What is church? Equipped and built up by 'apostolic teams'
Insights from David Ollerton
Peter Carruthers
Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. (Acts 15:40-41)
And as they went through the cities, they delivered to them the decrees to keep, which were determined by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem. So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily. (Acts 16:4-5)
When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.…. And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ. (Ephesians 4:8,11-12)
Shortly after joining Village Hope as Executive Director in 2016, I was introduced to the thought and work of the late David Ollerton, founder of Waleswide, and, in particular, to his 2008 book, Ministry on the move.1
Ollerton’s starting point is the urgency of evangelising and re-evangelising our nation and the nations of the world, and equipping and building up the churches, in an increasingly alien and sometimes hostile post-Christendom society. As an evangelical, his central concern is to do this in a biblical way. As one called to minister to churches in Wales, he is also keen to do it in a ‘Welsh’ way!
Ministry on the spot, ministry on the move
The argument of his book and proposed programme is a simple one: the church of Jesus Christ is equipped and built up by the combination of ‘ministry on the spot’, ie local elders and leaders, and ‘ministry on the move’, ie ‘apostolic teams’.
From the outset, Ollerton deals with any insistence that the word ‘apostle’ is reserved for the Twelve (or their successors in an ‘apostolic succession), witnesses of Jesus’ Resurrection, or celebrity self-proclaimed ‘new apostles’ (such as those associated with the ‘New Apostolic Reformation’). Rather, he avers, the biblical term ‘apostolos’ (ἀπόστολος), simply describes ‘one who is sent’, and can also be translated as ‘messenger’, ‘delegate’ or ‘representative’ (2 Corinthians 8:23, ESV, DLNT, NIV respectively).
Biblical and historical
His short book is an exploration of the biblical and historical role and necessity of ‘apostolic teams’ in strengthening churches, and how the model might be applied today. The book’s distinctive is its combining the biblical model set out in the Acts and Paul’s letters, with the way it was applied in church history, specifically in the history of the Welsh revival movements of the 17C and 18C. As one reviewer comments,
“David Ollerton uses the twin spotlights of the Bible and church history to illuminate the role of apostles and the function of apostolic teams. The use of these twin spotlights gives the subject a depth and perspective that would have been impossible if he had simply referred to the Bible or church history.”
The place of the teams
The first part of the book deals with the ‘place of the teams’. Itinerant apostles or ‘messengers of the churches’ were central to the New Testament order of ministry and mission. This is evident not only in the NT itself, but in early church writings, such as the Didache. The pattern was paralleled among the Welsh Puritans of the 17C, such as John Miles (1621-1684), Stephen Hughes (1622-1688) and Huw Owen (1639-1700). If such teams held a central place in the NT era and in a time of great fruitfulness in the Welsh church, then, Ollerton asserts, they must surely be central to church growth today.
“A local church’s responsibility in mission means that it cannot live independently of others, or oblivious, or indifferent to the nature of the region, nation or nations beyond it. Churches should embrace the responsibility for un-evangelised and un-churched parts of their nation, and for the needy areas and churches within it. If leaders of a local church are only pastoring their own people, encouraging their people to attend their own church activities or to connect to the community of their own church they cannot be said to be fully New Testament in practice. New Testament churches were planted with spiritual DNA that always looked to needs beyond their immediate boundaries.”
“We have much to learn from Antioch”, he goes on, “if our nation, and the nations, are to re-churched once more”. Church leaders must give as much attention to developing and recognising ‘ministry on the move’ as they do ‘ministry on the spot’, and this might sometimes mean releasing their ‘best’ people.
Ollerton closes this section on the ‘place of the teams’, with a warning.
"The apostles of old were not “celebrities, pastors of large churches, denominational heads or those who sold most books or spoke at international conferences. There is a trend in some contemporary models of apostolic ministry for a dependence on pragmatics and marketing rather than patterns discernible in the New Testament.”
The purpose of the teams
The second section sets out the the purpose of apostolic teams, taking Jesus’s sending out of the Twelve (Matthew 10:5-8) and the seventy-two (Luke 10:1-3) as his starting point. Then, and in the Acts, they were ‘sent ones’, going out on Jesus’ behalf as if it were He who was going out.
Central to the purpose of the apostles and apostolic teams is the laying and strengthening of foundations. We see this especially in the ministry of Titus, as instructed by Paul. Titus is sent to “set in order the things that are lacking” (Titus 1:5), and to deal with issues of leadership (Titus 1:5-9), doctrine (Titus 1:9-16) and conduct (Titus 2:1-10; 3:1-11). These, along with fellowship and mission are critical marks of ‘authentic church’.
In drawing parallels with church history, Ollerton states that “it can be justifiably argued that the revivals of the eighteenth century were the closest that Britain has ever come to an ‘apostolic era’. Not only was the threat of political revolution averted, a spiritual revolution took place across the length and breadth of the land”.
In England this was largely through the work of the Wesleys. In Wales, the movement began earlier, led by young leaders, notably Howell Harries, Daniel Rowland and William Williams. These men had “profound experiences of conversion, experienced remarkable empowerment of the Holy Spirit, especially in preaching, and began to travel to widen and sustain a growing national movement”.
