One biblical word that has made a bit of a come back in the past few years is ‘apostolic’. Its current definition seems to include roughly three activities: church planting; works of miracles, especially in healing; and overseeing a number of local churches. As all three can be seen as apostolic ministry in the New Testament then the title/label is carried over from scripture to the present day. The simple meaning of the Greek – ‘sent one’ – is also used to defend using it today. ‘You’ve been sent, therefore you are an apostle.’

Now my question is this – and it is only a question at this stage – is this enough to justify applying this biblical term to the many who apply it to their own ministries in the 21st century? To be fair to the majority, few use it for themselves; they prefer it if others apply it on their behalf. Such reticence may be an indication in itself that something doesn’t quite fit.

It seems to me that the apostles of the NT times did something so radical that it is barely being repeated anywhere today in the western world. They received a revelation of God in Jesus that was so new, so fresh, and so different to anything seen in either the Jewish or pagan world and they planted it in communities, often on a very small scale, and oversaw the gradual growth of its fruit. There was almost nothing in these communities that they could work with before they got there and yet they changed nothing in their message to make it more palatable to their hearers. For how do you make a message about God the Son dying on a cross palatable to the Jews, and how do you make the message of God restoring creation palatable to the Greeks?

They introduced a totally different culture into the world. What they did had never been done before. Is not what happens today rather different? Much of what we see today is about repeating what has been done many times before – planting churches is certainly nothing new in Wales.

So where are those who can show us how to spread the news when we are marginalised in society – for I doubt we can do that and protest about our marginalisation at the same time? Where are those who can show us how to counter the celebrity culture of our day – when church so often puts one or two on a platform to lead the rest? The list of questions could go on, could it not? So let’s ask the one that matters: where are today’s apostles?

I intend to come back to this issue again at some point. It would be good to get a conversation going, so what response do you have to make?