[This is part of a series on “How Do I Develop an Apostolic Leader?” You can read the other posts here.]
Apostolic leaders are born not made….
You can identify them, train them, guide them, and encourage them, but you can’t create them.
While you can and should encourage every believer to be committed to and engage in mission, we have to be comfortable with the idea that Paul was serious when he wrote that all God’s people have gifts and they are in fact different from one another.
Too many ministries fall into the trap of believing that being Missional is the same as being apostolic and that any person can be developed into an apostolic leader. So they press and push people with leadership gifts into attempting an apostolic leadership role that neither fits them nor ultimately advances the mission. Leaders who are not Apostolic find themselves forced into places where they will face certain failure. Trying to do so will not only harm the individual but also frustrate the purposes of whatever mission you are attempting.