My intention was to write about the five ministries set out in Ephesians, Apostles, Prophets, Evangelist, Pastor and Teacher. I was going to deal with them all in one go, but as I thought about it, I realised that there was quite a bit that needs to be said about Apostles and apostleship first. As I was mulling over that whole issue and, our current misunderstanding of what an Apostle is, I realised that our current practice is often based on false notions of hierarchy and Spiritual Authority of one person over others. So, before we look at what an apostle actually is, we need to clear the ground of some confused thinking that gets in the way.
The current hierarchical system works something like this. The Apostle sits at the top of the pyramid. Under him (it’s generally a ‘him’) there are local church leaders (‘Pastor’, ‘Senior Leader’, ‘Minister’, ‘Priest’, ‘Vicar’ etc). Under them are various other types of leader – Home Group Leader, Worship Leader, Children’s Worker and so on. Each person has ‘Spiritual Covering’ because they are submitted to someone else who has ‘Spiritual Authority’ over them.
At the outset, I need to say that this is not a concept spoken of in Scripture. The closest we get to it is in the story of the Centurion who asked Jesus to heal his servant, and who said that it was not necessary for Jesus to actually come to his home. In Matthew 8 v 9 he says “ I am a man under authority with soldiers under me. I tell this one ‘Go’ and he goes, and that one ‘Come’ and he comes”. Jesus commended the man, but it was for His faith and his recognition of Jesus’ absolute authority; not for his understanding of hierarchy. There is nothing useful that we can learn about hierarchy from this story, but everything that we can learn about Jesus’ absolute power and authority.
It seems that the Church has learned the wrong lesson. The Church has installed a chain of command where one says ‘Go’ and another goes, and in doing so has blunted and undermined the absolute power and authority of Jesus in the life of the individual believer. It’s almost as if the Church, having been a bystander watching the encounter between Jesus and the Centurion, has come away and said “there’s a lot we can learn from the way these Romans do things”. The better response would be, “ there’s a lot we can learn from the way Jesus does things”.
The result that we often see played out before us in church, is the need for everyone to be ‘spiritually covered’ by being submitted to authority somewhere in the hierarchy. Each person is somewhere in the authority structure. The ordinary church members are under the authority of the home group leader. The home group leader is under the authority of perhaps a particular Elder who is under the authority of the Pastor/Senior Leader and so on. Different Denominations and Streams have different titles and structures, but the underlying principle is the same. Actually, none of these ‘Titles’ in the hierarchical structure are meant to have authority over those ‘below’ them in the pyramid. They have people given into their care, and their role is to help them grow in Christ and learn to submit to the One who has absolutely authority.
Paul, who is the Apostle we know the most about was a towering figure in the early church. He could have thrown his weight around and he could have been very much the authority figure. In fact he came as a servant to the churches. He majored on the supremacy of Christ and the need to submit to Him. He encouraged and built up that relationship between the individual and Jesus, and the Churches and Jesus, where Jesus is the undisputed head over all. There were times when Paul spoke with authority into situations, but the emphasis was to build up and strengthen the direct connection and relationship with Jesus.
I believe that the way we understand and exercise spiritual authority and hierarchy in the Church encourages dependence by people on those ‘above’ them in the structure, and proportionately reduces their ability to follow Jesus for themselves. It perpetuates the clergy/laity divide and it perpetuates control. It is ironic that most of the “New Churches” which set out to demolish the clergy laity divide (“we are all priests now” quoting 1 Peter 2 v 9) have replicated it with their own structures. In this sense they are not “New” at all. No one set out with this intention, but that is where we have ended up to a greater or lesser degree.
You may be thinking that if we abandon a hierarchical system where people are submitted to those in authority over them we will end up with chaos and disorder. In some circles, to suggest such a thing would be seen as a sign of rebellion. Not so. When we exchange our hierarchical system with all its strategy and control for a more complete submission to Jesus, then Divine order ensues. There is a Divine symphony to be played.
Taking the symphony analogy, each section of the orchestra is like a church – the Horn Section, the Woodwind Section, the Brass Section etc. But there is one Score to follow and one Conductor (who handed out the Score in the first place). Everyone takes their cue from the Conductor. There is no chain of command. The Conductor doesn’t have a word with the leader of the Horn Section and say “when I give you the nod, I want you to talk to the rest of your guys and get them to play this bit”. Everyone has one eye on the Score and one on the Conductor. It’s not just enough to know the Score; the Conductor’s role brings synchronisation, harmony and emphasis. Jesus is the Master Conductor. We need to keep our eyes on Him at all times.
An Institutional Church probably having between 50 and 100 or more people contains a mixture of people. People who are saved but comfortable, those who are smouldering but not on fire, those that are warm but not hot, those who are burning hotter and those who are truly on fire for Jesus. The question is then, how do you lead and motivate such a disparate and also relatively large group of people. It might seem that the answer is to have an authority structure, a hierarchical system, in order to drive the church forward (wherever ‘forward’ is). Those who are burning hotter end up in the various leadership roles in the structure. Often those that are on fire tend to be an irritation – they don’t easily fit into the hierarchical structure.
