Hirsch blogs here under the title Apostolic Job Description.

I like Hirsch and the Shaping of things to come co-written with Frost was one of the books at the time that got me and a number of other people asking key questions around mission and ecclesiology.

Hirsch suggests in this post that there are 3 primary functions of apostolic ministry:

1. To embed mDNA through pioneering new ground for the gospel and church
2. To guard mDNA through the application and integration of apostolic theology
3. To create the environment in which the other ministries emerge

This implies that other ministries emerge from the apostolic, that it initiates other ministries. Without the release and encouragement of this, other parts of the body will suffer.

I had not really thought of this but as I think it seems to make a lot of sense, not in a hierarchal ‘this ministry is better than yours’ sense but in a practical sense that all ministries are equal with and appointed by God … but simply that somehow something has to happen first.

It’s grabbed my attention … any comments out there?