03/10/2021
About the Apostolic Season:
The Apostolic Season is the name ascribed to the arrival of a new season (kairos) in the advancement of the Kingdom of God in the earth. In different church circles this kairos is named Apostolic Reformation, the New Apostolic Reformation and the Apostolic‐Prophetic Movement. All of these names are generic references seeking to capture and communicate the fundamentals of what God is presently doing in the Church of Jesus Christ.
Evidently, the Apostolic Season propagates the view that these are not only the last days but also the last ‘kairos’. An epoch whereby certain things prophesied by the prophets of old must come to pass. It is asserted that there will be no return and reconciliation of Christ to and with His Church (body) unless all things (which have be ruined or lost in the fall of humankind) have been reconstituted, restored and reformed (Acts 3:19ff). Hence, there is great emphasis on the church exercising its authority as the royal priesthood in the earth. Behind this backdrop, one can understand why the Apostolic Season preaches that the Gospel of the Kingdom of God being first preached as a witness to all nations before the end of the age will come (Mt. 24:14).
Further, the Apostolic Season asserts that the end will only come when the corporate Son, the body of Jesus Christ, located in the earth has reached maturity (teleios) or Son‐ship. Put another way, the church in the earth is to be built up or brought into the fullness of the image of Christ, the pattern Son, in the earth (Ephesians 4:11ff; Romans 8:29). In this respect, proponents of the Apostolic Season maintain that there will not be a return of Christ until the Corporate Son (the Church) reigns as the ‘exact representative’ (apostolos, shaliah) in the earth bringing all the enemies of Christ Jesus under His feet (Hebrews 10:13ff).
Therefore, a characteristic feature of the Apostolic Season is the restoration of the fivefold ministry (apostles, prophets, evangelist, pastors and teachers) to its rightful function in skilfully building up the Body of Christ (Church) (Ephesians 4:11). These are technicians of grace endowed with the spiritual skills to accurately build up the Church in becoming the exact image and representation of Christ in the earth. The passion of five‐fold ministry (apostles, prophets, evangelist, teachers and pastors) is to build a corporate ‘man’ in the earth that will exactly represent (shaliah) and manifest (phainero) the invisible image of God to all of creation in both the visible and invisible Kingdoms of our God and Father.
It must however be emphasised that these (five‐fold ministries) are technicians and not the governmental or hierarchical structure of the Church. God sovereignly endows individuals to be carriers of grace to His Body. These are like bees carrying pollen to the beehive. They are not the governmental or apostolic structure of the church but are divinely sent to restore the original intent of the Godhead.
One may therefore ask, what is the divine intent for the Church? In my opinion, the church is the family (Son) of God modelled on the relational culture and protocol found in the Godhead (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). The structure of the Family is organised into smaller dwelling units called ‘house’ or ‘households of faith’. In the governmental structure of these households there are appointed elders (carriers of paternal/maternal grace) whose mandate is to raise children (‘sons’). Examples of the organic structure of the Family of God may be case studied in the OT. The scriptures are replete with detailed genealogies that carefully set out the structure of the nation of Israel that is made up of twelve tribes. Each tribe comprises of multiple clans or family groupings. When all these family units are assembled we have the divine design of the Family of God spread out among the nations.