In simple terms, both in NT times and in the 18C revivals, apostolic teams preached, planted and strengthened churches and built connections among churches that promoted life and growth. This contrasts, OIlerton argues, with the situation among many churches today, where isolationism has become a powerful enemy of growth, both in numbers and in maturity.
“Independent churches with no formal link to other churches, and more importantly, no regular ministry from outside, have become normal in evangelical charismatic/evangelical circles. If churches are not ‘independent’ in name because of historic connections, they tend to be in practice. The effect of this has been the loss of a sense of mission to the region, let alone the nation.”
Foundations also are as important today as they were in NT times and in 18C Britain. “Not all churches are built on good foundations”, he writes. Bad foundations may be doctrinal, relational, visionary, and functional. The contemporary church needs Tituses to set things in a godly order.
The practice of the teams
The final section sets out the apostolic teams work in practice, in terms of their relationship to churches, which they are to strengthen (Acts 16:5), their relationships together, and the churches’ attitude to the team. The chapters of this section offer much practical guidance on these aspects of the teams’ work.
In drawing a parallel with Wales’ history, OIllerton focuses on the remarkable example of itinerant minister and hymn writer, William Williams (1717-1791) (best known outside Wales as the composer of ‘Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah’).
One critical aspect of the NT and 18C models for us today is that the apostles did not ‘flash in and flash out’. Rather, they returned regularly and sometimes spent extended periods of time with a church, as Paul seems to have done at Ephesus (Ephesians 19:1-10).
In considering how the biblical and historical practice applies today, Ollerton notes:
“To a very large extent British churches today are focused on their own local efforts, or in many cases, their survival. Calls for a more outward looking stance are often met with a rebuttal on the grounds that the local must first grow large enough to be able to give away from strength or simply that all resources of personnel, time and finance are needed for local struggles. Could it be that such attitudes are one of the causes for decline locally and nationally?… Church planting studies have shown the churches that do not re-plant in their first five years are unlikely to do so afterwards.”
Ollerton closes this section with a set of proposals to change the orientation and openness of local churches.
New models of NT apostolic teams should be developed from local churches, based on a culture of serving, sacrifice and trust, and not hierarchical models that link churches together on a ‘franchise’ basis and where teams assume government over churches.
Churches should recognise, release and support messengers and teams at all levels, recognising that relationships between churches and teams and within and among teams will change over time, as necessary.
Leaders of local churches should make a conscious decision to open up their church to the ministry of teams.
Teams need to be made up a variety of gifts, experience and background. This make-up can change as they develop and address different needs, opportunities and challenges.
Once again, Ollerton closes with a warning.
“Church plants and existing churches that will close if they do not transition to a new model need what New Testament churches needed: input from itinerant, ‘on the move’, apostolic teams. Without them the prospects for the towns and villages without any Bible believing church are bleak. Sending ‘hit-and-run’ teams of students or church members on a week’s mission will not build or plant a church.”
Our own story
In 2016 and after, at the beginning of my time with Village Hope, I was gripped by the possibilities that David Ollerton brought to life. Like anyone who had been a Christian for a long time, I was fully aware of how Paul and his co-workers did things and knew something about the many revivals and renewals of church history, and could not quite see how these related to current experience and practice, especially in rural areas. I was also aware of how the whole idea and phenomenon of ‘apostles’ had developed around many of new churches and movements, often in rather unhappy and seemingly unbiblical ways.
Ollerton was a remarkable visionary. But like all of us, he was man of his background, experience, training and calling. His horizon and his conclusions may not entirely coincide with mine or indeed that of others with similar concerns. But he brought the possibility of a biblical and historical understanding of ministry and mission, relevant to the (rural) church today and to the work of an organisation like Village Hope, to life. And his ideas became one of the central planks of the early vision for our work.
We sought to realise the vision, in particular through discussions with a partner organisation. The plan was to help build links between thriving town churches with (surplus) personnel and capacity and rural churches that were struggling to survive. This was not envisaged as via one-off visits, but ongoing relationships of support and help in equipping and building up. Sadly, although the vision was embraced by both partners, making it a reality proved too ambitious and challenging and the plan was abandoned. And then came Covid and we headed in other directions.
Apostolic teams today
It seems to me that rather than give up and revert to the ‘standard procedures’, whatever they might be, it is time to revisit the challenges that Ollerton issues. We surely need to revive the New Testament pattern and learn from the way that the model was enacted in times of church growth and revival, not only in Wales in the 17C and 18C, but also before and beyond.
This calls for much discernment and judgement. Coming from a free-church background, Ollerton sees the ‘Christendom mindset’, and by implication, the ‘historic’ churches and traditions, as partly culpable for the sapping of apostolic energy in the churches (along with the individualism and isolationism of independent churches, as above).
