[This is part of a series on “How Do I Develop an Apostolic Leader?” You can read the other posts here.]

By Chris Nichols

I Peter 2:9-11

11 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul. 12 Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that, though they malign you as evildoers, they may see your honorable deeds and glorify God when he comes to judge. 13 For the Lord’s sake accept the authority of every human institution, whether of the emperor as supreme, 14 or of governors, as sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right. 15 For it is God’s will that by doing right you should silence the ignorance of the foolish. 16 As servants of God, live as free people, yet do not use your freedom as a pretext for evil. 17 Honor everyone.

If we are fully engaged in the missionary enterprise we will find ourselves at the front edge of life in dynamic interaction with the secular world.  At that confluence of worldviews we will be debated, misunderstood, “maligned as an evil doers,” feeling like a constant outsider. We never quite fit, pointed at as the one who doesn’t belong.  We often feel alone. It‘s easy to wonder if we’re in the right place, have the right message, or are in the right job.

We are discovering life as an alien and exile.

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courtesy of InterVarsity’s 2100 productions

[This is part of a series on “How Do I Develop an Apostolic Leader?” You can read the other posts here.]

“The hand cannot say to the arm I have no need of you…”  I Cor 12:21

It’s tempting for apostolic leaders to think that every new idea should be pursued independently, no matter the cost. But, when we teach apostolic leaders that running without restraint is their Godly task we are in danger of developing misfits who are unable to build a movement of change or have impact on a large scale.

In order for apostolic leaders to achieve the Godly kingdom impact they desire, they must serve within and through a community of faith.

But too often we don’t see this. Either apostolic leaders resist community and letting others speak into their dreams and desires, or the community resists the apostolic leader and their crazy dreams.

This article helps to encourage us towards being healthy in community:

A community where apostolic leaders are humble and let community speak into their dreams, and actions, as well as a community that seeks not to subvert the apostles ideas but focus the apostolic leaders energy to its greatest effect.

So, how do we help apostolic leaders live in that kind of community?

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[This is part of a series on “How Do I Develop an Apostolic Leader?” You can read the other posts here.]

“Passionate involvement can make you happy, sometimes, and miserable other times. You want people to be involved and engaged. Involved people can be quiet, loud, or anything in-between—what they have in common is a restless, probing nature: “I want to get to the problem. There’s something I want to do.” If you had thermal glasses, you could see heat coming off them.”  – Brad Bird, Director at Pixar 

OK, so as a leader you’ve committed to developing and hiring apostolic evangelists and they are now operating at full steam in your organization.  It creates an almost overwhelming level of energy and creativity is erupting everywhere.  It’s exciting but at the same time it begins to feel chaotic to the point that you wonder if it is sustainable.

How do you prevent the whole thing from careening off the road and crashing?

Here are some guidelines to help you focus the energy in the same direction and keep the movement pressing forward.

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[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.

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