Modern-Day Apostles

In my last post, I put forth a bit of revival history, unpacking the contributions of the Latter Rain Movement as a movement within Classical Pentecostalism. One of the positions of the Latter Rain Movement held that God was restoring the gifts of apostles and prophets to the body of Christ, as foundational roles in the church. Now, this position on the present-day ministry of apostles and prophets caused quite a stir in the Classical Pentecostal world; however, in many ways, the movement was a continuation of the impulse of restoration that birthed the Pentecostal movement in the first place. Many Classical Pentecostal denominations have, in many ways, rightly taken a cautionary posture against present-day apostles. Much of this is rightly related to the improper authority some have claimed in their assumption of the apostolic office. Still, one needs to ask whether or not the gift of the apostle continues in the church today. Notice what Paul wrote:

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.  Ephesians 4:11-14 (ESV)

​Let me ask you a question: Has the church reached the unity of the faith, mature manhood in Christ, and full doctrinal stability? I would hope that anyone with a cursory knowledge of the Christian world would understand that we certainly have not. That would seem to indicate that all five ministry gifts are still needed for the overall health and growth of the church. 

Why Not Apostles?

So why do so many in Christendom have a problem with present-day apostles? Many point back, rightly, to Acts 1, where Peter led the early church in filling the apostolic office of Judas, who betrayed Christ. As he laid out the requirements for Judas’ replacement, Peter said this: 

Acts 1:21–22 (ESV)
So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.”

In order to be the replacement, Peter said the person must have accompanied the disciples for the three years that they walked with Jesus after His baptism and witnessed His resurrection. Based on this text, many argue that there cannot be present-day apostles, for clearly, there’s no one who could meet those requirements today. 
Obviously, there’s no one alive today who walked with Jesus during His earthly life and witnessed His resurrection. So if we are purely looking at this text as our definition of apostleship, then no, there’s no one alive fulfilling Peter’s requirements. But one thing to note is that there are a number of other individuals described as apostles in the New Testament. 

The Other APostles

​Beginning in Acts, we find that Luke and the other authors of the New Testament identify a number of individuals as apostles: Barnabas (Acts 14:14), Andronicus and Junia (Romans 16:7), and James (Galatians 1:19). Beyond this, there’s a translation issue that obscures others. The underlying Greek term apostolos appears in the New Testament 79 times. 74 of the 79 times it is translated, apostle. But three times it is translated as messenger. Paul speaks twice, speaking of “messengers of the churches” (2 Corinthians 8:23) or apostles of the churches, and identifies Epaphroditus as an apostle (Philippians 2:25). So there seems to be a gift of apostleship that extends beyond the 12 apostles who walked with Christ. As David Devenish clarifies, 

​The fact that the church had to be on the lookout for false apostles would not have been an issue if the apostolate was restricted to the twelve and Paul. [1]

​Dave Harvey has probably put it best when he distinguishes between Big-A and Little-a apostleship.[2] While there were the 12 Apostles of Christ who walked with Him during His life here on earth and witnessed His resurrection, there were other apostles, gifts of the ascended Christ to His church (Ephesians 4:11), who did apostolic ministry in and among the early churches. Harvey also recognizes the unique place of Paul, who was not among the 12 chosen by Jesus, yet also ministered with an authority seemingly unrepeatable today.[3]

A Vital, PResent Ministry

So, how then do we define present-day apostles? “Commissioned by the ascended Christ and armed with the gospel, present-day apostles plant and build local churches for the glory of God.”[4] Harvey further defines the apostolic role as mobile, purposeful, and relational. Apostles travel to new areas, breaking ground and building relationships with the gospel. Think of what Paul did, traveling the Roman world, planting and strengthening churches. He was also relational, relating to churches as a father in the gospel, to men like Timothy as sons in the gospel. They not only planted local churches, establishing them on gospel foundations and maintaining theological integrity. 

David Devenish summarizes apostolic ministry this way: 

• Bring understanding of revelation concerning the overall purposes of God in the earth (Rom. 16:25).
• Lay a foundation in churches (Eph. 2:20). Appoint team leadership in churches (Titus 1:5).
• Become like fathers to the churches and to the leaders of those churches (Phil. 2:22; Titus 1:4).
• Ensure ongoing care for churches (1 Tim. 1:3-5).
• Involve the churches they serve in the wider mission to the unreached regions of the world (2 Cor. 10:15-16).
  
• Bring contextualized wisdom (1 Cor. 10:23-11:1).
• Have a Kingdom mentality (Rom. 16:26).
• Are very concerned for the poor (Gal. 2:10).
• Are concerned for the unity as well as the maturity of the church (Eph. 4:3; Col. 3:14).
• Are to function in team (Acts 12:1-3; 2 Cor. 2:12-13).[5]​

​The apostle is, in many ways, the pastor of the pastors. And, for the most part, present-day apostles work in teams. 
​

"Team ministry begins at the apostolic level. Paul and other apostolically gifted men mutually relied on and were committed to one another. And Paul, like other apostles, had leaders who traveled with and served alongside him. Such fraternity and accountability is a key safeguard in keeping a New Testament apostleship from becoming authoritarian or succumbing to error.”[6]

I believe in present-day apostles, planting and building local churches for the glory of God. We need these men and women today. I would argue that apostles today do not share the same authority as the 12, nor that they would even be on the level with the Apostle Paul. Yet, the ascended Christ has given the gift of the apostle to today’s church for the planting and building of strong local churches by a translocal ministry of relational care and missional vision. As noted in the last article, the Latter Rain Movement reawakened an awareness of apostolic and prophetic ministry within Classical Pentecostalism, and I believe modern-day families of churches like Sovereign Grace Churches, Newfrontiers, LifeLinks, and others demonstrate a modern approach to relational, apostolic mission and connection. I pray that healthy, apostolic ministry might be reawakened in Classical Pentecostalism today.
​
For Books on present-day apostolic ministry, please check out the following:
David Devenish. Fathering Leaders, Motivating Mission: The Role of the Apostle in Today’s Church. Milton Keynes: Authentic Media, 2011.

Joseph Girdler and Carolyn Tennent. Keys to the Apostolic and Prophetic. Crestwood, KY: Meadow Stream Publishing, 2019.

​David Cartledge. Apostolic Revolution. Sydney: Paraclete Institute, 2000.
 
 

[1]David Devenish, “Are There Apostles Today?,” Adrian Warnock on Pathos, available from:  https://www.patheos.com/blogs/adrianwarnock/2011/06/are-there-apostles-today-a-series-by-dave-devenish/; accessed 8 March 2026.
[2]Dave Harvey, Missiology: Entering the Field of the Lord (Gaithersburg, MD: Sovereign Grace Ministries, 2006), 19.  
[3]Ibid., 20.
[4]Ibid.  
[5]"The Role of the Apostolic and Ephesians 4 Gifts in Advance," Advance, available from: https://resources.advancemovement.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Role-of-the-Apostolic-and-Ephesians-4-Gifts-in-Advance.pdf; accessed 8 March 2026.
[6]Harvey, 24.