The death warrant to “scattered and isolated” Christianity

by Brian Sauder

Article 4 in the Apostolic Series

In 1979, Larry Kreider was a hard-working chicken farmer in south central Pennsylvania. He was a young man who earned a living to support his family. Larry and his wife, LaVerne, had served a year in missions and gained some ministry experience by starting a local youth outreach. In a time of prayer, Larry sensed a call from God asking him to start something new. Since the time that “something new” was birthed in 1980, it has grown into DOVE International, an expanding apostolic family of over 1,000 churches in twenty-eight nations. You can read more about the DOVE story in Larry’s book House to House.

As an apostolic network, DOVE International is both relational and missional. It reflects the words of Jesus recorded in Mark 3:14-15 indicating that Jesus appointed the twelve that they might “be with him” (a foundation of relationship) and that he might “send them out to preach the Kingdom” (a mission outreach). Leaders in DOVE build empowering relational connections with other leaders. Through these relationships, practical care and ongoing empowerment supports Kingdom expansion. I have heard Larry Kreider quote these verses in Mark many times as he explains the vision and mission of DOVE International. As a movement, we believe that when Jesus appointed the twelve, He was establishing a prototype for future apostolic ministries that would be capable of carrying out the mandate to establish the Kingdom of God on the earth.

Where Did Apostolic Networks Originate?

The first apostolic network was established in Antioch. It seems that Antioch was the first sending base of its kind. The Holy Spirit chose Antioch to ignite a new phase of apostolic influence in the early Church. In the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit intervened in a sovereign way to shift the course of the Church forever. It was from Antioch that Paul and Barnabas were sent by the Holy Spirit on an apostolic mission. After Paul and Barnabas completed their work, they returned to their sending base in Antioch and gathered the church together to report on all that God had done through them (Acts 14:27).

Paul was the man who was chosen as the leader, but it was actually the Holy Spirit who was in charge. Scripture clearly explains that the Holy Spirit was the one choosing them and sending them. The Holy Spirit gave instructions during these trips about where to go and where not to go. Paul and his teams planted churches, performed healing and miracles, faced stiff resistance, and demonstrated joyful perseverance.

Antioch developed into a base of operations for apostles and their teams. First, we see that Antioch was Paul’s home base for many years. Paul was the key apostolic figure in the story of the exponential expansion of the early Church, and Antioch was a key launching pad. Others were sent out following the pattern of Paul and Barnabas’ first trip and went out to start communities of believers (churches) all around the known world. These new communities stayed connected through organic networks and had a tremendous impact on society, releasing great power for transformation. They were relational apostolic networks. For Paul, Antioch remained his first apostolic base and a model he would get inspiration from to develop strong apostolic centers in other areas like Ephesus and Corinth.

The Turning Point

In Acts 13, we find that Barnabas was still the main apostolic leader in the emerging church. He had already played a major role in Paul’s life by introducing him to Peter and James in Jerusalem. Barnabas called Paul out of Tarsus to bring him to teach the new believers at Antioch. But on this apostolic mission, Paul’s leadership was clearly established, as Barnabas recognized there was a greater apostolic leadership grace on Paul and allowed him to take the lead.

After a period of two years, they had successfully established churches in many cities of the empire. On their way back to their sending base of Antioch, they stopped for a second time to support the new churches and appoint elders to care for the flocks. Unconcerned about the risk, this meant they were appointing elders who had not been believers for more than two years. This would be extremely uncommon in modern churches today.

The turning point came in Acts 15:36 when Paul said, “Let’s go back and visit the believers and all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” This declaration signed a death warrant to scattered and isolated Christianity. Up to this point, the churches were started rather randomly. They could be compared to popcorn popping in a hot pan. Whoever was hungry for the Holy Spirit experienced the birthing of a church. When Paul made this declaration, it is clear he was intentionally moving with a vision to link the churches into a relational network and to stay in communication with them. He started to write letters to the churches to encourage them, correct them, and help them through leadership challenges and crises.

