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Types of Apostles

by Honey Stone
06/29/18
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There are various types of apostles, at least from my experience. Here are the ones I am aware of:

The Church Planter
One of my former pastors was actually an apostle.  He planted many churches of somewhere around 75 - 100 congregations. This is what most people think of when they hear the word apostle.

He called himself the senior pastor because of the polluted reputation of apostles from recent history. These misguided apostles created co-dependence. Theydid not move their flock to becoming sons and daughters to God.

These slave apostles may have started off with good intentions, but ended up setting up a system that basically chained their congregations to be sons and daughters to their anointing rather than to move out on their own unique calling.

You can easily tell this brand of leadership because the leaders teach you to not trust your own discernment. You must submit to them unquestioningly. Basically, they kick the true prophet out and they create fear. They create distrust with everyone accept the one leader. Everyone is walking on egg-shells with each other.

The process of coming into your calling is a lot like art school. Everyone started off drawing just like their teacher or trying to at least. Guest teachers would get annoyed at the copycat scene. As we grew in skill and confidence, we started finding out own style. That is how it is spiritually as well.

It should not be cookie cutter Christianity. When I see people prophesying or evangelizing or teaching just like their trainer then I know they are in an immature stage. Get your affirmation from God and not simply your mentor.

When our apostle was guiding our church, the incoming pastor was given more and more responsibility until the baton was fully passed to him. We were also aware that the apostle was training a Spanish-speaking house church that was moving toward finding a building. This couple came to our services and observed our pastor’s training.

The Leader of Leaders
One ministry leader that I sat under was an apostle although many may not have called him that. He was a leader of urban missions in his church and later he launched out on his own. He connected with many of the healthy pastors of the inner city and in time created initiatives that were Spirit-led. This included traveling with a team to different cities where he connected with pastors, ministry leaders, and Houses of Prayer. He led his team to do strategic prayer, outreach, and evangelism. His ministry is always changing and evolving.

The Cutting-Edge Ministry Launch or Initiative
These pioneer Christians can be missionaries to a different country, region, or section of the city as they live amongst the natives. I have witnessed the son-in-law of a pastor as he grew as a leader of missionaries in Europe. It was a slow start but at some point it began to quickly sprout. I have watched a number of urban evangelistic ministries grow in size and scope.

The growth of these ministries is like the growth of a child of God. You never know how long it will take some people to reach maturity. It may seem like nothing is happening for a very long time but then BOOM the person arrives in their office. The maturity shows up more as a confidence than as a ministry title. In fact, at that point, a title is not necessary. They gain recognition through their ability to follow God. Everyone sees the change and then says, “What happened?”

There also can be those who do innovative ministry that has not been seen before. Billy Graham was once cutting-edge until he became the standard of the day. These days, the ministry is becoming less about one person. It is more like the concept of moving from catching a fish for others to teaching others how to catch a fish.

Off the top of my head I can think of four ministries that started off as something simple and then they grew into a network enmeshed with other ministries. You may have a vague idea who the leader of the ministry is if you are an outsider, but if you become a part of it, then you understand who leads it and who the mature ones are in the network.

These ministries go from being a big fish in a small pond to a small fish in a big pond. It takes humility and character to reach a place of anonymity and more power and capacity.

Becoming an Apostle
One of the reasons apostles do not enter their office calling is because of familiar spirits. I am talking about the sorcery spirits that come through drugs (illegal and sorcery-inspired prescription), witchcraft and new age activities (yoga, acupuncture, and some forms of the martial arts, etc.), and sexual activity with witches or those who have slept with witches.

Tibetan witchcraft is the highest form of witchcraft and it can be found in some Africa tribes and in some Native American tribes. Let’s not forget the more sophisticated forms of sorcery in Europe. That’s why the phrase ‘familiar spirit’ has become associated with the family sins. Those sins of witchcraft follow the family line until repented of. If your ancestors are from America, Europe, Asia or Africa then likely you have to repent of a familiar spirit.

Familiar spirits like to imitate the Holy Spirit. So, that’s why I always recommend that you get a confirmation from Bible reading. I am aware of a few Elijah List prophets who go back and forth between the true and false word.  

Also, some prophets can be picking up things from their soul and not just their spirit. Not to be mean, but how consecrated are the prophets in your congregation? This is where reformation needs to start. The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Spirit. It's starts with right standing. Right standing includes faith and repentence.

Our government was designed with checks and balances and still the impostor got through. How do you think you are going to be 100% accurate in discernment? We do the best with God and His GPS system that helps us in our journey. When we get off on the wrong road his word, Spirit and His mature people can help us to get back on track.

Many of God’s greatest lovers have messed up several times before they got it better. They got better but they weren’t perfect. Let us humble ourselves to come clean and then we will become righteously bold.