Apostolic Overview:
Identifying Missional Giftedness

Types of Apostolic Missionality Gifting

Those who have an apostolic gifting are designed to be Intrapreneurial Apostles and/or Entrepreneurial Apostles -- those pioneers who are gifted in starting new ministries & congregations.   Intrapreneurial Apostles begin new ministries, new missional teams, and new congregations by working within existing structures.  The Intrapreneurial Apostle effects change within a church, denominational or mission agency by taking an entrepreneurial approach to developing new ministries and strategies, often appearing to buck the status quo in the process.  Especially gifted in cultural awareness however, Intrapreneurial Apostles understand the organizational culture in which they minister and use this knowledge to help them serve as catalysts in developing new endeavors and gaining the internal support that is needed in order for the new efforts to take place.

Entrepreneurial Apostles begin new ministries, new missional teams, and new congregations by working outside existing structures.  Because of their cultural awareness, Entrepreneurial Apostles are particularly "in tune" with the cultural and socio-religious groups in their community.  Seeing needs and opportunities, the apostolic gifted person is compelled to undertake a new venture to meet those needs and to respond to those opportunities.  As a result the Entrapreneurial Apostle steps out into the unknown in order to implement new ministries, new methods, and begin new missional teams and new congregations from scratch.  The Apostle Paul refers to this gifting in Romans 15:20 when he writes:  "And thus I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, so that I would not build on another man's foundation." 

Dimensions of Apostolic Missionality Gifting In both cases, Intrapreneurial and Entrepreneurial Apostles combine their ability (1) to take calculated "risks" and (2) to live with a significant amount of ambiguity and uncertainty with  (3) their faith in the leadership and direction of the Holy Spirit.    Externally focused, those with the apostolic gift tend to be creative innovators who value adaptability and flexibility in their ministry.  They often focus on community ministries or other type endeavors where they can develop unique solutions to the problems others face.  In leadership these developers often create a pioneering culture where innovation and creativity are celebrated.  Because they value adaptability and uniqueness, those with the apostolic gift tend to emphasize the need for contextual approaches in their mission activities, especially those efforts focused on reaching specific sociocultural groups.

Summary of Apostolic Missionality Gifting Developers The Apostle (A) Gift has a primary apostolic gifted role.  This gift produces “Developers” who may believe they are called to start new approaches, ministries or new congregations/churches. To prepare for this type of ministry you will need to learn a lot about cultural groups in the community and the congregation in order to understand the sociocultural context of your missional calling.  You may need to develop new approaches or ministries that will aid your church in identifying each of the ethnic, lifestyle, lifestage, and socio-religious groups in your community that are currently not being reached and where those groups are located.  You may also need to develop new approaches to identifying and/or creating specific cultural bridges, places, periods of time, projects, ventures, and communication vehicles that will enable believers to build relationships and spiritually influence the cultural group you are trying to reach.  The strong desire you feel concerning the need to start new ministries or new congregations may need to be tempered with the need to bring others along in their understanding before needed change can be realized.  "Doing things new" becomes a theme that drives much of this person's orientation.   Variants of the Apostolic Gift The following APEPT gifted blends are variants of the Apostolic Gift:  Apostolic-Prophetic (APr) Gift Cluster Apostolic-Evangelistic (AE) Gift Cluster Apostolic-Pastoral (APa) Gift Cluster Apostolic-Teaching (AT) Gift Cluster