Apostles, too, must progress in their own understanding, for great differences exist between the “Christian” cultural assumptions we commonly hold and the spiritual realities of what it means to be apostolic. John Alley

After 500 years of reformation progressively bringing the church to greater maturity, we have come now to the wonderful place and time where Christ’s purpose is to establish a less institutional and more relational church. John Alley

Yet the church, having long been so institutionalised, has held to entrenched unbelief about living apostles. John Alley

Apostles make us all more fruitful, but this requires a relational commitment – the giving of the heart. John Alley

All five-fold ministers need apostles. As both the gift and the authority of apostles is restored progressively, we will come to see more clearly the vital work of apostles in lifting up other ministers of Christ. Together, apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists, and pastors will then lift up the whole Body of Christ into a further dimension of grace. John Alley

From amongst us there will be those who are called to be apostles; however, to arrive at the point of being released by the Lord as an apostle is the result of a long process of equipping, training, testing, and proving. Unless that process has been completed, and unless the tests have been passed, even someone called to be an apostle will not become an apostle. John Alley

As a result, there will be many who have the kinds of gifts that we might expect apostles to have. This does not equate with the call to be an apostle. It simply means the Lord wants them to serve others with those abilities. John Alley

In the meantime, self-promoting ministry figures, accepting that the Church is meant to have apostles, and being capable leaders in their own sphere, jumped to the conclusion that they must obviously be the apostles. Since they pastored large churches, ran networks, or founded movements, it seemed natural that this success was an automatic qualifier to apostolic authority. John Alley

Just because someone in leadership is gifted and successful does NOT mean they are an apostle – not even if they have built a great work. An apostle is not a super-prophet, a super-teacher, a super-evangelist, or a super-pastor. It is another grace entirely. John Alley