Things have changed, however, since he wrote Ministry on the Move in 2008 and even since I first read it in 2016. Most denominations, and even new churches, are in meltdown, capitulating to the spirit of the age and/or riven by scandals brought about by the misconduct of their leaders - although there are many individual churches that are holding the line, and thriving and growing, mostly in towns and cities, but with a few rural exemplars. At the same time, there are many believers who are looking back and finding some refuge in historic and traditional church settings and spiritualities. The landscape is, therefore, much more complex. But maybe this makes the fields ‘riper for harvest’?
‘Deliver us from management and its jargon’
In the closing paragraph of the third section, quoted above, Ollerton weighs in against “hit-and-run teams of students or church members on a weeks mission”, ie against ‘quick fixes’ and shallow engagement.
Yet, the prevailing models of church mission and ministry privilege such approaches. Favoured approaches to ‘equipping and building up churches’ now focus on methods, techniques, tools, consultancy, facilitation, brainstorming, ‘resources’, and ‘fixes’, and owe more to modern business management ideas than to the New Testament or church history. Most denominations and para-church organisations (of which Village Hope is, of course, one) employ and deploy professional ‘enablers’, ‘facilitators’ and the like. Those providing these services do not even need to be ‘sent’ or to visit the churches in person, as they can be delivered online via Zoom, You Tube etc. The providers do not even need to be even directly involved, as much can be delivered online, through websites, videos, and downloadable training packs!
People first
However, David Ollerton, Paul to the Ephesians, and the Lord Himself make it very clear that the Church is not strengthened, equipped and built up through ideas, resources, tools, techniques, methods, digital technology etc, but through called and gifted people, through the ministry of apostles, prophets, evangelists and pastors and teachers (Ephesians 4:11-16).
After all, our relationship with God is not mediated by abstract ideas and philosophy, but by the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, God made flesh and blood. Likewise, our growth as His body comes through flesh-and-blood relationships with one another and the ministry of gifted ‘flesh-and-blood’ people. Even God’s written word was transmitted through people and bears their mark and personalities (apart from the tablets of stone). Catholics and Orthodox would, of course, also insist that we grow in Him through participation in His flesh and blood in the Eucharist.
Taking the red pill
There is a profound challenge here. If the arguments set out above are right, then they call into question most of our approaches, programmes and projects aimed at ‘equipping and building up the churches’, whether we are a denomination or a para-church ministry like Village Hope. In particular, it challenges our relationship with digital technology and cyber space (without which of course you would not be reading this article!).
Like most of my colleagues, I use the Internet a lot, but I cannot help but feel a deepening unease about doing so. The Internet has changed all our lives beyond recognition, and we are in its thrall and cannot see beyond it sometimes. Covid had a profound effect on most people in the world, especially the Western world, and this was due as much to the way it ‘uploaded us to the Matrix’ as to the disease itself, lockdown, vaccines and the conduct of governments. As I wrote during Covid, it is time to ‘take the red pill’!
Send us a saint
Realising a vision for apostolic teams presents an even deeper challenge, because it not only calls for real-life engagement among people, it also calls for a level of maturity in Christ to qualify as a member of an apostolic team. Those who presume to instruct others must themselves be adequately instructed.
What if you approached your denomination or a para-church organisation and asked them to send you not an enabler, a facilitator or consultant, not even an overseer, but a saint! I am sure that few of us would presume or feel able to respond to such a request.
Yet, as I noted in a previous article, quoting Joseph Ratzinger, “the future of the Church can and will issue from those whose roots are deep and who live from the pure fullness of their faith. It will not issue from those who accommodate themselves merely to the passing moment … the future of the Church, once again as always, will be reshaped by saints, by men, that is, whose minds probe deeper than the slogans of the day, who see more than others see, because their lives embrace a wider reality.”
Breaking new ground
In the passages from Acts quoted at the top of this article, Paul and his co-workers first concern was to strengthen the churches already there, so that they grew in both faith and numbers (Acts 16:5). But, like the ‘seventy-two’ of Luke 10: 1-20, their second concern was to break new ground, to extend their territory. And, as for the seventy-two, a vital starting point for Paul’s and his ‘team’ were those who were willing to receive them, and who provided a ‘way in’, a ‘bridgehead’ - like Lydia, the Philippine jailor, Jason, Aquila and Priscilla, and Justus (Acts 16:11-18:17).
David Ollerton’s book and my article above focus on strengthening existing churches. But there are many rural areas in Britain where there are no existing churches to strengthen. New ground needs to be broken; new churches need to be planted. How the bible and church history inform that is, however, a matter for another time. But, of course, apostolic teams have a role to play.
What next?
This has been one of the most difficult articles I have written on this Substack site. It seems as if there is as much work to be done in making all this happen as there was when I started more than eight years ago. But, maybe our circumstances and the state of affairs in church and nation mean that we can rise to the challenge with renewed understanding and energy?
If any of the ideas here resonate with you then start a conversation, by commenting below or replying privately to the email (if you are a subscriber).
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Ephesians 4:11-16).
David R J Ollerton. 2008. Ministry on the move. New Testament patterns of apostles and apostolic teams for supporting church plants and existing churches. NEWID books.