Why I Use “Apostolic”
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Years ago, I was checking my mail in the faculty workroom at the school where I was teaching. I had just come from a PhD dissertation defense where the student had done exceptional exegetical, theological, and missiological work with the word apostolos and its contemporary relevance. Encountering one of my colleagues, I told how impressed I was with the student’s work and its practical implications on missionary labors. Rather than sharing my enthusiasm, he expressed shock and fear. “Oh, whatever you do,” he warned, “do not start calling people apostles. Pastor [highly influential church planter connected with my institution at the time] calls church planters apostles and causes much confusion.”
While I understood my colleague’s point, I disagreed with his conclusion. This scholar was known for his precise biblical and theological language—when it came to Theology Proper, Christology, pneumatology, soteriology, hamartiology, and anthropology. But ecclesiology? Not so much. Rather than view Pastor X’s unhealthy use of biblical terminology and application as an opportunity to provide a healthy biblical ecclesiology, he decided to reject anything related to the word apostolos. Culture triumphed theology.
Biblical Novelty
When I published Apostolic Church Planting in 2015 and Apostolic Imagination in 2022, I intentionally used the adjective, apostolic, in the titles. The reason was two-fold.
First, since 2001, I have been calling for a paradigm shift in church planting, at home and abroad. The ubiquitous plant-and-pastor model should be the exception and not the expectation in church planting. Second, the adjectival use of apostle is peculiar enough that it causes people to stop and ask, “What is this babbler attempting to say?” People lean in to learn more, because a biblical model is now a novel item.
The most critical issue in church planting today is an ecclesiological issue that is related to our understanding of the local church and church planters. Apostolic forces a return to the biblical text. The contemporary language of missionary has its origins among the sixteenth century Jesuits. Apostolic causes us to leapfrog the Early Modern Period to the first century. It is here we begin to ask, “Where is the biblical model (i.e., expectation) for modern church planters in identity and function?”
“Other” Category
If you have read Apostolic Imagination, then you know I believe there is a biblical category of apostolos that was not Jesus, the Twelve, or Paul (Acts 14:4, 14; 2 Cor 8:23; Phil 2:25). It is here other apostoloi existed in the first century and continue today. However, I share some of my colleague’s reservations with a contemporary use of the word. There have been (and continue to be) so many charlatans and misunderstandings that I am hesitant to apply the noun today—unless I have the time and space to explain thoroughly my understanding.
(Sidenote: There are also many charlatans and misunderstandings related to the words pastor and evangelist, yet no denomination, network, church. . . or theologian refuses to use poimenas or euaggelistas (Eph 4:11-12). Our double-standard is shameful ecclesiology and should force us to ask why such exists. Historical and modern distortions should drive us to the text for the truth.)
Pastoral Hegemony
I am not a missionary, church planter, or apostle. I have served nineteen years as a pastor (and twenty-seven as a teacher in the Academy). However, we have reached a time (at least among Western countries) when nearly everything the Church does is filtered through a set of pastoral lenses. A pastoral hegemony exists when it comes to both local church ministry AND missions (e.g., church planting). There is a reason He gave some to be apostles and some to be pastors (Eph 4:11-12). If the toolbox only contains a hammer, the carpenter will do well driving nails. But if a board needs to be cut, or a screw removed, then the result is an inefficient mess.
When established Church structures exist, healthy pastors are needed. Yet, provided enough time and growth with pastoral ministry alone, the Church comes to believe nothing else exists.
More in the Toolbox
But what happens when local cultures and contexts shift? When unreached peoples migrate next door? When a generation arises that looks, sounds, smells, and walks like us, but has a radically different worldview? It is in these settings the apostolic is needed. Where there is no foundation, there is need of the apostolic imagination.
But if we only have a hammer, then we have a problem. Thankfully, the Lord has provided His Church with more in the toolbox. We just need to take a look.
The five billion remain.