by Randall A. Muse
randallmuse@hotmail.com
Date: 09/06/97
Yul Crawford wrote: "There is a new resurgence of Bishops in America. Do you
think this has to do with the resurgence of apostolic ministry?
Brother Muse,
what is the difference in how Bishops are functioning and apostolic ministry?"
REPLY: First we must start out with a brief understanding of what a "bishop"
is and what a bishop does, to more fully understand their importance in light
of the resurgence of apostolic ministry.
[Acts 20:17]
17 From Miletus he (the Apostle Paul) sent to Ephesus and called for the
elders (presbuteros) of the church. [NKJ]
[Acts 20:28]
28 "Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the
Holy Spirit has made you overseers (episkopos), to shepherd the church of God
which He purchased with His own blood. [NKJ]
In the two passages above, two different words are used to describe the same
group of people, indicating by the Scriptures that an Elder and Bishop (here
translated overseer) are the same. The word Bishop literally means an
Overseer. I have found it interesting to learn that the word, 'supervisor', means
exactly the same thing, 'super' meaning, 'over or above', and '-visor', relating to the
word vision; the two together literally meaning "overseer" or "one who has
oversight".
The word "episkope" is used in 1 Timothy 3:1 to describe the Bishop as a
Church Officer or official. But there are different levels of bishops and
eldership within the Body of Christ.
In 1 Peter 2:25, Jesus Christ is pictured as "the Shepherd and Bishop of your
souls". In Acts 1:20, the Bible says about the Apostle Judas, "Let his
habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishopric let
another take." So we have seen that our Savior is a Bishop, an Apostle is a
Bishop, and since Jesus is pictured as a Shepherd and Bishop in 1 Pet. 2:25,
we must also conclude that Pastors are Bishops as well. In Titus 1:5, the
Apostle Paul appointed Titus to ordain Elders in every city in Crete, and by
so doing, he would be "setting in order the things that are lacking." One of
the qualifications of an Elder / Bishop is that they must be able to teach,
according to 1 Tim. 3:2. In 1 Peter 5:1-2, the Apostle exhorts or makes an
urgent appeal for the Elders to "shepherd the flock of God which is among you,
serving as Overseers." In these passages of Scripture he also confirms that
an Apostle is a "fellow Elder", as he spoke of himself.
In James 5:14, the sick are instructed to call upon the Elders of the Church
for prayer to be healed as they are anointed with oil in the name of the Lord.
A fully functioning Elder will meet these requirements. Sad to say, I have
seen Deacons being called upon to pray for the sick and anoint them with oil
in the local assembly, and Elders were not even a part of the official staff,
other than the Pastor and his assistants. Most Elders as we know, serve under
the Pastor of a local assembly, and are called "Elders". But the Scripture
clearly calls them in more than one place, Bishops (or Overseers) as well.
Titus, as we see, must have been an Elder or Bishop, responsible for ordaining
Elders in all the cities that assemblies of Saints had been established. In
his Eldership, he is here more functioning as a Bishop who in this case is an
Apostle's Assistant. I know of an Apostle who has appointed a Pastor in
another Country as a Bishop of his ministry because he is unable to constantly
be in that Country. This Pastor also, in this case, is not only an Elder to
his people as a Pastor, but is also an Elder or Bishop in overseeing the
responsibilities of the ministry (mainly FREE Bible distribution) in that
Region.
No matter how Gifted an Apostle may seem to be, the Apostle can never do the
work of setting the Church in order alone. The Body of Christ needs strong
Eldership and strong Elders if the fullness of Apostolic Order is to be
restored to the Body of Christ. According to Acts 16:4-5, the Elders helped
decide the decrees for the people to observe, which resulted in the churches
being strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily. Acts 15:1-2,
the Scriptures record that the Elders were involved in settling matters of
doctrinal controversy. True Elders have an anointing to settle controversial
doctrinal disputes with love. In some notes I wrote on Eldership, I included
the following information on Elders:
[Acts 15:1-2]
1 And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, "Unless you
are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved."
2 Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with
them (A BIG ARGUMENT), they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain
others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about
this question.
Elders help decide doctrinal issues or what is to be taught in the Churches.
Elders have the Anointing to settle controversial doctrinal disputes with
love. Extremely controversial doctrinal issues or questions should not be
taken to another believer, but to the Eldership that has the Anointing and
Grace and the Love to make sure that such discussions or questions do not
mislead others or create division in the Church. One of the requirements of
Elders is that they must be able to teach. Teachers protect against false
prophets, false prophecies, false teachers, false doctrine, and if need be,
false apostles and false apostolic order. That is why an Apostle, though
greater in authority than a Pastor and his Eldership, does not have a Divine
Right to go in and demand to speak to any congregation, because God has given
the responsibility of protecting the Sheep to the Eldership, even against
false Apostles who do not represent Christ in an orderly manner. It is the
responsibility of the Elders to make aware to the Pastor anything that
may mislead or cause division among the Saints. The Elders must report such
things to the Pastor and not assume that the Pastor will be able to pick it up
without the assistance of the rest of the Eldership.
