What's with all the Buzz about #APEST? - A Book Review of 5Q by Alan Hirsch
What’s with all the Buzz about #APEST? – A Book Review of 5Q by Alan Hirsch
Full disclosure up front: I love Alan Hirsch! He is one of my favorite authors and missional thinkers/leaders. His book, The Forgotten Ways, literally changed my life. But enough about that.
In 2017, I walked out of the Missio Alliance conference with an armful of books, and when I posted a picture of my new stack of missional books on Twitter, Alan replied, ‘let me know what you think’ –…
In the early days of the Christian church, the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus laying out the various roles of those in the church. He wrote in Ephesians 4:11-13, “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors (shepherds) and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the…
Discovering Your Unique Role in Equipping Others (APEST) Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-12 As you come to understand your Spiritual Gifting and how these intersected passion and…
I used to think that the title of apostle was reserved for those select few who had visibly seen and came into contact with the risen Lord. Those who were blessed enough to have heard, seen, and handled (1 John 1:1) the “Word become flesh” first hand. I used to believe that there were no apostles anymore. I mean, it’s the LDS church that has “apostles” and we surely do not want to be like a cult. But, is that what it meant? Was the gifting of apostle reserved solely for the original twelve, and Paul?
If you cling to a confession, or are a cessationist, then you are likely to say yes. You would cling to the idea that only those specific men could be apostles. Except, Junia is listed (prominent among the apostles) as an apostle by Paul in Romans 16:7, and she’s a woman. Matter of fact, Barnabas (Acts 14:4, 14), Andronicus (Romans 16:7), Epaphroditus (Philippians 2:25), Silvanus (1 Thessalonians 1:1, 2:6) and Timothy (1 Thessalonians 1:1, 2:6) are all apostles. I don’t think it ended; I don’t think it ends; I don’t think it ever has an expiration.
“God has given his grace to each one of us measured out by the gift that is given by Christ” Ephesians 4:7 (CEB).
The Father gives the grace; Christ measured it out. Being an apostle, therefore, has nothing to do with the privilege that we have of beholding the risen Christ. It has nothing to do with us, it has everything to do with what God wants. It specifically has to do with God’s grace. It’s what we don’t deserve. It’s nothing that we seek out and nothing we can find on our own. It’s God’s gift and Jesus pours an allotment out to each of us individually.
That means nobody can choose to be an apostle. Jesus just measures it out to you. In other words, it’s the calling on your life. It’s grace, so it’s freely given. Being an apostle has more to do with the supernatural gifting that God has given to you, that is used in a role. Apostleship isn’t a gift, per se, like mercy or knowledge. It’s the role you use your gifts in, the ministerial role that God is calling you to. It’s how you use mercy or knowledge (examples of gifts, not exhaustive).
The purpose we are told this specific gift is given for is “to equip God’s people for the work of serving and building up the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12). Now, to be sure, apostle is given along with the other four APEST gifting roles (prophet, evangelist, shepherd and teacher). It’s part of the greater whole that we are intended to utilize for the advancing of the kingdom.
We haven’t utilized it though. We are afraid to utilize it. Along with prophet and evangelist (let’s be honest, today’s evangelists aren’t evangelists – they are teachers who come and preach to people who are already saved), apostles have been thrown out of the mix. The church that has been given everything it needs to survive and be a lasting revolution, has shot itself in the foot. It’s beyond time to realize that we need the APE back in ministry, beginning with the apostle.
Hirsch and Catchim say that an apostle, “is tasked with the overall vigor, as well as extension of Christianity as a whole, primarily through direct mission and church planting. As the name itself suggests, it is the quintessentially missional ministry, as ‘sentness’ is written into it.”[1] They believe that the apostle is the one who pioneers something. That something, in the case of the Christian, is the advancement of the gospel into a new culture. “But we’re a Christian nation” – no, we are not. Just no. Stop. Please. You’re making the job harder.
America is a post-Christian culture. It was meant to be that, Jesus’ name isn’t in the declaration, and neither is God’s. A title of Creator is used, but seriously, look around. We live in post-Christendom. We need more than just evangelism for a new age; we need an apostolic ministry. And not ‘apostolic’ as in women wear dresses down to their ankles either, apostolic as in a new pioneering movement that radically challenges and changes culture.
