Moving in the Apostolic

The Restoration of Apostolic Ministry

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being discussed around the world. Some are rejecting it altogether, but many are embracing it and beginning to walk in it. It is something fresh. It is the new thing that God is doing. I have emphasized the words restore and years in Joel's prophecy. Not only is God restoring apostolic ministry to the Church, but He is also restoring the years that were lost during the relative absence of this important office. In other words, the harvest of souls that was lost during these years will be reaped in our lifetime. We will see multitudes swept into the kingdom as a result of this end-times move of the Holy Spirit. But this is a people robbed and plundered; all of them are snared in holes, and they are hidden in prison houses; they are for prey, and no one delivers; for plunder, and no one says, "Restore!" (Isa. 42:22). The Church is now crying out for the restoration of authentic apostolic ministry. We are praying for restoration and declaring it prophetically. God's people are coming out of the holes and prison houses. A new liberty is coming to the Church. A new freedom in ministry is being released through the restoration of apostolic ministry. Restoration is necessary because of the "departure" (i.e., gradual decline) of authentic apostolic ministry after the death of the early apostles. Paul warned the Church of what would happen when he departed. A picture of what happens when apostolic ministry is no longer present, this prophecy came to pass after the death of the early apostles. For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves (Acts 20:29,30). As early as the second and third centuries, the Church drifted into ceremonialism and tradition. False teaching almost drowned out the truth. Eventually the Church entered the period called the Middle Ages, a time in which the institutional Church gained immense social and political power, but often departed significantly from true apostolic practice and teaching. Later, the