Apostolic Genius: Apostolic Environment

In chapter 6 of The Forgotten Ways Hirsch addresses the apostolic environment as one of the factors of apostolic genius. This is a fairly dense chapter which I will attempt to address in only a cursory manner. Hirsch defines an apostle as "a pioneer, and it is this pioneering, innovative spirit that marks it as unique in relation to the other ministries" (p. 155).

A good deal of his emphasis in on apostolic leadership. He takes issue with the Christendom model which relegates apostolic ministry to an office as opposed to a function. He notes that in the apostolic church and in the church in China the leaders had the gifts and calling to lead and there were no clergy, no ordination process. Clergy and ordination emerged as the church became institutionalized, and has a tendency to be hierarchical. He writes,

Apostolic ministry, which was very much alive in the early church, was perceived as a gifting and a calling by God, was authenticated by a life lived consistent with the message, and was recognized by i6ts effects on the movement and its context, namely, the extension of the mission of God and in the sustainability and health of the churches (p. 153).

According to Hirsch, apostolic leaders create an apostolic environment by: 1) embedding mDNA through pioneering new ground for the gospel and church; 2) guarding mDNA through the application and integration of apostilic theology; 3) creating the environment in which the other ministries emerge (pp. 155-157). The "other ministries" to which he refers in #3 come from Ephesians 4 and are captured by his acronym, APEPT: apostolic, prophetic, evangelistic, pastoral, and teaching.

Hirsch eschews the metaphor of CEO for the apostolic leader which to his way of thinking is much too top-down. He opts for a more inspirational-spiritual leadership model that is bottom-up. He suggests that the apostolic leader is more of a mid-wife. "A midwife aids and assists in the birth of a child. All that he or she makes sure of is that all the conditions are right for a healthy birth--the birth is the result of things beyond the midwife's influence" (p. 166).

A farmer is another apt metaphor for the apostolic leader according to Hirsch. The farmer is not in control of the weather but attempts to create the conditions so that given good weather the crops will grow and grow well. The actual weather depends on factors outside the farmer's control.

I resonated with much of what he said in the chapter, especially the importance of the ministry of the laity. He never mentions that term, but the two-tier system of ordained and laity that we have tends to disempower the laity, which is the bread and butter of the church.