Toward a Twenty-First Century Biblical, Apostolic Church

A Critique of the New Apostolic Reformation Church in North America

SuYeon Yoon

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9781532651793
  9781532651809
• eBook ISBN:
  9781532651816
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Denominations

This book explores biblical values that critique the ecclesiology of the New Apostolic Reformation Church (NARC) and compares the ecclesiology to other missional movements in the North American context. A biblical exegesis of Ephesians 4:11-13 as well as C. Peter Wagner's conceptualization of an apostle and apostolic ministry allow the author to demonstrate the gap between the biblical perspective and Wagner's concept of an apostle. The biblical role of an apostle is to make the church missional by emphasizing the concept of sending, whereas Wagner sees the apostle as a church leader. Based upon interviews and participant observation in three NARCs, SuYeon Yoon describes the leadership and ecclesiology based on their own self-descriptions. This book then demonstrates the gap between the biblical and conceptual ideals and the reality of ecclesial practice. The author argues that the NARC serves as a charismatic manifestation of a similar cultural response to establish a relational structure for church communities that can appropriately reflect upon and identify with the contemporary context. This implies that each movement needs to be biblically sound, faithful to its conceptualization, and relevant to the context in order to cultivate its own way of being the church.

Part I

Biblical Overview of Apostleship and Its Ministry

Part I formulates a biblical reference from which to critique the NARC in general and the case studies of Part II in particular. Here, I survey a biblical understanding of apostle and biblical ecclesiology as the criteria for a more in-depth critique of the NARC.

Chapter 1

The Understanding of Biblical Apostle and Biblical Ecclesiology

In this Chapter, I discuss the definition of being ‘sent’ and its usage in relation to an apostolic mission. There are two different parts to this discussion; the Understanding of Apostleship in the New Testament, and the Biblical Ecclesiology in the New Testament Church. Note should be taken that my intention in this chapter is not to discuss apostolicity in relation to the Catholic notion of apostolic succession from the Apostle Peter through an unbroken line of bishops, nor the pre-reformation and Protestant tradition.

Understanding of Apostleship in the New Testament

I briefly survey the definition of apostleship by reviewing the origins of the apostle-viewpoint and how the apostle was perceived in the New Testament. The first part of this discussion, the origin of the apostle-viewpoint, is found in three different places: In the Old Testament (OT) and rabbinic Judaism, in secular Greek, and in Gnosticism. The second part of the discussion, the perspective of apostle in the New Testament, includes: The Twelve, a Synoptic understanding of apostleship, a Pauline understanding of apostleship including exegesis of the Pauline biblical texts, and looking at Jesus as an apostle. Finally, I create a table for critique framework for an apostle summarizing a discussion of the understanding of apostleship in the New Testament (NT).

Origin of the NT Apostle-concept

In this part, I discuss the origin of the apostle-viewpoint in chronological sequence from the OT and rabbinic Judaism, NT Greek context, and in Gnosticism.

From Old Testament and Rabbinic Judaism

Similar to the classical literature usage of apostolos, the apostle-viewpoint in the NT has its origin in the usage of the term apostle as “a figure of late rabbinic Judaism [designated as] saliah, sent man.”1 The apostle-viewpoint, saliah, is summarized as saliah-convention in the rabbinic period. The viewpoint of this saliah-convention is, however, secular and legal. The significant evidence shows a link between “the verbal use of the root saliah,” and “the use of apostellein.”2

Even though J. B. Lightfoot3 was the first to draw the relationship between the NT apostle and saliah, according to Francis H. Agnew, K. H. Rengstorf brought an in-depth understanding by clarifying the saliah as the “sending-convention” in relation to the NT Apostolos.4 To confirm Rengstorf’s claim, the Talmud describes saliah as a commissioned agent, or one sent to act in the name of another.5 Repeating Agnew’s view of the sending-convention in the rabbinic Judaism, J. Andrew Kirk also brought attention to the term shaliah as an ambassador and the pre-Christian Jewish representative.6 This saliah-sending-convention is significant for the Christian apostolate in terms of distinguishing the sender and the sent.

Agnew carefully points out that the context of “sender and sent” lies in a legal convention, not a religious convention.7 Because this saliah-convention is a legal one, the sender refers to a human sender, meaning that it is hard to ascribe God as a sender in this legal convention.8 In addition to Agnew’s reservation, Kirk rejected and criticized the work of Rengstorf and others who conceptualized “saliah-sending-convention,” noting that it is “lacking both in concrete evidence and in intrinsic probability.”9 Regardless of lack of evidence, lack of intrinsic probability, and little connection with religious convention, a strong link was made by Rengstorf between the saliah-figures and the Christian apostle by tracing the roots to the saliah-convention in the OT and Rab...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgments
• List of Abbreviations
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Part I: Biblical Overview of Apostleship and Its Ministry
• Part II: Case Studies
• Part III: Moving toward a Biblical Church in North American Context with a Broader Perspective
• Recommendations
• Appendix A: An Inquiry About “Apostolic Church Case Study”
• Appendix B: Case Study Cite: A Letter From C. Peter Wagner
• Appendix C: Record of Data for Semi-Structured Interviews
• Appendix D: Interview Questionnaire for Manna Church
• Appendix E: Interview Questionnaire for Michael Fletcher of Manna Church
• Appendix F: Interview with Mel Mullen
• Appendix G: Interview with Word of Life Church
• Appendix H: Interview with Rice Broocks
• Appendix I: Interview Questionnaire for Bethel World Outreach Center
• Appendix J: Interview Assessment
• Bibliography