So, what is the ministry of apostles in the church today?

First, let me emphatically state that God’s design for the apostle today is not to be a titled office holder in the hierarchy of the church. The apostle today is not a super church leader with authority over everyone else. The apostle today is not one who must be obeyed by everyone else without question.

Apostleship is not a spiritual gift. If someone claims to have “the gift of the apostle” they misunderstand what it means to be an apostle. In Ephesians 4.11 the texts says that God gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists and some pastors and teachers to the church in order to have a complete and healthy church. Please do not misunderstand me – the man claiming to be an apostle is not necessarily God’s gift to the church. Previously I wrote briefly about Apostle X. It was apparent that he thought he was God’s gift to the church. His attitude was completely wrong. God gave apostles to the church – the function of the apostles in the body of Christ is God’s gift to the church, along with the function of the prophet, the evangelist, and the pastors and teachers.

The four apostles I have met do not even like to hear the word apostle in the same sentence as their own name. They are humble men. They know they have a ministry, a responsibility, a function within the church, but not an office.

I believe the apostle today will have the following characteristics:

A call from God to a place or to a people.
A burden for reaching that place or people.
A vision of what God wants to do to reach that place or people.
A God-given strategy to reach that place or people.
A stewardship of the gospel for that place or people.

Each of these characteristics will need to be explained further, and we’ll do that in posts to come.