Jesus’ model is for the whole church to be on fire. Seasoned Church leaders will be quick to point out that that is never going to happen in a church of any size (say 50 plus). There are always people who hide in the corners who are very comfortable, thank you very much. There will always be people who just want to coast along. It appears therefore that a system with delegated authority at various levels will bring a better connection between the Leadership and the ordinary people, some of whom are just happy being comfortable. Here we have the clergy/ laity divide illustrated.
There is another way of doing things. Smaller church. In a small church, maximum 15 to 20 people, there are no corners for people to comfortably hide in. It is far easier for all to know that they are on a journey of adventure together. All can be on fire. In a smaller group it is far easier for the contagion of fire to spread. Small church like this, is family. There is no need for hierarchical structure, no clergy/laity divide. Best of all, it becomes much easier for all to learn to be submitted to Jesus, individually and together as a group, without having the distraction of submitting to various others in a chain of command.
We have two alternatives. Two ways of doing things. One way is formal, systematised and not all that flexible and (unintentionally) it places men between the individual or group, and Jesus.The other is very relational and extremely flexible and draws the individual and the group tightly into Jesus. Let me illustrate….
Imagine an institutional church (and that phrase includes what we call the “New Churches”) with a congregation of upwards of fifty people. Suppose Jesus speaks prophetically to the church about direction or strategy. What is the process that follows? First the prophetic word is taken by the Leaders to weigh. If they are diligent they may do this fairly quickly. If it is a larger church where Leaders have lots of things on their agenda, it might take a little more time before they get to look at the word. Having established that this was a word from God, and that action needs to be taken, the Leaders need to formulate a plan. Again, the bigger the church, the longer this might take, especially if it impinges on lots of areas of church life. Leaders may want to discuss this with the various layers of leadership first, and then the whole church needs to be made aware of what is going to happen. This can happen at a whole church meeting or through the small group structure. In my experience major changes of direction cannot be successfully explained to a large group of people in one meeting – especially if people are not pre-dispositioned to hear what you have to say. I remember it being explained to the church I was in that I was going to visit a church in Turkey that I connected with. It was a simple straightforward explanation. At the end of the meeting one lady was heard to ask, “So why is Kevin going to live in Poland”!
The next issue in institutional church is to get the congregation to move in the new direction – to get the laity to follow the clergy. Trying to change culture in a setting like this can be a rather like trying to turn a supertanker round midstream. In order for the Leadership to carry the people with them in the direction that they feel God is showing them, it definitely helps to have a cultural understanding of leadership hierarchy with the people submitting to that hierarchy. This is not necessarily expressed in a heavy way, but it is tacitly understood. The fact that hierarchy makes the supertanker easier to steer is not a justification for either hierarchy or supertanker churches.
Now imagine the same situation played out in Small Church, a church small enough to meet in a home. Jesus speaks to the Church prophetically. All weigh it and pray into it. All work out together what needs to change and how. The Holy Spirit speaks… “it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us…”. All are a family united in a common sense of mission, adventure and a calling together to make His kingdom come on earth, in their street, as in Heaven.
Remember that in Small Church the ‘leadership’ consists of a pair of elders, a Dad and a Mum to the church family. The whole process therefore is quite quick, flexible and adaptable – even when there are those who might need encouraging or carrying a little, through the process. It is much easier and quicker for God to get this group to consensus and to a place of “Let’s do it”. In fact “Can do” is part of the ethos of the small church – provided the eldership Dad and Mum have made that a family value. This model of church is potentially much easier to turn around and steer. If institutional church is like a supertanker, then small church is like a speedboat.
Comparing the two scenarios, it becomes apparent that in the small church everyone is engaged in the process. In the large church/institutional church setting quite a number of people are just waiting to be directed. They are less engaged with the process of hearing from God, weighing the prophetic, discerning His leading and formulating the way forward. Because they are less engaged they tend toward passivity more easily. They have been disenfranchised. Hearing God and following Him are to an extent done vicariously through their leaders. The question “what do I do; how do I fit” waits for an answer from their delegated authority, be it a Home Group Leader, Pastor etc.Their experience of hearing the call of Jesus and submitting to Him is limited to their personal (as opposed to corporate) life, and to the area of moral or sanctification issues.
I realise that some of the distinctions in the examples above might be a little tightly drawn, but the general principles hold true. The institutional church model tends toward being slow to respond and inflexible (turning a supertanker round). It needs hierarchical authority to make it work, and in the process it usurps some of Jesus’ authority in the life of the believer. It reinforces the clergy/laity boundaries and emasculates the laity.
