Exploring the Apostolic – 5.
What does the apostolic look like in this new era - part 2?
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 this blog we are going to continue to look at what the apostolic might look like? in the last blog we looked at what are apostolic sphere’s and some things to grapple with in terms of moving from being church centric to being more kingdom centric. In the second part of this blog we will look at what are some of the characteristics of an apostle and touch on what is the apostle’s work? 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.
Some characteristics of the apostle.
There are lots of characteristics we could talk about in connection with the role of the apostle. I’m going to restrict myself to outlining six. These six we believe are six that are important at this time.
1. Apostles as parents.
The apostolic role should be family orientated.
There are a number of facets to this.
· The apostolic call is to help ‘conceive’ and bring to birth communities of faith or to bring to birth reformation or renewal within the church.
· They are always wanting or looking for the best of those they are nurturing. Looking to release people into their God given potential and destiny.
· In this sense – as with children in our families - apostles help things grow and mature. They look to decrease so that the glory of Christ through the Body can increase.
· To help the community become inter-dependant not dependant or independent both internally as a community and also in relationship to the rest of the Body of Christ.
· Looking to instil good ‘family culture’ built around values and the fruits of the Spirit rather than people in competition and jostling for position or exercising ‘their ministry’.
· Helping and fostering in people a mindset of openness, vulnerability and servanthood.
· Apostles are to be like spiritual fathers and nursing mothers.
· They help form good family type structures and rhythms.
· 1Cor: 4:15 “…Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.
· 1Thes: 2:7+8+11+12 “……… Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well .…For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.”
· Col: 1:28 “He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.”
· Living lives that can be imitated (1Cor4:16+17, 2Thess.3:9, Heb6:12). Not by being perfect or projecting a certain image but by modelling how to handle the things life throws at you including showing vulnerability, the need to ask for help and how to navigate failure.
2. Apostles and authority.
The apostolic role is essentially a relational one rather than a hierarchical or organisational one. The authority of an apostle should be in its nature one of persuasion rather than command. They are looking to influence and persuade rather than exercise command and power. This is particularly true as the community gets more mature. Their authority is more about setting things in order rather than giving the orders - including good examples of exercising leadership and how to set in rhythms of life for the community that nurture a sustainable life and deep relationship both to God and each other as well as showing Gods character to the world around them.
The apostle isn’t looking for position or demanding honour but serving and laying down their lives for the good of the whole. Looking at sacrificing rather than receiving.
3. The apostle as the master builder.
One of the descriptions that Paul uses to describe his apostolic ministry is to describe himself as a master builder (1Cor:3:10). A master builder is often able to do a number of trades but has one in which he is a specialist. They know where things need to go, when they need to be done and how to put things in order. They are normally very concerned with making sure that the foundations are laid well and given time to settle. The foundations are really important, even though they are never seen, will never win awards for them or look beautiful, but they will decide the size, shape, capacity and longevity of the building, and, in most cases the use of the building. Therefore, they need to be laid carefully and patiently.
This is the same as the as the apostle. This analogy is so rich. An apostle can often exercise all of the ministries outlined in Ephesians 4 to a competent measure but will normally have a specialty, they will know when to bring in the other gift ministries of evangelist or pastor, prophet or teacher etc. to equip the saints – just like a master builder will know when to bring in an electrician or plumber or carpenter An apostle will take time and energy to lay a good foundation. They make sure that grace, mercy, and faith are well established at the foundation of the building. That the ethos of being relational and not organisational is firmly established because that’s what they are modelling and encouraging others to imitate them as they are imitating Christ.
They will take the time to work one on one with people having an apprenticeship ethos rather than a classroom ethos. They will model a consensus style of leadership that models the Godhead and is able to access the manifest wisdom of God for the church community and show it to the world.
They look to nurture a ‘culture’ in the community that is outward focused to be Goodnews and a blessing to the communities around them so that ‘they may taste of the Lord and see He is good’ with a deep belief and trust that the ‘goodness of God leads people to repentance’.