To conclude, I do not believe that Bishops are called instead of Apostles in
these days. I know of a particular denomination that uses Bishops as Overseers
over Pastors of a particular Geographical location, while they don't
acknowledge the Gift of Apostles at all. Just to let you know, all 5-Fold
ministers are Elders or Bishops, but sadly, not all Bishops are 5-Fold. If a Bishop
is a non-5-fold member of the Body of Christ, then rulership belongs to the
5-Fold Minister over him or her. It is not scriptural to set a Bishop over a
Pastor unless that Bishop is a 5-Fold Minister himself. Each individual
Gifting, and in this case, each level of Eldership is anointed by God for a
specific purpose and function. Each level of Eldership or Bishopric has its
own level of authority and ability to equip and train. How can a non-5-Fold
Bishop Oversee a Region of Pastors if they are not at least called to be
Pastors themselves? Any Bishop who is anointed by God to be an Elder under a
Pastor, as a Pastoral Assistant, will not be successful at being an overseer
of Pastors. This is out of Divine Order. Lower Ranking Elders cannot be
Overseers of Higher Ranking Elders.
As an Apostle's Assistant, Titus was a Higher Ranking Elder than the
Elders which he appointed in Crete under Paul's Oversight of himself. If
someone is to be a Bishop over other Pastors in a geographical location, that
person, like Titus, must be Higher in authority than the ones they are
appointing, and operating under the Authority of one higher than themselves,
according to the example set in Scripture. The true or highest leader over the
Elders that Titus was appointing, was the one who sent Titus to appoint them,
meaning the Apostle Paul. This also means that Titus must have been a 5-Fold
minister of the Gospel if he was appointing Eldership and Pastors of local
assemblies. All local assemblies must have a Pastor and Elders, and not just
Elders alone. Any assembly of Saints where a 5-Fold minister is not leading
is only an assembly of saints, but cannot be a fully functioning local Body.
In order to be a fully functioning local Body, 5-Fold must be present in order
for 5-Fold equipping of the Saints to occur and for the work of the ministry
to be done, according to the pattern that the New Testament has established.
(Eph. 4:11-12) While all ministry gifts and abilities are necessary for the
building up of the Body of Christ, the Body of Christ cannot be fully
developed without the maturing abilities of the 5-Fold Anointing. According to
Ephesians 4:12 the 5-Fold Gifts are given to the Body for perfecting or
maturing the Saints. This maturing process equips the Saints for the work of
the ministry, which is to build up the Body of Christ. This level of
maturation described in verse 13 cannot be achieved by an ungoverned body that
does not function in cooperation with the 5-Fold ministry.
Yes, God is raising up Bishops and Eldership of every level, to equip and to
teach and train the great masses of souls that I believe are going to begin to
pour into churches in an all-out end time revival. He is also raising up
strong leadership full of strong male elders and women's leaders as assistants who
will protect the sheep and guard this great and coming move of God.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Brother Muse
which I believe can be beneficial to those interested in the modern day
apostolic ministry / fathering movement. (Brother Randy Muse)
Dear friends:
God bless every one of you. We recently had a discussion about
apostolic churches. These are churches that follow in the tradition
of early church planters like Paul, by planting not just one church,
but multiple churches. The concentration is on the development of
many leaders at all levels. Bear with me in my folly as I share a few
more thoughts on this subject, or at least perhaps try to encourage
you a little.
Not all new ideas work well, and it sometimes takes a few years or
even decades to prove whether or not the fruit is good. For instance,
Sunday School was a new concept in the Christian church at one time,
and yet it has proven to be one of the more successful innovations.
Elements of the Sunday School movement can be found in Christian
education (CE), discipleship classes, small cell groups, house
churches, or other varieties of what I like to summarize by calling
"mini-church."
During the 1990's, new ideas and ways of doing church seem to have gained
momentum. Some quickly hailed these new ideas as a move of the Holy
Spirit. Some repudiated them as counterfeits. Most were cautious, and
saw a mix of divine inspiration and error. One thing is for certain. New
denominations and new movements within existing denominations are
affecting all corners of the Christian church. Former mission fields
have now matured. African independent churches, Chinese house churches,
and Latin American grassroots churches are growing faster than
traditional churches.
