One Sunday morning two years ago I arrived at church to find we had been invaded by termites. There are swarming, crawling and simply making a mess of the place. We quickly surveyed the damage and realized the critters had been quietly working for years and had eaten sizable portion of the platform and the wall. We had to do move out for several weeks while the damage was repaired but we caught them before the platform disappeared. Pests can do a lot of damage.
I want to suggest there may be a pest in the church that may cause just as much damage spiritually.By that I mean the possibility that apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers (APEST for short) are all still valid leadership gifts today.
While a discussion about leadership in the church can be a good thing, we also must be aware that not all leadership styles are healthy. There certainly are some unhealthy leadership styles. (My doctoral thesis project was on leadership within Independent, Fundamental Churches.)
If we take a good look at leaders and make a clear diagnosis of what is healthy and biblical we all benefit. But if we receive a wrong diagnosis then we are likely also to receive a wrong treatment and I think that may be true with one of the proposed leadership solutions—that the leaders Paul named as Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Shepherd and Teacher ( See Eph. 4:11) are all valid today.
I think the impetus for some of the discussions on leadership has come in response to a business model of leadership being espoused by the church. I don’t believe this was the model upon which the church was founded. However, I don't think we should uncritically accept the validity of the APEST model either.
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The idea that there are flesh and blood apostles and prophets alive today demands a thorough investigation. Getting it wrong it can be devastating to the church. What if we listen to an apostle and find out he/she is wrong (that could happen in a fallen world).
Let’s begin with Scripture and see how the early church understood the term apostle.
The first place I reference is Acts 2:42. In this passage we find that the early believers gathered to hear the teaching of the apostles--which apostles? It would seem that they recognized a specific and small group of people as apostles, namely those Jesus called to be with Him.
As a matter of fact, Peter had already determined that to be called an Apostle a man had to have seen Christ and been with the Jesus from the beginning of his ministry. When did that qualification get dropped? Paul was well aware that he was an exception to the first qualification but he in fact did see the risen Christ.
In Ephesians 2:20 Paul writes that the household of God is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Once again I can ask which ones? I think the answer is a specific and small group of people— not every one who might have claimed to have the gift of apostleship.
There is one passage of Scripture that specifically gives the number of Apostles as 12. In Rev. 21:14 the wall of the city has 12 foundations and each foundation has on it the name of one of the apostles and I don’t think those apostle are alive today.
These Scriptures at least suggest that there was a well attested group of people called and recognized as apostles in the early church. I also believe that the New Testament use of the word apostle most often is in a specialized way.
Truthfully, I am afraid of the damage that may occur when we begin to look for apostles and prophets in every church. Even if the word apostle is used in a broad way in the New Testament, which is infrequent, did Paul really mean that those other than the 12 plus Paul had the same authority and gifting as Paul and his colleagues? I don’t think so (and Wayne Grudem doesn’t think so either).
Before we start to pick out possible apostles and prophets in the church today maybe we should take a step back and say “Seriously”?
