A New Wineskin

“New wine is never put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved” (Matthew 9:17).

Jesus gave this reply when He was asked why His disciples didn’t fast as the disciples of other teachers commonly did. His response indicates that a profound change was occurring, one that would need a whole new way of thinking about how to obtain righteousness with God. In essence He was saying to them, “You are still approaching God based on your merit, but I am introducing you to a whole new way of living in right relationship with God.” In other words, “The change I am bringing is so profound, you can't simply fit it into your current ways of understanding and doing things.”

Last week I sent a personal letter indicating that God is doing a new thing. Our local church, HRock, our international apostolic network, HIM, and our seminary and training center, WLI, are merging into Harvest Apostolic Center (HAC). Being an apostolic center is not a form of reorganization; it is a new wineskin, an entirely new way of being the Church and advancing God's Kingdom.

An apostolic center represents a new model of kingdom authority. It provides a new structure for advancing God's kingdom culture to every sphere of influence in society and to every nation. It carries a fresh vision of how the Church is delivering the gospel to a world that has become a global community. It does not replace the local church, but it does differ in several important ways.

Typically a local church focuses on growing the individual members of the church and providing outreach to the surrounding community. An apostolic center focuses on equipping, launching and empowering the church to fulfill its destiny of advancing God's Kingdom, even if it is outside the local community. The emphasis in the local church is on fellowship and personal ties between members, while the members of an apostolic center share a common vision for social transformation and their role in promoting it.

The local church conducts most, if not all of its activities within the cultural sphere of religion and instructs members how to support the church and its mission. The apostolic center targets all seven mountains of culture (media, arts and entertainment, family, government, business, religion, education). Apostolic centers equip members to fulfill their God-given destiny in all these areas.

The local church normally has people operating in the offices of pastor and teacher, and possibly evangelist. The apostolic center will have the five-fold ministry in full operation: apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers and evangelists. The apostolic center is led by an apostle, while the local church is led by a senior pastor or lead pastor. The local church is governed by a board of elders or the congregation (depending on how the church is structured). The apostolic center is guided by an apostolic council.

Apostolic centers are actually hubs for an apostolic network of churches that may cover a region, a nation or even the entire world. The network is relational, built on Spirit-led connections between apostolic leaders. In contrast, the local church is likely to be affiliated with a denominational network governed by legal and organizational boundaries. Some local churches are being called through a transformational process to become apostolic centers. Many local churches retain their call to continue as local churches.

Both apostolic centers and local churches are necessary to fulfill the Great Commission of Jesus to go into all the world and preach the gospel of God’s Kingdom.

Please join us this Sunday as we will have a special guest speaker, David Gyertson, Headmaster of Maranatha High School, share at the 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. services.