Apostolic Training

The model of the church must be rooted in the Bible and not in the ways of the world. There are many successful models around, especially in the business arena, but success does not indicate that something is founded on truth. We believe that God has given us a model for the church in Scripture, and the term to describe this is “Apostolic/Prophetic Model”

We now begin to understand much about Paul and his team and how they operated. We understand that apostles appointed elders in the local church (Acts 14:23; 1 Timothy 1:3; Titus 1:5). We also see that local elders, together with the invitation of apostles, appointed men to apostolic teams (Acts 16:1-3; 1 Timothy 4:14; 2 Timothy 1:6). We see local leaders (teachers and prophets) sending out people to proclaim the Gospel from the local church (Acts 13:1-3). We must build according to God's pattern. Moses was told to build according to God's pattern. David was told to build according to God's pattern. We, too, must build New Testament churches according to God's pattern. God‟s pattern rests on the foundation that New Testament churches are built upon the cornerstone of Jesus Christ, with the Word of God, as it is obeyed in faith.

All of the five-fold ministries are still valid and indeed necessary. Paul says that they are necessary: And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; Eph 4:11-13 (NKJV)