Are You Apostolic?
There has been much talk recently (at least in the Missional conversation) about the apostolic. It's function is a critical and needed piece to reforming the church into what it is supposed to be in the world, a beautiful and radiant bride. A community of followers who actually look and act like Jesus. Unfortunately, like much of what happens in the church (particularly with the American, commercialized, hyper-entrepreneurial version) it looks like it may soon be overdone. Similar to how the term “missional” has grown to mean almost everything and almost nothing, it appears that the term "apostolic" may quickly move from the arena of being overly stigmatized to over-used (which usually translates to misused).
Why do I say this? One of the main reasons is seeing how many people now self-identify as “apostolic.” It’s a veritable contagion. It seems like any one who actually cares about the world and the gospel fancies him or herself as apostolic. I am not persuaded. Case in point: While consulting with a large-ish church recently I had their entire leadership team (staff and elders) take the APEST test (found here). The APEST is a test constructed by Alan Hirsch, et al that attempts to identify a persons location within the 5-fold leadership functions of Ephsians 4 – Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Shepherd and Teacher. One of the key leaders from this church whose sole role is to teach tested out as apostolic. When the rest of his team were asked what they saw as his primary calling, to a person, they all cast him as shepherd/teacher. If this were an isolated example, I would have just chalked it up to a “fluke,” but it hasn’t been. There are more apostolic folks running around then ever. You can hardly go to the Grocery store these days without running into an apostle (note sacrasm). Can this really the be? Has it become the sexy…wanted gifting? I’m just gonna say it; the church is often simply crazy in it’s panting for the new (or old in this case).