Exploring the Apostolic – 4.

What does the apostolic look like in this new era - part 1?

In this series of blogs, we have been exploring the ministry of the apostle and the apostolic as we have come to understand it currently. In these next few blogs we are going to start to look at what the apostolic might look like. What are apostolic sphere’s, what are the characteristics of an apostle, what is the apostle’s work etc.? I will do my best to unwrap this series of questions in a way that is understandable, but it may take the next few blogs to do this thoroughly. 

An introduction and look at ‘sphere’s’.

 Introduction – some opening reflections.

 a)    Part of the problem in defining the apostle is that it is not so much a gift in the sense talked about in 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12 whereby the Holy Spirit ‘graces’ individuals with gifts for the edification of the Body.  In Ephesians 4 the language is slightly different. Rather than gifts being given in the moment, the ministries of apostle, prophet, evangelist, teacher and pastor are more a call that a person receives, and the person themselves, is given as the gift to that sphere or to the church. They are given to equip all the saints for the works of service God has prepared before the foundation of the world as well as helping people to maturity, unity, the knowledge of Jesus and becoming all that they can be in Him.

“11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Epesians 4v11-13).

Therefore, there is the sense that the apostolic role is as unique as each person is unique, although, as we will see, there are common characteristics.

 b)    Which comes first the Kingdom or the church? Does the church bring the Kingdom or is the church a result of the Kingdom coming? I think my answer is both! When we see the Kingdom of God come to a culture we will see communities of Jesus followers and doers arise and be established. Those communities will then continue to bring the Kingdom of God to their own lives, the life of their community (the church) and to the culture and people that they live in.

But to an extent that depends on our view of what a church is? For me, in the simplest understanding or form of the church is;

‘ a community of people loving God, loving each other and loving the world around them under the Lordship of Christ.’

If that is our basic definition then when that community brings the Kingdom of God to a context it will bring forth more communities of people (churches) that love God, love each other and the world around them, under the Lordship of Christ. But how that community then functions in terms of worship, leadership, teaching discipleship etc. will probably depend a lot on the cultural context the Kingdom of God is coming into.

c)    The context in which we are currently working has a mainly church centric feel and model. As a result most of our missional work is based in and around the church models that we have developed over a long period of time. Now these have seen renewal and some reformation but in many ways church is pretty standard. Even when endeavour to break the pattern we end up importing a lot of very similar forms. When we first started exploring a house church model it was surprising to me how easily we ended up with something so similar to what we had moved out of, in many instances we have ended up with a church service in a home which was not what we first imagined.

A lot of what we have seen as ‘church planting’ has either been church growth strategies - how do we grow our church or how do we have more campuses or how do we enlarge our denomination or brand or tribe. Or they are church trans-planting strategies where we take a group of people, and we transplant them somewhere else. This group then becomes the core of the new church plant and attract or reach others to join them. The result is we produce another similar church model as the ‘mother’ church.

Also, when I travel around the world I am amazed how similar church is. I go into many wonderfully different and diverse cultures with amazing musical differences, creative forms etc. but when I go to ‘church’ it is so similar to what I can experience at home. So, even when we have crossed cultures we have tended to transplant our own form or structure that tend to bring with it cultural forms and understanding.

None of these are wrong or bad but they tend to be very church centric and rarely really pioneer or cross-cultures.

d)    I sense this new era will be much more diverse, in both forms of church and in how we do mission and will have more of a Kingdom centric feel and flavour. There will be a more of pioneering apostolic feel and centricity to them. As a result we will see a greater diversity and cultural authenticity to the contexts where these communities form or are birthed.

 Therefore, this will mean we need to accept that there will be need for a different understanding of how we release apostolic ministry. And if we accept the basic definition of church from earlier, we have to realise that the communities(churches) reproduced might look nothing like the church we know and many of us love. However, it will be authentic and representative of the people and culture God created to reflect a facet of who He is and how the Godhead dwell.