They equip the community to be dependent upon the leading of God, to be rooted in the rhythm of gratitude and praise and see the spiritual gifts manifest regularly and the fruits of the spirit be the mark of Gods glory among them because ‘it is by their fruits you shall know them’!
That’s the master builder’s job! To help the house rise up from below the earth to a glorious beacon of light in a dark world.
4. The Apostle and the moving of the Spirit
When we are looking at the characteristics of the apostle it is important that they are people of the Spirit. People who are familiar and practised in hearing the promptings of the Spirit and are confident acting in faith on those promptings to see God accomplish His desire to set people free, see people restored and released, whether that is through signs and wonders, miracles or deliverance etc.
We need to be discerning when dealing with people that we believe have an apostolic call. To discern where is the source of the spirit they are operating from. I have learnt the hard way, not to be awed or seduced by gift ministries that are awe inspiring – sometimes they are not operating from the Holy Spirit but from their own human spirit or an evil spirit or a mix of all three. There are many different things I am looking for when discerning someone’s apostolic gifts such as, what is their relationship to power, how do they use the gifts they have, how ‘showy’ they are, how they relate to, and treat, people, do they have patience etc. what fruit of the spirit are they exhibiting but I am definitely looking for them to able to move and flow with the Holy Spirit!
5. The apostle as the bard or story keeper
In ancient cultures it was important that the story and history of a people was passed on. This was normally done through an oral tradition with a mixture of animated storytelling, song and poetry. There was normally a storyteller or bard that would be the holder of the story for a particular tribe or people. They would then be called upon to tell the story of past and present highlights in the history of their people. They would also accompany the leaders and tribe as they embarked on the journey so that they could first hand observe and record what was happening. These stories would then be passed down to apprentices that would carry on the tradition as the older bards passed away.
These bards were often more revered, honoured, and powerful than the kings or chieftain of the tribe because they held the narrative and history of the people. They held the identity and values and foundations that this particular people were built upon. Kings could be replaced but identity and the sense and narrative of where you had come from and where you were likely to go as a result, were irreplaceable. We see this represented in different ways in different traditions and culture. One expression in the Jewish culture was grandfathers would teach the grandchildren the story of the Passover and train them to be able tell the story and to lead the Passover meal in order that it will never be forgotten how God delivered His people.
As I have been reading the New Testament and reflecting, I have seen similar patterns of the bard and story-keeper in the life of the apostles. The apostles keep rehearsing the story, the narrative of the life of Jesus, His message, and deeds, as well as, retelling the story of the Godheads interaction, intervention and loving intent within human history.
So, one of the characteristics of the apostle should be his ability to anchor all that he is seeing and doing with the ancient paths that he is walking on.
6. The mark of patience.
Another important characteristic of the apostolic ministry, and one that is often overlooked, is that they were able to be patient. To patiently lay foundations both in communities and individuals as well as, being patient in seeing where the Godheads missional intent was surfacing and leading.
The apostles in the New Testament often talk about their patient dealings with communities and individuals, and are often seen to be waiting and probing, to see what God would have them do next. This is mostly done in the context of community; we often see phrases like; ‘we tried to go here… then we tried there…’ or ‘we concluded together to go to….’ or ‘I waited for the brothers to arrive …’.
There was an intentional patience, being careful not to outrun God or make or manipulate things happen but to do things intentionally from community and in community. In the present times I am sometimes concerned that people ‘hear’ God to do something or go somewhere but then next week they are off doing something else because God said something different. In this process there is little acknowledgement of the change. It just seems like God has changed His mind. I think if we were willing to be a little more patient, and also, learn how to discern God in the midst of community we could avoid fruitless endeavour and a waste of resources both human and material.
In conclusion, in these last two blogs we have endeavoured to give us a taste of what the ministry of the apostolic might look like. As we continue the series, next we will explore what does the life of an apostle look like in terms of community, team and are there any hints in history that might help us.