a. What is the 5 fold ministry - I hear this reference occasionally and do not understand what it is?
The concept of the five-fold ministry comes from Ephesians 4:11, "It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers."
Eph 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
2. What is the definition of an apostle?
The word Apostle means to be a delegate; specifically an ambassador of the Gospel; officially a commissioner of Christ (“apostle”), - apostle, messenger, he that is sent.
Do apostles still exists today?
There may be Apostles still today, I wouldn't discount whom God may call and to what they may be called to do. There are some that call themselves and all that are born again, an Apostle based on a new interpretation of the word. These people believe that all that are an ardent supporter of Christ are also Apostles based on the dictionaries description of an Apostle being "an ardent supporter of".
There are those that I call "self-proclaimed Apostles". These that I call self-proclaimed are those that openly claim to be such yet their teachings are against the teachings of the word of God. Most of these teach another, new covenant and gospel other than that which was taught by Jesus and the original Apostles.
What made one an apostle in the time of Jesus?
An Apostle was one that was called by Jesus Christ to that calling. The first ones, the original 12, were handpicked by Jesus Himself. Paul was selected by Jesus on Paul's trip to Damascus. Paul referred to himself as "the least of the Apostles". I believe it was because he had not been a part of the original 12 and although he was around at that time, he did not witness the acts of Jesus Christ first hand. After that others were selected by the Apostles as we see in Acts 1. They chose between two men, "Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias" to be one of the original 12 because they had been there as a witness of Jesus on earth:
Act 1:21 Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,
Act 1:22 Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.
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