|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Apostolic Teams Apostles are changing the way church is done. Apostles are changing the government of the church. They are changing leadership concepts and ministry concepts. This is all part of the Lord’s doing as we are living in an age of restoration of the church to the original plans. Gone are the one-man shows and the committees and boards. In place of these we are seeing the apostolic team emerge. It would be best to understand the principle of teams and not just a team. There can be teams of various sizes, ministries and spheres of authority. They can be permanent but most often temporary as the complexities of team purpose and need change. Some teams are local and some trans-local. It all depends on the reason for the team. Some teams or parts of teams can be both. Apostles as architects and admirals The meaning of the word apostle has it’s roots in the classical Greek usage referring to an admiral who was “sent” with a full commissioning and with the necessary compliment of officers, men and materials to get the mission accomplished. Jesus is the best example of that meaning as the “sent one” to accomplish the work of the Father. He is also the best example of an architect or one who has the blueprints to build. He is the one who said “I will build…..” Both of these expressions of ministry reside in today’s apostles. With the understanding of being sent they are conscious of finishing a mission or task. Jesus knew when He had finished the work, and Paul said he also knew that the course of his life was finished. There is that sense of destiny, and it is imparted to the team(s) they work with. As builders, apostles share with Jesus the sense of seeing the building of the body. They know what parts are needed where and can set them in order and release the gift to function to maximum potential. They “see” what and how and who in order to do what must be done. Local apostolic teams In the local church setting, there is a type of team that must come into existence to assist in the building of the church. Of course we know of the five-fold team. They primarily are for the equipping of the saints for their work of building up the rest of the body. But a local team can be made up of those who are and those who aren’t five-fold. A local team can have some who are five-fold and also administrators, gifts of helps, deacons, intercessors, and all of various ages and sexes. I personally like multigenerational teams. The complexion of the team depends on two things. First, the available gift ministry at the origin of the team will determine much of the mix. The team may not have the full compliment of all the gifts, but that is where the apostle can fill in the missing parts by himself. Apostles can function in more than one of the five- fold gifts. Next, is the need of the church that exists at any time. No church stays at one place forever. The church is a living organism with completely different sets of circumstances and different makeup of members as time goes by. Also the world around it changes. These all affect the way apostolic teams are made up. It is the apostles' gifting here that recognizes these variations of members and circumstances and also identifies the gifts. The number of members on a team at any time can vary as needed. For example if the present need of the church was evangelistic, I would endeavor to shade the team to that purpose. If the need were for teaching, then I would emphasize teaching gifts on the team. You get the picture. Trans-local teams Essentially what I have just related about local teams avails to traveling ones as well. However, there would be a strong emphasis on the apostolic, prophetic, and evangelist gifts. Here we can have plural apostles and prophets if needed and available. In my own planning, I would like to include gift ministries from other churches or ministries and mix the team as long as I know the ministries and sense compatibility. Such mixtures can be good and serve to pollinate the team. The numbers are smaller in most cases when traveling. When I see an emerging gift that needs development, I like to put that gift person on a team and let them grow and flow with others. It is a good way to train on the job. Also the team becomes a birthing ground for new ministry and a launching pad for some to be sent out on their own while maintaining relationship with the sending apostolic team and senior apostles. Headship Nothing in the bible suggests remotely that everyone but Christ is excluded from heading up a team. In fact to not have a head is a serious misconception. Everything in God’s kingdom has a head, even the Godhead. While plurality of apostles and plurality of elders is the recommendation, there is always a head of the team. Call this person first among equals or whatever, he or she is the leader and that leadership is recognized and honored. It is part of the fathering element of the apostolic ministry. You can have many teachers, but only one father. The same is true of the team. All the members are honored, but all are not the head. Identification, anointing and government The local apostolic team becomes the essential government of the church. As the members' gifts are identified and the various ones are chosen to create the team, then the anointing that resides in each member constitutes the government of the church. I refer to this as government by anointing. If we think about it, anointing is the presence of the Holy Spirit embodied in a believer, who then graces the believer to fulfill a portion of the Lord’s Kingdom through that anointing. Anything else is a contribution. Only anointing can break the yoke of bondage and only anointing can heal, teach, prophesy, lead, etc. In summary, we can say God has chosen all the government by Himself for Himself. It is after all, His Kingdom. While apostles play the major role in government of the church along with the elders (who may be any of the constituted gifts mentioned above as long as the person has the maturity and capacity to embrace oversight), the apostles are not the sole governing members of the church as if they were rulers. Indeed they are not. They are senior to be sure and must be the heads of teams, but alone they would become a ruling cast. We are a nation of kings and priests. All rule some area and all minister equally to the Lord. Apostles are primary in detecting and discovering the gifts within the local churches. It was Paul who identified the gifts and graces in the body and even spoke of their purposes and how all members should relate to them. It is given to apostles to sort out and help the local church find the gifts set there by God and then help them work and build together. Every anointing has a ruling quality about it. The anointing rules over ignorance, disease, aimlessness, Satan and demons, and does so with the wisdom of God. It does so through miracles and supernatural understanding. It has the ability to set in order what would remain chaotic and confusing. It gives direction and purpose. It is the energy of God.
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Ephesians Ministries International
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
