Apostles and Church leaders
As a Charismatic and a Bible-loving Christian, I believe that when Jesus ascended he gave gifts to his church. Exalted to the right hand of God, he received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and poured out not only the Pentecostal blessing described in Acts 2:33 but also gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers (Ephesians 4:11) to help equip his church and bring it to maturity.
These variously named gifts obviously differ in their function and relevance. It doesn’t say ‘he ascended and gave priests’ or ‘he ascended and gave clergymen’. He gave diverse and distinct gifts. The evangelist differs from the prophet. The apostle differs from the pastor. Otherwise these titles are redundant – a waste of space.
If the inspired Scriptures distinguish between varieties of ministries and clearly imply that we need this diversity of gifting to bring about God’s ultimate intention, why do so many Bible-believing Christians and churches ignore the obvious implications?
For instance, the apostles of the New Testament had a distinct task from the evangelists or pastors, and it wasn’t, as so many of our evangelical brothers suggest, simply to write Scriptures! The apostle Barnabas (Acts 14:14) wrote no Scripture nor did most of the Twelve, while Luke, nowhere described as an apostle, wrote much of the New Testament.
What was the work of an apostle? Surely he was pre-eminently a church founder, giving clear identity to the new communities of believers that began to multiply around the Mediterranean as described in the book of Acts. Perhaps Paul’s most succinct description of himself as an apostle is found in 1 Corinthians 3:10 where he claimed to be ‘a wise master builder’ who had laid the foundation of the Corinthian church.
Years ago I was invited to address a UK Evangelical Alliance consultation of national leaders regarding the values embraced by the so-called ‘Restoration Churches’. My talk was followed by a question time where I was asked by a rather irate Anglican minister, ‘Who gave you the right to start churches?’
I was just pondering that this was a good and not inappropriate question, when Morgan Derham, the former General Secretary of the Evangelical Alliance, quipped, ‘I’d rather belong to a church started by Terry Virgo than one started by Henry VIII.’ The outburst of laughter demonstrated that at least the non-conformists present thought it was funny. (For the full story see my book No Well-Worn Paths)
Church leaders
As a movement, Newfrontiers has tended to emphasise the role of apostles and prophets. The church was originally built on the foundation of apostles and prophets (Eph. 2:20) so they gave the people of God their fundamental identity. I have argued that we were not built on a pastoral foundation.
My argument has often been expressed by noting that pastors are called to care for and feed the flock and meet the flock’s needs. An over-emphasis, therefore, on the pastoral role can result in pre-occupation with needs. We could become need-centred instead of apostolic and prophetic, thereby missing God’s intention and forgetting the bigger picture, building churches that gradually become foreign to the atmosphere of the New Testament.
I have been alarmed at the possible danger of a church becoming introverted, developing a culture where personal preference dominates and shepherds major on discerning and serving people’s so-called ‘felt needs’. However, in taking this stance, we may have failed to bring adequate positive Biblical teaching about the vital role of pastors and teachers. They are, of course, the most visible ministers in the local church. They have the most ‘hands on’ role among the flock.
The danger of leaving a vacuum of Biblical teaching is that other images can begin to emerge. Historically the role of the pastor has often reflected current trends. Prior to the Reformation, for instance, he was regarded as a priest, holy, separate, somewhat other and mystical in his celibacy, a mediator between the people and their God.
The Reformation shed fresh light on the unique mediatorial work of Christ and established the truth of the priesthood of all believers who need no go-between but have personal direct access to God through the work of Christ and the Spirit (Rom. 5:1, 2; Eph. 2:18).
Post-Reformation and in the course of time, the Christian minister began to take his place in the developing culture and was often seen as a respected public figure in similar fashion to the local doctor or squire.
With the challenge of the Enlightenment, ministers began to feel a need for further academic qualification to prove their worth, and the comparatively modern ‘theological training college’ was introduced. Intellect was trained to challenge intellect in specialist settings. The emergence of Biblical criticism seemed to require further scholarship among pastors so that they could withstand the developing undermining trends of liberal scholars.
More recently, with the advent of psychology and therapy, the modern pastor has often felt the need to develop gifts to discern the diverse internal dilemmas of the members of his congregation, and among his opinion-formers and movers and shakers he aims to develop insights into their temperamental strengths and weaknesses.
To bring us right up to date in our current consumer-driven society, pastors increasingly feel the need to develop management skills, able to research and discern the market, project graphs, establish their five-year growth plans, and reflect the sophistication of a CEO.
If you are a pastoral elder, I wonder how you view your gift and calling?
Biblical images
The most common Biblical image for the local church elders is a ‘shepherd’ and though we feel fairly at home with the language of pastor or shepherd, the fact is that most 21st century urban dwellers have never actually met a shepherd nor are they likely to. |
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