Chapter 11  Ministry Gifts
Excerpted from Women, Get in the Army of God by Dawn Wilson. Copyright © 2005.
Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

  "Ministry Gifts have been given to the church for the equipping of the saints.  Why
do the saints need to be equipped?  The saints need to be equipped to do the
warfare of the army of God.  The saints need to be equipped to pull down the
fortresses and strongholds of Satan in the earth.  The saints of God need to be
equipped to do the work of the kingdom.  God has appointed in the church the
ministry gifts for this equipping of the saints.  Equipped saints are a mighty weapon
of warfare against the devil.  Ministry gifts are a weapon of warfare."

and

 "God gave the ministry gifts to the church for five purposes.  The first purpose is
for the equipping of the saints for the work of service.  The second purpose is for
the building up of the body of Christ.  The building up of the body of Christ can be
seen in two ways.  One is through the ministry gifts of the apostle and evangelist as
they build up the actual body of Christ by the preaching of the gospel.   The body of
Christ is added to daily as they preach the gospel, and the lost believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and are saved.  Another is through the ministry gifts of the prophet
and teacher building up the body of Christ through words of encouragement and
teaching the Word of God.  The third purpose of the ministry gifts is that we all
attain to the unity of faith.  We have already discussed how vital unity is to the body
of Christ.  The ministry gifts have been given so that we all may attain to that unity.  
The fourth purpose of the ministry gifts is for us to all attain the knowledge of the
Son of God.  The ministry gifts are given so that we attain the knowledge of Jesus
and all He accomplished for us at the cross and through His resurrection from the
dead.  The ministry gifts are given so that in the knowledge of Jesus we become
mature to the measure of the stature, which belongs to the fullness of Christ.  The
fifth purpose of the ministry gifts is that we are no longer children, tossed here and
there by waves, and no longer carried about by the trickery of men or by their
craftiness in deceitful scheming.  In all five of these purposes, the ministry gifts are
mighty weapons of warfare."