry alone is misleading, erroneous and unscriptural. 

Prophets, both genuine and false, do make interesting news and media houses have probably found them and their antics to be good for the sales of their publications. Unfortunately, most of the time the kind of news that they are always producing is not complementary to the efforts of building the church of Jesus.

The truthful reality is that the prophetic ministry was never given for the building and establishment of the church. It is the five-fold ministry gifts comprising Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors, and teachers as a whole which were given for that purpose. The following text in the book of Ephesians is clear in this regard.

Ephesians 4:10-13
10 He, the very one who descended, is also the one who ascended above all the heavens, in order to fill all things. 11 It was he who gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, that is, to build 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 – a mature person, attaining to the measure of Christ’s full stature.

An equipped, trained, edified (well built) and mature church can only be built through the combined input of the above mentioned ministries.
It does not matter how popular or what a crowd puller a prophetic minister or their ministry may be, singularly it will always produce a lopsided and unbalanced type of a church or of believers.

Jesus did not command his disciples to go and “prophesy” over the world, but rather to “go and teach” them to “observe” what he had commanded or taught.

Matthew 28:18-20
18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen

The church is supposed to produce solid disciples, not flakey man worshipping, self serving, miracle and excitement seekers.

Human beings are generally obsessed with knowing what the future holds for them, they also have a fascination for things spiritual, especially knowing whether there are hidden or unknown forces which are either harming them or that can bring luck or success to them. That is why they consult psychics, fortune tellers, or anyone who might offer them a peep into the supernatural and the future.

This explains the reason why this title of “prophet” has overrun the church, it is a cheap, irresponsible and deceptive strategy. The prophetic becomes central and diverts focus from other essential and important life building ministries.

This focus on the prophetic creates an illusionary spiritual world far removed from the daily realities of a genuine daily Christian walk. The church of Jesus is not a cheap thrills centre, but a place for building people spiritually, mentally/intellectually and physically so that they can be sober, stable and useful individuals to themselves, their families and to the communities around them.

This cannot be done through continuously pumping mythical, floaty, flakey, ephemeral, pie in the sky stuff into their heads, but through sound ministry and the dispensation of sound doctrine into their lives.

A simple and quick analysis of the five fold ministry will show why these so called prophetic ministries are totally inadequate for producing the kind of disciple referred to by Jesus in the bible when he commanded his disciples to go into all the world. They are powerful and essential ministries in their individual right, but need to function in ways that complement each other so that they can bring out a solid balanced believer.

Apostles
Apostle means sent one. Apostles usually pioneer new works in different places. They are normally equipped to lead churches, they also birth and train leaders. They usually manifest all the five ministry gifts.

Prophet
A prophet can be considered as God’s spokesperson. They may also be considered as a quality controller type in the building of God’s work. Prophets will speak out as when they are given a word by God to instruct or correct. Their lifestyles may sometimes be very private and separated because they need a high level of receptivity to what God will be saying. Most of the people who are calling themselves prophets today are not prophets, but are just ministers manifesting a spiritual gift called the “word of knowledge.”

Evangelist
Evangelism is the outreach and marketing arm of the church. Anything that has to do with marketing must have capacity to catch people’s attention. The Evangelist must have attention grabbing abilities. These usually come in the form of supernatural eloquence, the gift of working of miracles which might include deliverance and word of knowledge. Evangelists, depending on how well their gift is developed, can preach to a few or to thousands. Most of the ministers being called prophets today are nothing more than evangelists.

Pastor
After people have given their lives to the Lord they should become part of a local church which has a leader called a Pastor. A local church should ideally not be too big, but is more of a family where everyone is known and can be reached. All believers should have access to a pastor. So, after the big outreach campaigns believers must submit themselves to a pastor for the purposes of being established in the faith and growing in the word. A pastor is more hands on in his dealings with people.

A person who is only seen on TV or once a year cannot carry out shepherding and pastoral duties. Your pastor is the one who visits you when you are sick, conducts weddings and funerals and is generally available.

Teacher
Pastors usually have teaching abilities, but this ministry can also be a distinctly stand alone ministry. Teachers have an above average ability to communicate and break down the mysteries and message of the bible.

These five ministries were given by our Lord Jesus to the church for the “perfecting” of the saints.