Of Ordinations and Apostolics

Ordinations are great occasions. They're celebrations of the gifts that Christ has given to His Church. They point us to God's grace and purpose and to Christ's Headship in the Church. And that means they're times to rejoice and be thankful as we celebrate together what God has done and what He will do.

On Saturday night we gathered together in Bradford for the ordination of an apostle. God has been doing good things in Bradford and it was exciting to see their pastor ordained as an apostle in the body of Christ. And it was great to join together in worship with people from all over the north of England.

In fact, it reminded me of some of the good things about being Apostolic:

1. Unity. It was good to see people from Derbyshire, Newcastle, Teeside and Sunderland, as well as from all over Yorkshire. There was a real sense of our unity in one body.
2. Grace. We may have come from all over for a man's ordination, but the focus throughout was on God's action. We exalted our God together as we worshipped, the new apostle's response pointed us to Christ, we heard God speak of His plans and purposes in the prophetic ministry, and the preacher pointed us to the grace of our Triune God and the majesty of His election and predestination.
3. Apostles and Prophets. Yes, we believe in them. We had powerful apostolic and prophetic ministry, and the joy of seeing a young man ordained to the apostleship.
4. Tea & Cake. Tea and cake are always good, and I'm sure there must be conducive to something spiritual. They do promote fellowship after all.