Currently, in the Church today, we see the gift of pastoring exhibited far more than the gift of apostling. Yes, I am using apostle as a verb and not a noun as it usually is. I'm doing this for discussion purposes as I couldn't think of a good term for it that didn't overlap with what a pastor does.
The term pastor can also mean shepherd. The role of the pastor is to tend the sheep. He (I will use the male pronoun but this is not necessarily meant to be an exclusion) is to protect them from outside influences and guide them in the Christian life. Pastoring is very nurturing. When I am going through a rough time in my life I want to be ministered by someone who knows how to pastor. In this way pastoring can be thought of as mothering.
The role of the apostle is to equip and send out. It is to call out the giftings within people and to equip them for the work of the Kingdom. This is one of the reasons why the apostles and prophets are the foundations of the Church. The apostle can sometimes be rough. Apostling can be compared to fathering.
There is an old joke that a mother sees a tree and tells her child not to climb it because he might get hurt while the father sees the same tree and tells the child to go ahead and climb it because he might get hurt. The mother is pastoring the child- she wants to see him safe. The father is equipping the child for the future because he knows that the world is dangerous and the child needs to experience those risks in order to grow.
I have had the privilege of seeing this first hand in the church. The lead pastor of my home church is very apostolic. He wants to release people into ministry as quickly as possible. He sees the gifting in them and wants to foster that gifting and grow it. This is what an apostle does. Their tendency is to tell them to climb that tree and to go over and rescue them if they struggle. The pastor on the other hand wants to foster that gifting and nurture it until the person is completely ready. The pastor hates to see people get hurt because it goes against his calling as a shepherd. The apostle doesn't want to hold back anyone from their calling and it is his calling to release people into their destiny.
This is also seen where pastors want to keep their flock within their church. The pastor hates to see his children leave the home- he would rather everyone stay together as one happy family. He knows that his children are safe when they are under his protection. The apostle is like the father who excitedly blesses his children as they leave the home. The apostle receives his joy by knowing that his children are out living their destiny. He simply asks that they visit from time to time and send him cards and pictures for the refrigerator. The apostle is willing to risk the safety of his children for their greater good.
Can this lead to problems? Yes, it can. That is why the five-fold needs to work together. The pastor needs to listen to the prophetic/apostolic and be able to let go of people. The pastor can hold on to people too long. The apostle can release people too quickly before they are ready. The apostle needs to listen to the pastor and use his voice as a balance.
We as God's people need to understand this balance and to discern what God wants for us. We must listen to the words of caution from our pastors while not holding ourselves back from our calling. Timing is critical to this season. As the apostles rise up and take their place they are going to become a lot better at discerning timing. Let us continue to pray for a unity of the five-fold ministry within the Church.
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