God is restoring the foundational gift ministries; and coupled with that, He is restoring the order of the local church and real authority. With the exercise of this authority, a tremendous amount of submission is required. In this order the elders are a part of an apostolic company. A man who is not an apostle but walks in a commissioned authority under an apostle or apostles can be a member of an apostolic company.
In New Testament times an apostolic company consisted of an apostle and a prophet or two. Even young Timothy, who eventually became an apostle, was at times included in a company. Mark, a young man upon whom God had laid His hand, received training with an apostolic company. From the very beginning, seminaries were not the divine order. There is no biblical precedent for seminaries or Bible schools as they now exist for the training of ministries. A man can go to Bible school and become a preacher; but because he goes to seminary, he does not necessarily become a prophet. Prophets are not created in Bible school. Prophets and apostles are made by the will of God, yet there must be a period of schooling.
Elijah took Elisha with him; Paul took Timothy with him; and Barnabas took Mark with him. These men traveled in an apostolic company. We cannot draw clear-cut lines and say that a man must have a certain ministry or he cannot be a part of an apostolic company. The only rule for an apostolic company is this: there must be a continual waiting and seeking the Lord with fasting and prayer, with the Lord Jesus Christ directing the activities of many men. The minute that breaks down, there will be conflicts of personality, and one man will become the kingpin. Whenever one person becomes preeminent, a denominational pattern soon follows. Only as Jesus Christ is Lord and Head of His Church, can His will be directly revealed to those ministries He Himself has appointed as they wait before His face. The apostles and prophets, the teachers and elders should follow this pattern in the local churches.
The elders of a church should meet together every week, not so much to have a business meeting as to deal immediately with the spiritual health of the people, crying out to God, seeking the face of the Lord, and letting the Lord speak. Before prophesying over people in the church services, the ministries of a church should fast and pray to get the word and the direction from the Lord; and then they can bring to the people words from the Lord that have been confirmed and proven. Those who are prophesied over should also seek a witness of God on the matter. This is the true pattern.
The procedure described in Acts 13 is a good example of the New Testament pattern of ministry. At Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers; and as they ministered to the Lord in fasting and prayer, the Lord separated certain men and sent them forth. As a church there was a mutual submission; but the ministries, of which there were a great many, were operating directly under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. They did not move against their brethren or apart from them. The Apostle Paul could have said that he had received his revelation directly from God (and that in itself could have produced a spiritual arrogance); yet he said, “By revelation I went to Jerusalem and submitted the gospel the Lord had given me to those who were apostles before me.” If they had rejected it, he would have submitted to them; but they extended to him the right hand of fellowship and recognized him as the apostle to the uncircumcised (Galatians 2:2–9). In this day the ministries in the apostolic company will replace much of the so-called missionary efforts. An apostolic company raised up and directed by God can, in the wisdom of the Lord, seek out and find throughout the world a thousand missionaries whose hearts are prepared. Irrespective of who they are or what their background is, we should seek out the men in whom the Lord has wrought a preparation of heart. We can lay in their hands tapes and literature, which will lay a foundation in their hearts. As they begin to teach their people, they will need help. Where will they find it? After prayer and fasting an apostolic company could be sent to them, and their church could be led right on in the Lord. It sounds simple, but there will be many problems. Men are afraid for their little kingdoms, afraid of what will happen to their churches. God will have to deal with the fears of men’s hearts, and the walls in their minds must be broken down so that they can open their hearts to the word of the Lord.
An independent church, whether functioning as a private enterprise or as one church in a chain of enterprises, still has a denominational or Babylonian overtone to it. Where dedication to New Testament order exists, the local churches have a certain freedom in themselves; but they are linked together by the fact that the New Testament order does not encourage independent churches.
When an apostolic company begins to move, it must be careful to avoid degenerating into a private, independent enterprise or becoming a denominational venture. There must be free communication between the pastors and between all the ministries. When a pastor needs some help in his church, all the brethren will pray and wait on God. If the Lord leads, some ministries will go and minister to him, with the result that certain necessary things are accomplished. Some ministries are strong on one point and some on another. One brother who is good in helping people to prophesy should travel with a brother who is good in leading people into worship in the Spirit. Because the Lord is directing the ministries, such men would not be sent to a church that does not have those needs. By following this pattern, the elders will grow stronger. As more elders are added for the shepherding of the local flock, some of them should be in motion; however, the same brothers should neither be in motion all the time nor stationary all the time.
Elders who have no permanent commitment or responsibility to share with the people in a local church have a tendency to become ethereal and almost remote from the practical shepherding wisdom that is needed. For this reason, it is wise to send forth those who are locally taking the greatest responsibility for specific ministry. This is what the apostolic company requires. Day in and day out, pastors, elders, and prophets are ministering to the needs of the people in their churches; and when these ministries are sent out, they can minister elsewhere in the same way. This is the reason we urge the elders to enter in and take the burden of the local church, moving in the ministry that will be needed in every church.
A church should be able to function with the local ministries whether the pastor is present or not. We could call it a laymen’s church. There must be elders who are responsible and able to take over in every area, so that when the pastor is not there, the church still has adequate ministry from the local elders. This is excellent for the elders, because as they take responsibility, their ministry is developed. A good ministry cannot develop without real responsibility. Under this pattern, prophets begin to emerge; and the elders’ ministry enlarges. We can take young men who are set into eldership or deaconship and put them to work under supervision, just as Elijah did with Elisha and Paul did with Timothy. Serving ministries can help care for the overseeing ministries. Although they are under supervision, these serving ministries can also take initiative. One seminary successfully initiated a similar system. They gave the students a certain amount of academic work in the school, plus pastoral duties, working with a pastor. In some of the larger churches, the pastor had several pastors-in-training working with him while they were attending seminary. They were given specific duties and rotated through different departments of the church; this gave them a broad training in the overall picture. They were pastors under a pastor. This system seemed to work very well because it is scriptural.
Ministries must come forth, but we cannot train them in only one hour a week and expect to develop good elders. To be properly trained they must encounter those who are devil-possessed or sick or who have some other need. They must believe with those who believe and ache for those who are suffering, ministering to them as they take responsibility for the flock. Then they will begin to think like elders and like shepherds; and soon they will have the concern of that entire flock on their hearts day and night. Out of this will come tremendous ministries.
In areas where the people are scattered and remote from the church, an arrangement should be made whereby an elder is responsible for a few families living in his area. If an elder is not mature enough to know better, this could present a problem inasmuch as he might seek to build a kingdom with his small circle of influence. To prevent this from happening, there should be a rotation system. The people should look to every elder rather than rely totally on one elder. One elder could be responsible for a few families for a while; then there should be a change, as he takes over the responsibility for other families. Even though people may not always like this, they will be submissive to the New Testament pattern.
It is good for an experienced elder and a new elder to work together. This principle is used also in the business world. Sometimes newer elders do not know how to meet certain problems because they have never faced them, but this does not mean they are not good material. God made them elders by revelation, and it is the experienced ministries’ job to help them in every way they can; this is their stewardship. Elders should work in pairs and have absolute responsibility for the people. There is no substitute for being responsible for the needs of families. There is no better way to grow. It would be good training for some of the elders to be sent to churches that are having problems and learn to meet their needs.
Unless the local churches are well cared for, we cannot reach out in an apostolic company. Unless the people grow and are cared for, we will not have a strong home base that can pray and send out ministries effectively elsewhere.