The small church is by its very nature much more likely to be flexible and adaptable (the speedboat). It is a better environment in which to encourage people into a greater dependence on God, and to teach them to follow the voice of the Holy Spirit. To ensure that the small church is a high performing speedboat, the elders – the Dad and Mum – need to be on fire themselves, not just burning a bit hotter than most. In establishing a small church the Apostle needs to choose elders well and wisely, and maintain an encouraging and releasing relationship thereafter. (We are getting close to describing what an Apostle should be doing!)
There are some scriptures which we need to look at before we go on to establish the role of an Apostle. Some of these are cited in support of the hierarchical model.
In Exodus chapter 18, Jethro who was Moses’ father in law, advised him to institute a system of government for the Nation with Moses at the head, and officials working under him as governors over Thousands, Hundreds, Fifties and Tens. This is not a model for church government but for the government of a nation.
In Romans 13 we are told to obey the governing authorities, but the reference is clearly to the civil authorities “who bear the sword”. Church leaders do not bear the sword – thankfully!
Hebrews 13 v 17 tells us to submit to our leaders authority and have confidence in them because they keep watch over us. This ties back to Acts 20 v 28 where Paul tells the Ephesian Elders to keep watch over themselves “and the flock of God which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, shepherds of the church of God which He bought with His own blood”. The leaders principal function is to be those who keep watch and shepherd the Church remembering that Jesus bought the Church and that it belongs to Him alone. In that context we do submit to our leaders, to allow them to care for us and keep watch over us – as they also keep watch over themselves.
1 Peter 2 v 18 tells slaves to submit to their masters, which has implications for the world of employment but not for the family of God.
1 Peter 5 v 5 says “you who are younger submit yourself to your elders (literally those who are older, and probably wiser, than you). Good advice but not to do with church leadership. The verse carries on to say submit ourselves to one another, an action that is not one-way laity to clergy, congregation to leaders action. Those who lead in any function are part of the body, not the head of the body and so they are to submit themselves to the body, as we all must.
1 Corinthians 16 v 16 is in the same vein. We are to submit ourselves to “everyone who joins in the work”. Easier to do in a small family church than in a big institutional church.
Ephesians 5 v 21 again exhorts us to submit to one another (see my comment above) and then Paul goes on in verse 24 to tell us to submit to Jesus.
[If the church were to submit to Jesus, what could the possibilities be? If all of us who call ourselves followers of Jesus would fall to our knees and say from the heart, “I submit. Completely. You can have it all. No longer my will, but Yours”, what would be the result?]
I hope I have managed to disentangle apostleship from church hierarchy and at the same time disentangle church from false notions about Spiritual Authority. Now it’s time to look at what the role of an apostle is, which shouldn’t take long now that we have got rid of some of the clutter.
Let’s start with Paul. Again and again the great apostle Paul directed people to Jesus, magnified Jesus and implored people to submit to Him. Paul did not come with eloquent words, was happy to be regarded as the scum of the earth, worked with his own hands to support his ministry and tellingly in Romans 1 v 1 he introduces himself as a servant and an apostle, in that order.
We have established that apostles are not people who head up the pyramid of church leadership or just Leaders who oversee a number of churches. Apostles will have a close connection with a growing number of churches though. An apostle is primarily a builder, one who lays foundations for a church, establishes leadership, and then moves on to do the same thing again in another place, whilst retaining relationships with the previous churches he has helped establish. An apostle will probably work with other giftings ie Prophets and Evangelists, and an apostle will connect with Teachers and Shepherds too.
An apostle can be either a man or a woman ( see the article “Women in the Church – getting it right”). They are pioneers, not really settlers although they may settle in one place or work with building one church for a while before moving on. They go, build or plant, then move on to do the same again. They retain close and warm relationships with the churches that they helped to birth and may well re-visit, but they will come as a guest rather than as the Church Inspector. An apostle is a builder, not a Brigadier. An apostle is a source of help and advice, but one who respects the autonomy of the local church, secure in the knowledge that Jesus is the head of the church, not the apostle.
One very important thing that an apostle does is to train up and release others with a similar gifting. All of the fivefold ministries exist to replicate themselves, to train up and release others. Here I have listed the main qualities of an apostle.
An apostle:
• Is able to work alone if needs be, but is happier working with others
• Is relational
• Sees potential in others
• Delights in releasing people
• Is a builder
• Is a generalist; carries more than one gifting
• Is humble
• Is willing to work to support his ministry if necessary
• Has vision
• Is on fire
• Is rooted in scripture
• Understands hardship and rejection
• Has a burning desire to see His kingdom come here as in heaven
• Does not regard themself as greater than any other of the fivefold giftings, but works with them to bring the Kingdom of God into a locality.
• Is at home in different cultures and communities
• Is teachable
• Does not seek to control
• Is personable, a pleasure to be with in any situation
Apostleship is a gifting from God. It is not greater than any other gifting in terms of rank or status. All the various giftings that God gives are to be viewed as similar to the parts of the body. We need them all. To be able to see but have no feet is no better than to be able to walk but not see. It is all for the service of Jesus. His is the name above all names. There are no other ‘big names’.
Church is out there 