Apostolic relationships

This document describes relationships between apostles and churches. Apostles are
an important gift to the church. Paul is an excellent example. In his own words, Paul
says his job as an apostle is to:

– Pioneering church-planting in new areas. (Rom 15:20)

– Not exercise authority beyond the field that God assigned. (2 Cor 10:13)
– Give and not take. (2 Cor 12:14-15)
– Lay the foundation of churches like an expert builder. (1 Cor 3:10)
– Appoint elders in new churches. (Titus 1:5)
– Warn and set an example as a father. (1 Cor 4:14-16)
– Rebuke and correct. (1 Cor 4:18-21)
– Build local churches up to perfection. (2 Cor 11:2)

Certainly all these tasks require authority. However, biblical authority is unlike
worldly authority. Jesus said that leaders should be servants, and Paul said that his
authority was given to build up the churches, not tear them down. Figure 1 shows
how spiritual and worldly authorities are different.

Figure 1. Spiritual authority is based on relationship; worldly authority is based on position

Spiritual authority can operate only in a trusting relationship between two parties.
Local churches retain their autonomy, but voluntarily submit themselves to the
authority of the apostle. In return, the apostle exercises his authority to serve and
give himself for the local churches. This same type of godly authority is present
between church leaders and members, between husband and wife, and between
God and individual Christians. Spiritual authority is true authority, with real power
that comes from God when it operates in God’s principles.

Worldly authority operates based on position and organizational hierarchy. It doesn’t

matter if there is a trusting relationship or not, authority is demanded by the worldly
leader. Apostolic relationships that operate with worldly authority eventually need to
resort to manipulation and political maneuvering in order to achieve their goals.
When the leaders cannot get what they want by asking, they take what they can by
demanding it.

Relationships between apostles and churches

The Bible says there is one church, which is the body of Christ. However, the church
can be conceived in two senses:

1. The universal church, made up of all Christian churches that belong to God.
2. Autonomous local churches that are the local representation of the universal
church. The local church is what Christians interact with on a practical basis.

Even though the church can be seen in these two ways, it is still one body. When
someone loves and builds the local church, they are loving and building the
universal church, which is the Bride of Christ.

Apostles are important elements given to the universal church. They have
relationships with multiple churches that have submitted to them. They serve as
spiritual fathers for churches, with the aim of growing those churches up to become
mature and fully autonomous. In this biblical scenario, shown in Figure 2, the Holy
Spirit is the one that is building Jesus’ church. The apostle exercise spiritual
authority.
Figure 2. The Bible only talks about the universal church and local churches.

Unfortunately, many times the work of the Holy Spirit is taken over by man-made
organization. For example, the Protestant Reformation was prompted by God to
bring His church back to biblical truths, but also left behind many man-made
organizations that hold onto the name of Martin Luther or the reformed teachings of
John Calvin. The work of John Wesley and George Whitefield was from God, but
today left behind the man-made organization of the Methodist church. The same
can be said of many other moves of God—there is a tendency for man to take over
and create an organization that God does not recognize.

Because these organizations are man-made, eventually they must rely on worldly
authority to retain their cohesiveness. Authority is no longer based on trusting
relationship between two parties, but instead becomes based on position and
hierarchy. The autonomy of the local church is diluted so that the denomination,
organizational leadership, or an apostolic leader makes governing decisions for the
local church.

Figure 3 shows how man-made organizations not only divide the body of Christ, but
also rely on worldly authority to maintain their organization. Worldly authority is
shown by solid lines instead of dotted lines.
Figure 3. The Bible warns against man-made organizations that divide the body of Christ.

There are two strong biblical arguments against man-made organizations in the
Bible. The first is in 1 Corinthians 1-3, where Paul warns the Corinthians against
dividing God’s church into those that follow Paul, Peter, or Apollos. The second is in
Revelation 2-3, where Jesus rebukes and encourages seven local churches in Asia.
Each of these churches is directly responsible to Jesus, not to an apostle or a man-
made organization.

Conclusion
Apostles are essential in the body of Christ. They are a gift that Jesus uses to build
His church into the perfect Bride of Christ. They extend the boundaries of the church
and act as spiritual fathers to new churches. But relationships between apostles and
churches must be based on trusting relationships where spiritual authority is
exercised, not worldly authority.

Also, there is a tendency for new moves of God to eventually turn into man-made
organization. In these situations, organizations begin to increasingly rely on worldly
authority, manipulation, and political maneuvering to exercise control over local
churches. Local churches lose their autonomy to an organization that God does not
recognize.