One of the distinguishing marks of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) is the belief that today’s Church should be led by modern-day apostles and prophets. This came from the Latter Rain Revival that began in 1947.
Latter Rain leaders taught that the Church had to restore something that had been lost: the five-fold ministry of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers (see Ephesians 4:11). In the 1990s, C. Peter Wagner, a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary in California, developed the Latter Rain teaching that God was restoring the office of apostle to the church as part of “a new process designed to resurface the biblical government of the church.” This led him to coin the term “New Apostolic Reformation.”
Wagner organized networks of “modern-day apostles,” individuals who believed that their authority came directly from God, not from sacramental ordination, a denominational authority structure or a theology degree. These networks, based on voluntary association, enabled them to work together while maintaining independence from any kind of denominational authority.
For these individuals, being an apostle means more than just acting as the senior pastor of a church congregation. The spiritual authority of the apostle makes him or her a “world changer” empowered to take over spiritual territory and transform cities and nations. In fact, in this understanding, apostles, not pastors, are considered the “spiritual gatekeepers” of cities and nations.
Catholics profess belief in an apostolic church, but we do not believe in modern-day apostles as the NAR does. In Catholic tradition, the word “apostle” can mean three different things. First, the original 12 as well as men like Paul and Matthias who could serve as witnesses to the Risen Christ and establish the essentials of his Church. Second, “apostle” refers to the mission of all the baptized to sanctify the world and spread the Gospel. It is in this sense that Pope John XXIII called Sister Elena Guerra “modern-day apostle of the Holy Spirit” when he beatified her in 1959. Third, a leader in bringing the Gospel to a specific place or group can be called an apostle; e.g. St. Francis Xavier is called “the apostle of Japan,” and Saints Cyril and Methodius are called “apostles to the Slavs.” In no case does it mean anything like the definition of “modern-day apostle” put forth by the Latter Rain and NAR.
Catholics believe that bishops are not apostles, but successors to the apostles. We speak of apostolic succession, but not apostolic continuation. The last apostle died a long time ago. A necessary component of apostolic succession is apostolic tradition; i.e., faithfully handing on the teaching of the apostles. In the third century, St. Irenaeus of Lyon spoke of both apostolic succession and the apostolic tradition:
“In this order, and by this succession, the ecclesiastical tradition from the Apostles and the preaching of the truth have come down to us. And this is a most abundant proof that there is one and the same vivifying faith, which has been preserved in the Church from the Apostles until now, and handed down in truth” (Adversus Haereses, III, 3, 3: PG 7, 851).
Without a faithful handing on of the teaching of the Apostles, there is no apostolic ministry today. Pope Benedict XVI observed that “the apostolicity of ecclesial communion consists in fidelity to the teaching and praxis of the Apostles, through whom the historical and spiritual bond of the Church with Christ is assured. The Apostolic Succession of the episcopal ministry is a means of guaranteeing the faithful transmission of the Apostolic witness.”
Part of the apostolic tradition, for Catholics, is the hierarchical leadership of the Church, the “divinely instituted ecclesiastical ministry … exercised in different degrees by those who even from ancient times have been called bishops, priests and deacons” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1554).
The tendency to reduce the definition of “apostle” to a charismatic leader called directly by God, however faith-filled and gifted that person might be, goes against the Catholic understanding of apostolic succession. No one can be an apostolic leader today without being part of a chain that goes back to the 12 and others who were witnesses to the Risen Christ.
In Catholic thought, a present-day apostolic leader is a witness entrusted with a mission by other witnesses, someone who has authority to carry it out only because it has been given sacramentally from others who have already received the mission. While the word “apostle” means “one who has been sent,” Catholics do not believe that God appoints apostles directly without working through the leadership structures he established within his apostolic Church.
Once we know the authentic Catholic teaching on this matter, it is rather startling to find a Catholic writing the following about lay Catholics: “We need a new method of ministry that orients us toward leadership development to reach the masses. An apostle is one whom God sends. He or she has the ability to raise up preachers and teachers, evangelists and pastors. An apostle forms other apostles into leaders, and then, in turn, knows how to form leaders.”
What are we to make of such a statement? Catholics who say things like this, while constantly speaking of world changers, transforming cities and nations, etc., have been influenced by the NAR to such an extent that they are presenting a teaching about modern-day apostles that is incompatible with Catholic tradition.