Just a little ‘taster’ it will also mean that as we release apostolic people they may need to have communities that function as its own community and base or hub rather than be based in traditional forms of the church as we know it. More on this in future blogs!

Understanding Spheres!

Here I’m not interested in understanding ‘balls’ but understanding that apostles have spheres or contexts of influence and authority that they are sent to operate in!

Going back to our definition of the apostle:

‘…an apostle is ‘someone who is sent (commissioned) with the authority of the sender to bring a message, perform tasks and act on the behalf of the sender. They are an ambassador or emissary that acts on behalf and for the interests of the sender.’

I have realised over the years that part of understanding apostles and their work is to understand that apostles are given a sphere or spheres to work in. In other words they are sent, with authority (a commission) to a specific sphere and they are sent with a message that speaks to the context that they are sent to.

The gifts mentioned in Ephesians 4 of teacher, prophet, evangelist and pastor are gifts we are able to operate in that gift wherever they find themselves. However, it seems the apostle is given a sphere of influence or authority to operate in. As we have seen the very title apostle gives the sense of being sent to a certain place or people to bring a message or to act on behalf of someone to achieve a specific outcome. Paul, in several places, seems to indicate that there is a sphere that the Lord has given Him to lay foundations, encourage, care etc. In Romans 15 he talks about going to places where the gospel has not been preached in order that he doesn´t build on another mans foundation, in 1Cor. 3 he talks about laying a foundation as a master builder and now others are building on it, in 1Cor. 9 he says ‘…even if I am not an apostle to others, surely I am an apostle to you! For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord’ …..having appealed to that fact he asks ‘…are you not the result of my work in the Lord.’ So, I would contend that the apostle is not an apostle to every situation he finds himself in but to those he is called and commissioned to go to.

In the New Testament we see two general sphere’s apostles can be called to. Firstly, the church and secondly, pioneering by crossing cultures.

It seems from the evidence we have that Peter (and James) spent most of their time in the new church movement that was arising out of the Jewish tradition and context. Whereas Paul (and others) seem to be pushing into the ‘gentile’ or non-jewish cultures and contexts.

In today’s context we could interpret or apply this understanding to some apostles being called to an apostolic sphere within the established church and others to pioneer into different cultures.

So, what might that look like? Here are a few pointers:

The church sphere:

·      Purposeful and intentional disruption – helping bring renewal and sometimes radical reformation to the church context.

·      Reaching into the ‘prodigal culture’ around them; reaching those who have understanding but do not have faith or a living relationship with Christ.

·      Helping keep the church on a missional foundation.

·      Equipping the ‘saints’ to do the works of service and bringing other gift ministries to equip in their areas of gifting.

·      Helping the church to be relevant both missionally and in its community structures and also have a understanding and commitment to sending and supporting cross-cultural mission.

The pioneering sphere:

·      The basis of pioneering is crossing cultures – although this isn’t necessarily crossing ethnic cultures or going to a different country; it could be reaching into a subculture of the situation you are in.

·      This apostolic ‘call’ needs to develop a very redemptive mindset i.e., looking for what God wants to redeem or use to bringa revelation of Himself to these people and into their culture. Looking for ways to use what is already in the culture to help them see the Godhead at work and to live a Godly life. Rather than import our own cultural norms.

·      Part of this redemptive mindset is to be able to see and develop ‘eye opener’ strategies for communicating the gospel of the Kingdom (not just salvation) in that culture. (Acts 26v17+18, Acts 17:23).

In conclusion, I believe in this new era we are moving into, we are likely to see a new emphasis and rise in the pioneering apostolic call. To go and preach the gospel of the Kingdom, developing strategies to open the eyes of the blind and to see communities of people birthed that are culturally relevant in forms of worship, leadership, teaching, and discipleship etc, that have been redeemed from their own culture. I also see the development of apostolic movements within the established church that will help keep those contexts be relevant, renewed, and healthy.

In the next blog we will look at some characteristics that we can look for in apostles.