Women, Rise Up! by Cindy Jacobs

Author:Cindy Jacobs
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Women;REL012130;REL012120
ISBN: 9781493417377
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2018-11-16T00:00:00+00:00

Cannistraci ends this section by giving the following definition of apostleship:

An apostle is a person who is called and sent by Christ and has the spiritual authority, character, gifts and abilities to successfully reach and establish people in Kingdom truth and order, especially by founding and overseeing local churches.15

Cannistraci is a “New Apostolic Reformation” leader, to use a term coined by Peter Wagner. The New Apostolic Reformation movement consists of churches that are not affiliated with a certain denomination, but rather have relational covenants with other churches of like beliefs. We are still learning about the role of the apostle in the Church today. In general, the New Apostolic churches are in consensus that someone who holds the office of bishop in the Church is also an apostle. Not all apostles, however, are bishops. Bishops generally have more than one church under their leadership.

Today, apostles are beginning to be recognized in such areas as prayer, worship networks, evangelism and so on, which interface with the local churches. Their work affects a much broader base than, for instance, one particular denomination.

Let’s consider some women who have greatly affected the face of the Church in apostolic roles.

Aimee Semple McPherson (1890–1944)

In the light of our study, I propose that Aimee Semple McPherson, founder of the Foursquare Church, was an apostle. Although traditionalists might object on the grounds that she had no apparent “male covering,” history records that God did a work through her that affected her generation and generations after. The doctrine of the Foursquare Gospel that she proposed is embraced by thousands of people around the world.

Catherine Booth (1829–1890)

I believe that Catherine Booth, who, along with her husband, William, founded The Salvation Army, was also an apostle. Indeed, when her husband had to stop his work due to a complete breakdown in health, Catherine took charge of the entire ministry.

As one biographer notes: “It was she, and not William Booth, who laid the first stone of the Salvation Army.” Though Salvation Army letterheads and news stories today declare “William Booth, Founder,” the title of her biography is more accurate: Catherine Booth, the Mother of the Salvation Army. Before her death in 1890, she had preached to millions.16

Henrietta Mears (1890–1963)

There are other women who would not have thought themselves to be apostles to the Church, but who, to my thinking, fit the definition given earlier. One of these is Henrietta Mears. Miss Mears was the founder of Gospel Light Publishing Company. (By the way, Regal Books, which was created under Gospel Light, published the first edition of this book.)

Some of Miss Mears’s most outstanding accomplishments occurred during the time she was director of religious education at First Presbyterian Church in Hollywood, California. Within three years of her arrival, she had built a dynamic Christian education program with a Sunday school enrollment rising from a quite respectable Presbyterian 450 to an absolutely awesome 4,500; it was the talk of the West Coast. In the class she taught for college students, weekly attendance ran to 500 young men and women who were devoted to “Teacher,” as she was called.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.