Jon Ferguson leading a baptism service in Chicago

By Dave Ferguson

Apostolic leaders lead from the front!  The apostle Paul led from the front. That’s why he could say,

“I urge you to imitate me. For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church” (1 Cor. 4:16 – 17).

He felt confident enough in the mission that if others would just follow his lead, the mission would be accomplished. In fact, Paul felt confident enough that he was sending Timothy to lead them, because he knew that he had apprenticed Timothy and that if they just imitated Timothy’s life, they could accomplish the mission.

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[This post is part of the A.P.E. Theology series. Read the rest of the posts here!]

One of the key theological foundations in the missional conversation involves the concept of the missio Dei, or “mission of God.” It is God who has a mission to set things right in a broken world—to redeem and restore it to what was always intended.

Therefore, mission is not a program of the church. It is not something we invent. Mission is not something we initiate. Instead mission flows directly from the nature and purposes of a missionary God. It is not that the church has a mission; it is that God’s mission has a church. In other words, it is God’s mission, and the church is an instrument created by God to be sent into the world to join in his mission. This is a complete “game-changer” in several ways, but for now lets consider one.

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Greeks at USC studying scripture for the groups they will lead!

[This post is part of the Start Something New series. Read the other posts here!]

By Beau Crosetto

Over the last few months, since the start of this blog, I have had a couple of people reach out to me with these specific questions,

“How do I gather apostolic people on campus?

“Beau, how do you get your core team to actually start new things? I have gathered people, but what do you do to get them moving?

In some ways these are two different questions, as one asks how I gather, while the other asks how I take a gathered group and move them to action. But I think at the root they are similar in that these people want to know how do you get an apostolic, or action based core team that actually takes risks and steps out to start new things?

Here are a couple of things that I practically do with core teams or keep in mind when I am starting a new ministry and gathering a team for the first time.

[If you would like to receive my go to material for new core teams, join the APE newsletter!]

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courtesy of InterVarsity’s 2100 productions

[This is part of a series on “How Do I Develop an Apostolic Leader?” You can read the other posts here.]

“The hand cannot say to the arm I have no need of you…”  I Cor 12:21

It’s tempting for apostolic leaders to think that every new idea should be pursued independently, no matter the cost. But, when we teach apostolic leaders that running without restraint is their Godly task we are in danger of developing misfits who are unable to build a movement of change or have impact on a large scale.

In order for apostolic leaders to achieve the Godly kingdom impact they desire, they must serve within and through a community of faith.

But too often we don’t see this. Either apostolic leaders resist community and letting others speak into their dreams and desires, or the community resists the apostolic leader and their crazy dreams.

This article helps to encourage us towards being healthy in community:

A community where apostolic leaders are humble and let community speak into their dreams, and actions, as well as a community that seeks not to subvert the apostles ideas but focus the apostolic leaders energy to its greatest effect.

So, how do we help apostolic leaders live in that kind of community?

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