I have a bee in my bonnet about the apostolic. In fact regular readers of the blog would say I have several bees in several bonnets about a whole host of things, but I think especially the concept of the apostolic is stirring something in me these days. I’ve already posted some thoughts, but I’d like to develop more over the next few weeks. They’re not going to be fully thought out truths about what an apostle is – I’m not sure anyone can give you the definitive version – rather they will be some threads that are currently weaving their way in my mind. Feel free to comment on what I have to say. We’ve got a better chance of reaching some kind of answer if we dialogue together.

An answer, of course, implies a question. How shall we frame this question? What about: what is the apostle’s role in the 21st century? You may want to add some detail to that question, but it will do for now maybe. Framing the question for the present day, of course, implies that I believe that the apostolic is for today. Many believe that it was for New Testament times only; that once the NT apostles died out having done their job there was no need for the apostolic any longer. I don’t agree with this view. I believe Jesus wants to see the apostolic calling fulfilled in our age. My question is: how is this done?

The best place to start is with Jesus himself. He was the one, according to the Gospels at any rate, who called certain men to be with him and to send them out. Matthew’s Gospel is as good a place to start this study as any other. There in chapter 10 we have Jesus sending out his 12 disciples to complete certain tasks. The section has a long list of instructions and expectations: they were given authority to fulfil certain supernatural tasks; they were to go to the Jews only; they were to preach about the coming kingdom of heaven; leaving peace with those who welcomed them was a part of the authority; facing persecution would be an element of their lives; and those who received them would be receiving Jesus. There is more detail in Matthew 10 than I have just sketched, but it is worth noting that planting churches is not included.

From this section can we begin to posit an answer to the question? Well yes and no. It is always a little unwise to answer such a big question with so little data. But let’s give it a go with what we have. So … the work of the apostle is to take the authority given by Jesus to usher in the kingdom to this present age.

What do you think? Again, I must stress that what I do here is think out aloud. These are not fully-formed thoughts. So let’s dialogue and see where we end up.