Apostolic leaders are always plotting where the mission needs to go next
The Apostolic vocation in the church as noted in Ephesians 4 is very important to me personally and vital for the Kingdom of God as it continues to move forward.
What makes the Apostolic vocation extremely important is the fact that it is the primary role in charge of pushing forward the mission of God.
The Apostolic function of the church is responsible for pushing forward the mission of God and designing the way the church carries that out. These are our primary catalysts, visionaries and risk takers in the body when it comes to advancing the mission of God. We need them and we need them fully empowered!
Apostle is a buzz word these days.
- At the very worst, it is a negative word, associated with crazies who have distorted the vocation and defined it in unhelpful and unhealthy ways.
- At the very best it is being activated day by day as a legitimate vocation in the church and we are seeing the mission of God screaming forward.
However, the majority of people and churches are somewhere in the middle, and they just don’t talk about the Apostolic vocation much. Its just not a word you would find in those people or in the language of the church leadership. Therefore, the apostolic calling is not being released.
Well, we are going to talk about it a lot here as you can tell by now!
Some Helpful Posts
A series of posts on the apostolic calling. Follow along right here
— How To Identify An Apostolic Leader
— Here is my interpretation of Ephesians 4 and the five fold ministry
— Beau’s Story as an apostolic evangelist read this.
— Jon Hietbrink has a great post on owning the whole field
— The apostolic impulse needs to drive our minsitries
— Dave Ferguson says “you know you’re an apostle when…”
— Chris Nichols tells us apostolic leaders are born not made
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So, I would love to know…If you could pick one word to describe an apostolic leader what would it be?
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Great thought Josh!
An apostolic ‘LEADER” is a nutcase and a dangerous person. The whole concept is misguided and extreme and does immense damage to genuine Christians who get mixed in it.
Dvid, sorry you feel that way. Can you please explain or give us some background on why you feel this way? It sounds like you have had some bad experiences. feel free to email me at beau@releasetheape.com
Hi, I hope the word ‘male’ isn’t in this list as I am new to this site and can’t help but notice all the contributors named above are male. Junia was an apostle 🙂 (cue Scot McKnight quote!!)
We totally believe in women apostles! Some write on this site.
A person sees himself as an apostle. He works his his way to leadership in a church and then breaks away taking half of the members with him to do his own thing. He is likely a false apostle. If he stays to work for a change it is better. If he must leave he must go alone without manipulation people. The most honourable thing is to find new people in a previously unevangelised area.
God bless Rickard from Sweden
What is the Biblical basis for this teaching? I am not saying it is incorrect, but I don’t know if anyone really has a good handle on exactly what an apostle is. As far as I know, the only definition we have of Apostle is “sent one.” Then we use the terms apostle and disciple interchangeable when referring to Jesus’s selected twelve. This may be due to the variety of translation methods, but it has caused misunderstanding. Some believe that the 5-fold list is not a list of ‘offices’ but simply descriptors. The one who was sent to preach was called an apostle, the one who watched over the group, a pastor, etc. I can see this viewpoint, as well, showing that the Apostolic movement may be a bit off track in its emphasis. The truth is that we do not know for certain. That is, unless there are other Biblical basis that I haven’t yet learned. Anyone?
good thoughts. keep reading through the blog to see our biblical basis
visionary