TaliOrlando said:
I have a question:
I know there are titles such as pastors, deacons, ushers.
Is there such a title as Apostle??
I went to this church where the preaching, word is great but they spoke about their spiritual father as an Apostle.
I understand he is a Pastor in Chicago and his ministry has grown and there are aproximately over 300 churches under their spiritual coverings around all latin america and united states.
Why do they call him an Apostle?? is know he is basicly the pastors, Pastor. Is that why??
Also.. the pastors at this church asked that when anyone saw them in the streets to please refer to them as pastors and not by their name. in other words..
My name is Tali.. Please dont call me Tali and call me Pastor Tali. I see nothing wrong with that but I just never heard a pastor asking for people to call him one.
I don't know about this particular church. I believe there can be apostles, but do think there is a major misunderstanding regarding the role of apostle.
Paul wrote to the Corinthians that they had many teachers, but not many fathers, for in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, he had become their father. So some people conclude that an apostle is a 'spiritual father.' But if we really consider the context and other passages to the Corinthians, we realize that Paul was like a father to them because he had spiritually birthed them through evangelism.
II Corinthians 10 shows us that Paul and his compantions had a measure of rule among the Corinthians because they had introduced the Gospel to their area. They wanted to expand this measure by evangelizing beyond their region into unreached regions. In this passage, he contrasts himself with those who did not win the Corinthians, but wanted to claim them as their own as if they had.
This is similar to the man who claims to be an apostle because he plants churches, but he didn't really win anyone to plant a church. He just gathered existing believers around himself who were already in the Lord, and boasted about them as if he had one them to Christ. There is nothing wrong with ministering to believers, and it is a good thing to do, but it does not make one an apostle.
In Matthew 10, Jesus designates 12 apostles and sends them out to preach, heal,cast out devils, and raise the dead in the same passage. Mark starts calling them apostles after they return from this journey.
Luke starts calling Paul and Barnabas apostles after they were sent out in Acts 13. They were in Antioch and they were ministering to the Lord with other prophets and teachers. The Spirit spoke and said to separate Saul and Barnabas for the work to which He had called them. They laid hands on them, and Saul and Barnabas went out, being sent by the Holy Spirit. They were called 'sent one's (that is, apostles) after this, twice in chapter 14.
So we see a common element here. These apostles took preaching journeys, proclaiming the gospel to the unreached. Today, some missionaries take on this role.
Paul talked about 'the seal of his apostleship.' A seal was a piece of wax or other material used to bind a scroll together. Kings, emporers, or officials would have a stamp to press onto the seal. This was evidence that the letter was from them. What was the seal, the evidence, that Paul was an apostle.
In I Corinthians 9, Paul wrote that if he were not an apostle to others, he was an apostle to the Corinthian church, for they were the seal of his apostleship in the Lord. That church was the result of his church planting efforts. They were birthed, spiritual through his, and his companions, evangelistic efforts.
I used to moderate a church planting forum which was predominantly a house church forum. There were a few church planters on there and I asked them if any of them were apostles. Now, a lot of house church people don't think of 'apostle' as some grand exalted title, but similar to what I described above. So I guess they felt free to open up about this. I can think of two who said they were. One was a house church planter who had ministered in England and was helping plant house churches in Spain. The other was a man who I've heard about in unreached people group circles. He hand planted 18 or so house churches in the US before going on to work behind the scenes in coaching people to plant house churches among Islmic peoples. Both men said they had done signs and wonders when I asked. They seem to fit the profile of 'apostle.'
On the other hand, there are preachers nowadays who try to put together a franchise of churches beneath themselves and lead, counsel, or tell the pastors what to do and call themselves 'apostles.' I don't see this as the essence of apostlship in the scriptures. In fact, I see a pattern of apostles starting out with a lot of responsibility in a local church, but eventually allowing others to take over. At first the 12 were apparently in charge of distributing food. But they gave it over to the Seven. At first, the proceeds from fields were put at their feet. Later, there were elders recieving funds brought from churches in other cities. The apostles gave themselves to teaching and to prayer.
Paul made a judgment for the Corinthians in I Corinthians 5, but he also exhorted them that they needed to judge and in chapter 6, he rebukes them for not judging their own disputes rather than going to a secular court. Paul wanted the Corinthians to grow up and be less dependant on him, not more dependant.
As far as titles go. I purposefully do not call someone 'Pastor so and so.' I would make an refrain from using 'apostle' or other ministry titles in that way. The reason is I think it goes against the principle of Matthew 23, which says not to be called 'rabbi' or 'teacher' or call another man 'Father.' Christ is our Master, as the passage points out. But Christ is also our Pastor (Shepherd) and why should we use such honorific titles for others. I will call someone 'Brother' to show respect, a title I can use not jut for the preacher, but for any man in the faith.
