Vision for Mission: Nurturing an Apostolic Heart

Session 1 Chips Off the Ol’ Block: The Apostolic Foundation for Missions

What is the meaning of “apostolicity”?

Why should we study the life of the apostles?

How can studying the apostles’ heart for the Lord and the Kingdom strengthen our resolve and provide us with a solid vision for the Great Commission? Thesis A vision for mission can be created and cultivated through a sharing of the apostolic consciousness, which comes from an intimate knowledge, experience, and understanding of the apostolic heart.

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I. Facts about the Apostles

The apostles were ordinary men who were called specifically by Christ to represent him in the world, to give witness to the revelation of the Son of God, and to give their lives on behalf of the Church, those believers living, dead, and yet unborn who make up the body of Christ (1 John 1.1-3; Acts 4.13). Gifted, filled with, and guided into the truth by the Holy Spirit (John 14.26; 15.26; 16.13), the apostles (also called “disciples”) endured persecution and resistance, and suffered death, im prisonment and abuse for the sake of Christ and the Gospel (Matt. 10.16-18; Luke 21.12; John 15.20; 16.2). Though they were hated by the world (John 15.18), they were not of the world (John 15.19; 17.16), and were ordained by Christ to bear fruit that would remain for God’s glory (John 15.16).

A. Were called by Christ himself, through God, in the Holy Spirit

1. Matthew 10.1

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