Archive for August 15th, 2008

The Apostolic Movement in the Emerging World Part One

Friday, August 15th, 2008

From time to time, I write about movements that I see emerging. The last three movements I wrote about were local churches establishing and staffing church planting centers within their churches, congregations with more than one location, and churches and organizations whose goal is to reach their city for Christ.  All three of these movements continue to gain momentum. Now, I want to focus on another movement that is having a profound effect on American Protestantism and I want to couple it with the three movements already mentioned. 

Three forms of church governance dominate the church landscape today: congregational, representative democracy, and apostolic or pastor led. Feelings usually run high as to which one of these is the best form of governance.  However, most of the churches using forms of congregational or representative democracy are leftovers from Modernity, and are either dying or on a plateau.  On the other hand, the vast majority of thriving churches are apostolic or pastor led.  We’ve also noted that the thriving churches using congregational and representative forms of governance have figured out how to circumvent as much of their governance systems as possible.   Over the past 15 years, I have had the opportunity to observe some of

America’s most authentic and effective pastors. One quality stands out above all the rest in every one of these pastors – they pastor as spiritual leaders who listen to God rather than corporate leaders who lead based on democratic rule.  Even if these pastors function in a denomination that requires democratic rule, they find ways to get around or minimize its effects and provide biblical leadership. And when I think back on my ministry, I am reminded that the most fruitful periods came either when I was not pastor of a church or when, as pastor of a church, I found ways to get around voting and be the spiritual leader of the church rather than the leader of a religious democracy.

  The rule of thumb of this new movement – the less democracy in the church the more authentic and effective the church is in advancing the Kingdom of

God! To some, this sounds like heresy. But when you think about it, voting and democracy are not found in the scriptures. So why are they part of so many churches today?  We have acquiesced to culture rather than followed the scriptures.  Now, couple this new movement with the three movements listed above, and you have something powerful going on — the emergence of an apostolic form of ministry that can lead to explosive growth. Pastors, even in denominations requiring democratic rule, are beginning to exercise forms of ministry that look more apostolic than pastoral.   I will share some examples in the next post.

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