So, the test then is this: Is the apostle accountable? Are they in submission? What kind of relationships are pursued and maintained healthily? John Alley

Without willing accountability, and the maintaining of an accountable relationship of honesty and transparency with someone over us in the Lord, we become, perhaps subtly at first, a law unto ourselves. This is why submission is so important; it is, in the end, the last defence that guards our hearts from lawlessness. John Alley

Every minister of Christ, particularly apostles and prophets, needs to value spiritual covering highly and pursue spiritual fathering. No one, no apostle or prophet (no matter how old, how long in ministry, how many people greatly cared for, or what great fathering has been given to sons) is exempt from the need to walk in heart submission to another. John Alley

Without the giving of the heart to one another, and especially to the leaders over us, we hardly are walking in the grace of God at all. John Alley

The heart of apostolic life, the core truth of the apostolic message, is the spirit of sonship. John Alley

Though placed well down this summary of serious considerations for testing apostles, the spirit of sonship is in fact the first thing I look for in other ministers, especially those who position themselves as apostles or prophets. If someone claims to be a prophet or an apostle, but is independent, individualistic, without submission to someone over them in the Lord, with neither spiritual covering nor even a semblance of a spiritual father, I personally do not receive them as a prophet or an apostle. John Alley

Spiritual maturity is found in the heart. Always, invariably and without exception, it may be seen in (and measured by) relationships with other people. Because Christianity is relationships, relationships, relationships! John Alley

We see, then, how far an apostle must be from sectarian motive. Every apostle appointed by Christ belongs, in principle, to the whole Body of Christ. Every apostle thinks in terms of the whole, and must be pure of motive when ministering in all places. John Alley

Every apostle – no exceptions – is called to work for the unity of the Body. John Alley

Unless there is plainly an authority, a freedom of approach to the presence of the Lord, and an evident standing before God when an apostle prays, they cannot be in any sense someone established as an apostle of Christ in the church. John Alley