By Dr. Kluane Spake

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The Five-Fold Ministry 

It’s odd… how sometimes little thing happen, and then the Lord speaks to us through that incident.

And this was such a girl thing. Seemingly so irrelevant.

Upon moving to the states, my friend told me that putting on acrylic nails was “the thing to do!” Well, whatever. I didn’t want to be a misfit. Never having lived in the south before… who would know that women would do such a thing??

She finally spoke, “How long do you want them?”

“ Hummmmmmm, I dunno’ – what’s best?” So she sighed and rolled her eyes. Then finally, after much filing, sanding, and polishing, it was over. The fact that I could no longer tie my shoes, or pick up a small pin seemed irrelevant. The expensive upkeep didn’t matter much either. Now I looked up to standard.

But after a few months, my beautiful artificial nails got infected underneath. Especially on one finger. So… I had to have them all removed. That took a lot of time and soaking in remover. What a mess. And hurt? Wow! Having those permanently affixed nails pried off the tops of my own nails. (Uck!) Now, the tops of my own nails were really sensitive and thin.

Everywhere I went, I felt like apologizing for such horrible looking fingers.

One day, I understood this event as pedagogy -- a female insight to the Bride of Christ. Like Ezekiel, this had happened so that I could understand a greater truth of what was happening to the HAND – the representation of the Fivefold ministry. The fingernail represents the visible part of the ministry that is presented.

Much of the FIVEFOLD ministry has covered itself with artificial layers. We’ve sanded down the natural surface. We’ve lost our natural luster. We’ve attached a man-made exterior upon our ministry. And we’ve allowed others to paint us with whatever colors go with the outfit of the day. A façade, if you will. Whatever others want to see (or hear) will work. If it is successful, wear it, say it, and do it. If it sells – be it! These days it’s hard to be real. We just have to put on another layer of plastic, cuz’ it’s “the thing to do!”

Our thumb (representing the Apostle) has made lots of progress in understanding the new function and position in the latter day church. But some have now acquired this hardened surface – right at the tip of their ministry. It’s something that’s not natural and not real. I mean, this artificial covering is impenetrable.

After awhile, our fingers have become accustomed to this artificial top layer. Not only that, but these layers have to be restored (filled) every couple of weeks with another layer of stinky stuff. And that manicurist has to put on a mask – because of the pungent odor of the acrylic. But, the procedure makes us look good – and these days, that’s all that matters.

Sometimes our thumb just doesn’t “FEEL” like it did before… our sensitivity is reduced. That imitation extension makes it a lot harder to do things that we once did. Now we often want other people to do things for us. Suddenly, our productivity is limited because we can’t work as hard. Like I said, those phony nails make it lots harder to “pick up” (discern) little things these days. And, it’s almost impossible to securely “tie” (bind up) anything anymore. But, we can plan to COVER others… by painting them up to look like us.

As the Prophet, the pointer finger, we realize that God has lots more to say than we can apprehend – but we can’t fully function with that false attachment. Many have been unable to completely perceive because that dense opaque covering that now defines our office also hinders our perception and our effectiveness. Besides that, those new long nails cause awful hygiene -- bacteria grows rapidly under there. We’ve made ourselves sick trying to look like others – and trying to reproduce someone else’s methodology – We’ll have to remember that some of us were created to have long fingers; some have strong ones. That’s why some of us need to really stick out there, while others need to “stay down in the quick!”

These days most Evangelists want to look just like all the other Evangelists. For a while we didn’t allow an extension of ourselves – and our natural nails resisted being covered artificially. But later, we allowed an unknown formula (a synthetic bonding of chemicals) to be applied so that glossy new artificial nail would adhere and not come off. I mean, who would dare to be a down to earth minister anymore? Unpolished, and untrimmed? Who would dare to work with their fingers in the dirt? Surely, we can’t do that anymore! And, who would dare to be seen as we really are? Without the pretense?

And that little finger, the teacher… wow! It’s exciting how the Bible opens more clearly every day – just as Daniel promised. What a job the teacher has to help reveal these new truths. To continue the analogy, let’s remember that God made our natural fingernails somewhat porous and able to receive input. But these new coverings have masked over our sensitivity and now we want to say things “just right,” in order to fit into the “status quo.” We wouldn’t want to look differently from the others.

But remember? There was really bad infection in one finger. The ring finger was weeping with ucky stuff all the way back to the cuticle. It throbbed and pulsed with every heartbeat. Oh, pastors. Sooooooooo many of us are hurt and injured, and no one knows. We’ve tried to look all polished up on the outside – tried to be everything to everyone. But deep inside there is a festering… An infection that no one can see because it’s all covered up with an imitation surface. And that infection continues. Where can we turn? Who can we trust? It seems that the pastor is affected the most by artificial pretension. The pastor can’t endure it. People need to get too close. Something has to happen.

This infection affects all the fingers and then … the WHOLE BODY. I asked my Doctor what to do about my throbbing fingers? He said the topical medications that I was using wouldn’t do anything at all, and the prescriptions that he could give me were really bad for the BODY (they cause liver damage –the blood filter). He said the only thing to do was to take the artificial nail off and let the real nail grow out. Oh vanity! What a price to pay.

Like I said, it really hurts to remove those harden layers of what others expect to see. It takes time to recover from complying with the fashion statement of the day. It takes a lot of time to grow out the new nail and discover what was there before. That original call must emerge from the tip of the fivefold. We must apprehend the Love that is unpretentious and regain the Fruit that is unassuming. Gifts must be unaffected and natural. Ministry must recapture our once sincere motivation. The reason that we started is what we need to find again. The person that we were created to be is who God wants to use. Image and likeness cannot be manifested or reproduced from artificial methods.

Oh, beloved friend, why are we so concerned with the exterior? Can we rip it off? Why do we want to look like others? Why should we do things like they do it? Can we separate from the artificial religious system– even though it hurts? Even though we may not be what others want to see?

Dr. Kluane Spake

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