The role of apostles today

Recently, the church-planting movement that I used to be part of split because of various scandals. I know that this must be a difficult time for a lot of people. With that in mind, and knowing that I'm offering what might be unwanted advice, I'd like to recommend a book that proved beneficial for myself in the past.

Apostles: The Fathering Servant was written by a pastor under Frank Damazio of City Bible Church in Portland. Also contributing to the book is Kevin Conner, who took over Waverley Christian Fellowship from Ps. Holland. Those who know the history of the church-planting movement will also know that Frank Damazio was a guest speaker at an early IPC meeting in Bangkok, and that the movement's founder received counsel from Ps. Holland in the movement's early days. (I also was blessed by Ps. Holland, and can trace God's call on my own life to his ministry in Seattle in 1996 during our church camp. Yes, that is the first time people "fell under the power" in Seattle during a service.) The point is that this book should carry some authority for people in the church-planting movement if they want to really consider where their roots are in the body of Christ.

The entire book is good, but there is an especially enlightening interview with Dick Iverson, the founder of City Bible Church. Ps. Iverson is considered to be an apostle. There are many good things that I owe to the movement I used to be part of, but the interview below helps explain why I decided to leave. I would also emphasize that I am not against apostles in the church today--far from it! I just believe that an apostle is not the CEO of a global corporation (or the head of a mafia). He is to be a spiritual father of churches, linked to them through relationship, not position.

Interviewer: So, would you say apostolic authority functions voluntarily?

Iverson: Absolutely! Absolutely! ... Some people teach that the apostle is at the top of the totem pole. He's worked his way up, and now he's just another Pope over certain churches. That's very dangerous. That's not the way even Paul operated. He did not have the ultimate authority in the churches he related to. If anybody should have, he should have. But he reminded the church at Corinth that he did not have dominion over their faith, but he was a helper for their joy (see 2 Corinthians 1:24). To me, that is the spirit of an apostle. "I'm not taking dominion over your life. I'm a helper." Some people see an apostle as being so dominant that when they walk into a church, the resident eldership just sits down and makes all the course adjustments the apostle requires of them. And then when the apostle walks out, he hands the reins of the church back to the leadership of that church. That's not only unbiblical, it is very dangerous. This idea of trans-local authority makes me very nervous.

Interviewer: Especially if it is functioning in a hierarchical chain of command rather than relationally?

Iverson: That's right! Exactly! Everything in God's kingdom has to do with relationships. We relate to God, we relate to the Holy Spirit, we relate to each other. You know, it's about family. Everything is relational. It's in the spirit realm, in the natural--everything is about relationships. So whenever you try to define an apostolic relationship in terms of hierarchy, things will break down very fast.