What can we see in this basic New Testament apostolic model? We see a large territory with dozens of churches, three of those strategically located in apostolic centers: Antioch, Corinth, and Ephesus. Paul openly challenged the role of Satan at all levels of society and trained leaders for the transformation of the cities. This can be seen in events that transpired during the three years Paul was sent to Ephesus on his third apostolic trip.

In certain cities like Corinth and Ephesus, Paul took up residence for up to three years and led the churches through the initial stages of development into apostolic centers. These centers would have had influence over large areas. Paul continued to empower them by either visiting, sending team members, or writing letters. Remember that in those days, a letter was a very precious piece of communication. All the churches and apostolic centers were linked into a relational network. The apostolic centers were strategically situated like power relays to feed the churches that did not have apostolic leaders, but instead had more pastoral leaders. (We will consider this distinction in more detail later.)

Interestingly, these apostolic centers were developed in cities that were already influential in the society and culture of the day. Corinth was known to be a prosperous, diverse, modern, and mostly pagan city. Corinth grew into a great commercial power thanks to its geographical location. Because of trade routes intersecting and the city’s two sea ports, Corinth could control trade both on land and at sea. The pagan converts were known for many sins—especially sexual ones. Their culture was accustomed to temple prostitutes and other depraved customs.

Ephesus was also a major city and commercial center in Asia Minor (now Turkey). With a population of 250,000 people, it was the fourth largest city in the Roman Empire. Ephesus was the seat of the Roman goddess Diana (Artemis in Greek), probably the most-worshipped deity of the Roman Empire. The temple to Diana of Ephesus was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Ephesus would eventually become the center of Christianity and powerfully affect the entire Roman Empire. These apostolic centers, which were organized geographically in the New Testament, provide the model for the relational apostolic networks we see today. I strongly recommend Alain Caron’s book Apostolic Centers for more study about apostolic networks and how they function.

Not All Churches Are Apostolic Centers

In this early-church model, we see that not all churches are apostolic centers. In fact, most are not. When the apostles appointed elders, the elders were given the responsibility to care for the church in the absence of the resident apostles who started them. The elders were assigned a more pastoral emphasis. These churches were led by an elder who was leading a team of elders. It appears that these pastoral churches would have had various leadership gifts at work, which were teamed with apostolic leaders that came in from time to time to help them build. Thus, we see teamwork among the local elders and trans-local (traveling) apostles. As these local churches were properly aligned with apostle(s), they experienced growth, change, and development.

In this biblical picture, we can see that often as a church begins to grow, the lead elder (pastor) of that church starts to shift from a pastoral gifting to an apostolic gifting. This person often begins to function as an apostle in the local church and is later sent from the local church to initiate Kingdom expansion. This is what happened to Larry Kreider. When he started “something new,” he and his wife never expected it to become more than a local church having perhaps two hundred members. The examples they had experienced and those they could see around them were of a pastor who leads a local church. But God had something else in mind. Although Larry never aspired to be an apostle, through years of diligent ministry, perseverance, and God’s blessing, it became clear that Larry carried an apostolic mantle that would take him far beyond the leadership of one local church.

In summary, we see both pastoral churches and apostolic churches in the Antioch model. We need to understand the difference. Pastoral churches are those that stay in relational alignment with apostolic influence while apostolic churches are those that serve as hubs for church planting and Kingdom expansion. Unfortunately, as apostolic ministry disappeared from the common church over the centuries, we have ended up with a church system that has only a fraction of the transformational power that God intends for His called-out assemblies-believing saints.

Bibliography

Caron, Alain. Apostolic Centers. Vancouver: Arsenal Press, 2014.
Eckhart, John. Moving in the Apostolic. Norwood: Regal Press, 1999.
Kreider, Larry. House to House. Lititz, Pennsylvania: House to House Publications, 2014.