The question posed in this article is one that is important for every modern mature Christian to take thoughtful time to weigh and consider. Across the ever-increasing denominational map there are scores of denominations that hold to quite strong views on this question.
For example, an entire denomination has been constructed in recent years titled the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). Putting my cards on the table up front, this is a deeply troubling and problematic sect within Christianity. The NAR contains the word “Apostolic” in its title because its leaders “claim they’re restoring the lost office of apostle to the church—an office endowed with astonishing authority, miraculous powers, and divine strategies for establishing God’s kingdom on earth” (Geivett and Holly, A New Apostolic Reformation?). In short, they believe that God has new “apostles”, just like the apostles of Jesus’ day, who are endowed with power from God to miraculously grow God’s Church. Of course, the more money you send them, the more their power grows! Word to the wise, if you come across a New Apostolic Reformation teacher, run!
Heretical movements like the NAR did not emerge out of a vacuum. Throughout history there have been fringe Christian sects that have attempted to “restore” the office of Apostle to the Church. The Latter Rain Movement that emerged after World War II is an example of this effort. Springing from its Pentecostal roots, the Latter Rain Movement taught that “people who received the new apostolic and prophetic revelations could attain a degree of immortality in this life, which would then empower them to usher in God’s kingdom.” They further believed that their apostolic sect would bring reformation to God’s entire church on earth. Of course, it sputtered out and was denounced by their original Pentecostal base.
But if the NAR represents something of an extreme view of Apostleship in the modern church, it is safe to say that there are many other less extreme interpretations of this gift that are alive and well in the church today. One such interpretation is what I call the “Entrepreneurial Interpretation.” This view believes that while the Office of Apostleship is closed, the Gift of Apostleship continues. The general sense of the Gift of Apostleship is captured well by many spiritual gift assessments one might find online. “The mission for those with the gift of apostleship today is to plant new ministries and churches, go into places where the Gospel is not preached, reach across cultures to establish churches in challenging environments, raise up and develop leaders, call out and lead pastors and shepherds, and much more.” Essentially this teaches that those who have the spiritual gift of Apostleship are uniquely empowered with entrepreneurial gifts to further the kingdom.
While I do no doubt that God has powerfully given entrepreneurial gifts to many in His Kingdom, and that those gifts are good and should be used to the full glory of God, I hesitate strongly to point to a Bible verse and suggest that “entrepreneurialism” is what the Apostle’s meant when they wrote about Apostleship.
Those who argue for this “gift of Apostleship” typically turn to Ephesians 4:11-12 which reads, “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ…” Here we five separate categories of ministry leaders that are set apart by God for building up the body of Christ (Note: there is some debate as to whether the last two positions in that list, shepherds and teachers, are in fact two separate positions or one single position, a shepherd-teacher). Defenders of the Entrepreneurial Interpretation say that here we have clear evidence of the gift of apostleship being given to the church along with other ongoing gifts like evangelists and teachers.
The problem is that only two chapters prior the Apostle wrote in Ephesians 2:19-21 when Paul writes,“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.”
Notice the grouping of “Apostles and Prophets” in Ephesians 2:20. It seems clear that the Apostle considers the “Apostles and Prophets” a closed group of individuals, through whom God laid a foundation for the Church. Foundations are not laid over and over again, but are laid one time at the start of a construction project. It seems highly unlikely that Paul would suddenly switch (within two chapters of writing) from viewing the Apostles and Prophets as a closed group of individuals through whom a foundation was laid, to an open group of individuals through whom God would continue to build in the future. Rather, what seems far more likely is that in Ephesians 4:11-12, the Apostle Paul lists out the five main roles of leadership in the Church. The first two, Apostles and Prophets, constituted the foundation as he spoke of in Ephesians 2:20, and the remaining three are ongoing roles throughout the Church Age.
So, are there Apostles today? No, there are not. The Apostles were a closed group of individuals whom God used to lay the foundation of the Church in the first century. Are there incredibly talented entrepreneurial minded individuals, endowed by the Spirit of God to develop Kingdom Ministries today? Yes, by God’s grace there are. But it would be a mistake to look to Paul’s description of Apostles in the New Testament as evidence for such kingdom entrepreneurs.
