Fathering Leaders Motivating Mission by Devenish David;

Author:Devenish, David;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: REL023000, REL030000
ISBN: 4573192
Publisher: Authentic Media
Published: 2011-08-04T00:00:00+00:00

How Does This Work Out Practically Today?

Firstly, we need to address one particular point concerning the term ‘apostle’, because in some mission contexts the role of the apostle today, far from being denied, is rather being extended to include all who are sent to plant churches.

In the New Testament, as we saw in Chapter 2, many believers were sent or scattered through persecution, and they evangelized and started churches. They were not, however, referred to as apostles. Philip, who started the church in Samaria, was described as an evangelist, but not as an apostle. It is true that at its most basic level ‘apostolic’ means ‘sent’, and of course the whole church is a ‘sent community’ or a ‘community on a mission’, yet most who are ‘sent’ are not apostles but:

• those like Epaphras (who was sent to Colossae) and others who were trained by an apostle (in Epaphras’ case presumably in Ephesus), serving as part of the particular apostolic field, so that Paul can write to the churches planted by people such as Epaphras with genuine apostolic authority even though they had never met him personally16

• evangelists or other gifted people sent by apostles to establish churches, in which the foundation needs to be laid, checked, adjusted or ‘put in order’ by apostles

• those who are sent by local churches or scattered for a variety of reasons, including persecution (today as in the New Testament), business, a sense of call to a particular nation, or as a refugee

To quote Daniel Sinclair again:

While the various teams in the New Testament were no doubt engaged in ‘apostolic ministry’, the actual title ‘apostle’ seems to have been applied somewhat sparingly, perhaps only to those whose calling, gifting and fruitfulness in pioneer work had become confirmed over time. As 1 Corinthians 9:2 shows, not even Paul’s apostleship was universally recognized. Having said that, I do believe that over time other leaders may come to recognize that a particular person has a clear gift of apostleship, and may legitimately refer to him as an apostle.17

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