There’s nothing wrong with evangelism, but evangelism without an apostolic presence is exactly what’s gotten us into the mess we are in. The apostolic ministry sets the tone, guards the gospel and influences the culture by shaping the message for the time. Hirsch and Catchim inform their readers that the apostle creates a field, or environment for the gospel’s advancing. That field is completed through four steps.
Extends the Movement by Spreading the Gospel
Safeguards the Movement by Guarding the Gospel
Networks the Movement by Maintaining a Sense of Common Purpose in God’s People
Creates the Context in Which the Other APEST Ministries Emerge[2]
The problem with people who go around acting like prophets and calling people out on their sin, is there is no apostle to pave the path. There’s nobody that has preceded them to give those who hear prophets any inclination that there is a God, or that He’s patient with them and wants them to repent. The problem with evangelists “getting someone saved” is there is nothing in place to prepare those new converts, or newly awakened people as I call them, for the tough road of discipleship that follows. Apostles pioneer to make a way for viable ministries and evangelism to happen. The apostle provides the context; without the context all our efforts fall short.
We need more people in today’s church to provide the context. To scout the waters for fishing so to speak. Just as you would use a fish-finder today to take you to the school of fish, the apostle is the one who will set up all the other ministries of the church up for success. God is not done with His church; if He were, the trumpet would have sounded. If God’s purposes are not finished with the church, where are His apostles?
[1] Hirsch and Catchim, The Permanent Revolution, 2012, Jossey-Bass, Hoboken, page 8.
APEST - Part 1, The Grace Given Me by Christ Jesus
I looked for anyone to repair the wall and stand in the gap for me on behalf of the land, so I wouldn’t have to destroy it. But I couldn’t find anyone. - Ezekiel 22:30 CEB
Ask anyone at our congregation and they’ll tell you that I’m more of a teacher than I am a pastor. Matter of fact, I never score very high in pastoring/shepherding whenever I take spiritual gifts tests. It’s just not in my spiritual DNA. Does that make me a poor pastor? No, it makes me a different pastor.
He gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. Ephesians 4:11 CEB
I’m a teacher / apostle. That means that I connect the dots, I’m that guy that teaches in ways you’ve never been taught before (sure you may have, but that’s just what I hear). I’m also that guy that desires to see a ministry movement that is activated authentically with the Great Commission.
Go. - Jesus
We somehow have overcomplicated a pretty simple idea espoused by the ministry of Jesus. Jesus embodies the entire gift spectrum, especially Ephesians 4:11. The fullness of Jesus is a body of Christ where there are apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers.
At the New Philadelphia First Church of God, our leaders have been studying a book called The Permanent Revolution by Alan Hirsch and Tim Catchim. Our idea of doing church has failed, precisely because it’s not authentic and is not the body of Christ that Jesus envisioned. The Church has become nothing more than man’s revolution, devoted to sectarian rifts. The revolution that Jesus began was to be permanent.
Everything that our church needs to exist, function, and reach others, is given to us within our walls (or within your membership, the congregation). Paul would be pretty displeased with us if he knew that there was a paid staff guy who ran every ministry. That’s just not how it works.
APEST is the fivefold ministry of Jesus. It’s the ministry we’ve been called to continue. The problem is, we’ve left behind the APE and focused on the ST. That’s great for the organization, but for the movement, we need a revival that exalts the entire body of Christ, including the APE (Apostles, Prophets, and Evangelists).
The grace given to me by Jesus himself says that I’m a teacher. I’m also an apostle. That doesn’t mean what we’ve been taught it means, it means that I focus more on the “go.” You know, that little command Jesus gave before He ascended to the right hand of the Father? Apostles embody the “Go” or the “movement” within our organizations.
If we’re going to be moving, or call ourselves a movement, then we need apostles. More importantly, we need an apostolic ministry in addition to the already existing evangelistic ministry that Evangelicals espouse. It’s time to be Peter and Paul again.
