 A title, when conferred on and accepted by a person in the right spirit, can be a tremendous blessing to the body of Christ, says Pr Daniel Ho whose church recently hosted a conference on apostles and prophets. The senior pastor of DUMC, Petaling Jaya, shares his thoughts with Berita NECF about the current controversy surrounding the ‘Apostle’ title.
The ‘Apostle’ title is stirring a lot of flak within the Christian community. What are your comments?
Firstly, we must recognise that apostleship is a gift from God according to Eph. 4:11 onwards (“It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets...”) Today, we have no problem calling so-and-so ‘pastor’ or ‘teacher’ or ‘evangelist’. Even the term ‘prophet’ is reasonably well-accepted increasingly. But we become nervous with addressing somebody ‘Apostle’.
I understand the apprehension because it seems that people nowadays are more concerned about titles than anything else. We print name cards (bearing the title) and we point out ‘so-and-so is an apostle, so-and-so is not’. That’s my first concern.
My second concern is elitism. It seems that ‘apostle’ is the highest office or title to aim for or go for and if one achieves that, then one belongs to the ‘super-class’. This is totally alien to Scripture which recognises ‘apostleship’ simply as a gift like any other gifts. Such attitude, if any, must be repented of.
My third concern is that some people are preoccupied with their parameter or their boundary of influence, about getting networks under them. Some of the so-called apostles are going round the world trying to get people under their control, influence and direction. They have missed the point altogether.
But, just because there are some people who use the title and/or influence in this manner doesn’t rule out the apostolic gifting. This gifting comes from God and is not conferred by others. That’s the first thing that marks an apostle.
Secondly, an apostle is somebody with a father’s heart. He has a fathering spirit as stated in 1 Cor. 4:15 (“Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel”). He (the apostle) wants his children to do well and succeed in life, to do better than himself. He’s not there to control and dominate them, which is a wrong understanding and exercise of apostleship. (But) he is someone who comes below everybody, who lifts them up, helps and guides them. Because he’s more concerned about how well his children are doing, he sometimes has to make sacrifices. A person with that fathering spirit is one who truly has the apostolic gifting and he has genuine spiritual authority as well.
People with some measure of spiritual maturity will recognise a person with spiritual authority and they are happy to submit to him and his spiritual direction. This is not foist upon them but they willingly and cheerfully do so. This authority is not based on title or office. One may have the title or the office but sometimes do not have the spiritual authority.
What then do you think about Dr Peter Wagner and his team going around conferring the title on selected Christians?
I know Peter. I know his heart and where he is coming from. They (Dr Wagner and his team) don’t go around conferring on any Tom, Dick and Harry. They would have watched the lives and ministries of these people whom they have known them for a long, long time. Furthermore, these people are highly commended by other Christians and Christian leaders. So what they are doing is simply recognising what God is already doing in their lives.
Not that I go along with it (conferring of title) necessarily, but within the Body of Christ, we must have the big-heartedness, the generosity to say that this may not be my cup of tea but there is no need to kill ourselves, kill one another by tearing the whole thing apart and say this is totally not of the Lord. This is not going to destroy the work of the Church. This is not going to be a stumbling block to God’s Kingdom. The Church is stronger than this! But we cannot avoid the fact that there is the gift of apostleship in Scripture.
But if this thing is stirring up big-headedness in certain people…?
I don’t see it that way. Those people who have been conferred are recognised leaders in their countries. They are already exercising their (apostolic) gifting. They are not fly-by-night operators who pop up from nowhere with no ministry to prove, no church to show. You can examine their lives, their work and their churches.
If these people are already recognised leaders, why then do they need the title? What does the title add to their ministry?
Let’s take a pastor for example. It’s important that a pastor be called ‘pastor’ because it carries spiritual authority. Let’s say a pastor walks into a funeral and often, there are non-Christian family members in a funeral. A pastor walks in and introduces himself and tells them this is the way the funeral is going to be conducted. They will all listen to him even though some or many of the family members and relatives are not Christians.
Why? Because he is a pastor. There’s spiritual authority. Also, as Christians, we’re dealing with principalities and powers. In the spiritual realm, the evil one recognises a pastor as a man with authority.
The title confers the person the authority and I’ve seen again and again, when a person is conferred a title, his ministry takes off incredibly because he is recognised in both the physical and spiritual realm. Of course I’m referring to a sincere servant of the Lord who is genuinely working for the Lord. You can confer the person rightly, and the person humbly accepts it and the person humbly exercises it.
Some people dare not take on the title because they are afraid of the cost involved. There are certain things they can do and certain things they can’t do anymore. Likewise, an apostle. There’s a cost involved. If you take on the title, you are now a ‘father’. You have no choice but to help other people succeed. You have to lift other people up and not yourself up.
When all the apostles who really have the gifting make the call in a city, for example, people will come to them and gather together in unity. This means that, firstly, they’re fulfilling the prayers of Jesus for unity in the Body of Christ in John 17. Secondly, they’re fulfilling Psalm 133, that incredible blessing will flow when we dwell in unity. Non-Christians will see this and will want to belong to such a community.
There are good things that can come out of a title. It challenges people to exercise the anointing God has given them. If these people reject the title because of their fears or unwillingness to pay the price, they are being disobedient. Then, everybody gets shortchanged. People who should receive the blessing from these anointed ones miss the blessing.
The anointed ones can carry on serving quietly without the title?
Sure. After all, as I have said, we should be more concerned about the ministry than the title. If we’re caught up with the title or the office, then we miss the point altogether. Let’s be concerned about the Kingdom, not just my church or denomination. Let’s advance God’s Kingdom and be a blessing to the Body of Christ and to the world.
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