In his recent book, The **"New" Apostolic Churches (1998, Regal),
C. Peter Wagner invites about 20 innovative church leaders to give their
testimony. I found many of the ideas both helpful and encouraging,
especially the loosening of church structures to be more relational than
stiff and formal. --- **[P.S.: Please be aware that the phrase "new apostolic" is
in No way related to the cult, "New Apostolic Church", which believes in salvation
through faith in an apostle (man), rather than salvation by grace through faith
in the risen Lord Jesus Christ, our Apostle and High Priest. ~ staff, ZekeWarCom]
Traditional Christian church structures have clearly not worked.
Though I don't agree with tossing out the baby and the bath water,
these leaders give some interesting arguments as to what is the real "baby."
"The modern apostolic Reformation is making church leaders and
pastors more committed to establishing an army of equipped saints
than gathering an audience of paying spectators and fans." (p. 152)
"Our belief is that people are more important than buildings.
Meeting the needs of people is our heart cry." (p. 167)
"For us, the apostolic ministry describes the whole task of
pastoring pastors. It describes a relational covering and network
for like-minded church leaders." (p. 174)
Some theologians reject the idea of modern day "apostles," even though
the Bible gives no indication that apostolic ministries (other than
the original) have ceased. Over 30 individuals in the NT were referred
to as apostles. Some theologians use broader definitions of the
original Greek and believe that "sent ones" still exist in the form of
envoys, missionaries, church planters, district bishops, regional
directors, founding pastors, etc.
Common themes of the modern apostolic churches seem to be ministry
structures built on mentoring relationships, the basic building block
being the cell or small group. Cell group leaders are mentored by more
experienced pastors, associate pastors are mentored by senior pastors,
and senior pastors are mentored by regional, ethnic, or linguistic
pastors or directors.
Today, it may sometimes take time for senior and regional
bishops/superintendants/pastors/directors to gain the confidence of
those they serve. Becoming a mentor involves much more than mere
supervision, but includes trust and intimate friendship like Christ
had with his 12 disciples. In most cases, our existing structures have
been imposed, rather than developing through a natural relationship.
The kind of natural relationship that a Paul may have had in
"fathering" the churches he supervised, does not exist in many
denominations today. Yet the modern apostolic churches came about through
just such mentoring "fathers."
Cell churches are not just churches with small groups, but where the
day to day pastoral care of the flock is carried on through the cell
group. In other words small group leaders are not just "facilitators"
of discussions, but pastors caring for their small groups or house
churches. The modern apostolic churches usually include innovative
applications of the cell church/house church movements, what I prefer
to call "mini-church." Perhaps in time, as we grow in the
understanding of evangelism, missions, and developing these kinds of
mentoring relationships, we all will experience the blessing of being
apostolic churches.
in the Lord sent to me after taking some notes in a conference. (There were 13
sent, but I reduced the # to 7)
===================================================
1) Every Christian is called to serve.
* The Holy Spirit has given everyone spiritual gifts.
* The pastor must discern people's gifts and then involve people in
ministry.
* Put people to work, then watch them.
* The leaders and the 'service-gifted' will become apparent.
* Use the principle that those who are 'found faithful in the little things
will be found faithful in the big things'. (Mt. 25:14-30)
=====================================
2) Every leader is a trainer. (Eph 4:11-12)
* Leaders are equippers.
* A pastor's job description should be structured around
equipping people to do ministry.
=====================================
3) You learn by doing.
* Jesus sent out the twelve.
* They had been with him and watched him, now he sent them out to DO.
* We need to teach people what to do, then let them learn by doing.
=====================================
4) You learn to walk by falling down less and less.
* It's OK to fall down!
* If there are no mistakes being made, we are probably being too
conservative.
* We need to give people an environment where it's OK to fail.
* Fall FORWARD as you fall DOWN. Learn from your mistakes.
=====================================
5) You succeed when mistakes are easily forgiven.
* If we are going to try, and expect some failures, we need to forgive
others' mistakes easily.
* Some of our most stellar (potential) performers are real jerks at times,
and make some real mistakes. We need to encourage, confront, guide and direct
them.
=====================================
6) Only train those who DO something.
* Ministry is not a spectator sport; only those who are already in ministry
should be trained for further ministry.
* Gradual progression of constantly increasing responsibility.
* Make it easy for people to get into the beginning stages of ministry. (see
point #1) Folding chairs, handing out programs, ...
=====================================
7) Never train the rebellious or disinterested.
* Faithfulness and fruitfulness should be requirements for training, not
rebellion or disinterest.
* Don't put a rebellious person in a position of authority, or you are
asking for headaches later.
home | biography | library | apostles | prophecy | revival | rapture | beliefs | links | e-mail