APOSTOLIC FATHERING

An Article by John Thuringer in Arise Magazine (Summer, 2000) describes David Cannistraci’s ministry and his views on the current Apostolic Movement.

If anyone has experienced the fruit of apostolic fathering, David Cannistraci certainly has. For twenty-five years, he has practiced the art of being a spiritual son. Today, Cannistraci is the pastor of GateWay City Church (formerly Evangel Christian Fellowship) the same church he received Christ through earlier in his life.

"My uncle is Emanuele Cannistraci, a tremendous prophet of the Lord over the past fifty-two years who functions with a strong apostolic ministry," Cannistraci explains. "Over the years I have been trained by him in our local church as a minister."

Although he was raised in a Christian home, he did not make a strong commitment to Christ until he was fourteen. It was during the Jesus Movement that he had a real power encounter with the Holy Spirit and immediately wanted to be used in ministry. Four years after this experience, he enrolled in Bible school and later went on to earn both a Master's degree and doctorate.

"I began when I was nineteen as an all around helper in the church office," recalls Cannistraci. "Later I got into radio and television production on behalf of the church and started leading cell groups. As the cell groups started multiplying rather rapidly, the elders discerned a call on my life. I was then ordained and began to preach and teach."

Cannistraci continued to faithfully serve in his local church from 1979 until 1987. It was at this point that he had a profound experience with God who was calling he and his wife, Kathy, along with their two sons, to go to the Philippines as missionaries.

"We made a one year commitment, but really believed we would spend the rest of our lives there," Cannistraci remembers. "The harvest was so ripe there, the ease of evangelism was such a dynamic attraction to us."

However, it wasn't long after they arrived that their home church called, saying that they wanted Cannistraci to return and co-pastor the church with his uncle.

"After the healing crusades and church planting in the Philippines, it was kind of a culture shock for me to come back to the U.S.," says Cannistraci.

"But we really thought it was the Lord calling us, so we returned to build the church up and establish new ministries. Since returning in 1989, we have also planted four other churches as well."

Although there is a great deal more discussion about apostles today than there has been previously, Cannistraci says that growing up in the kind of church that he did, apostles and prophets are all he has ever known.

"Our church from its inception was apostolic and prophetic," he explains.

"As long as I could remember, we were involved with planting churches. The great privilege of my life has not been to study this topic, but experience it as a son. To be raised up within the context of loving and confronting relationships is a tremendous thing. I am the product of fathering much more than I am a product of my education."

Cannistraci's first book, "Apostles and the Emerging Apostolic Movement" (Regal, 1996), has received wide acclaim internationally, and was the first major work available on apostolic ministry. It has since been translated into several foreign languages.

"Apostles are those that are called and supernaturally empowered by Christ to go into the world with Divine authority to win and establish the lost in Kingdom order and truth, especially through the planting of new churches," says Cannistraci. "They have the heart of fathers. They are progenitors, like the patriarchs of the Old Testament. They are those who have inherited Abraham's call, the original apostolic figure in Scripture. Abraham went forth from his homeland to a place where God called Him to establish a family that would bless the nations of the earth. Apostles are fruitful men who raise up a family of churches to release believers into the earth to populate the kingdom of God."

Cannistraci sees apostles as equippers, training and nurturing the body of Christ to be apostolic, much like an evangelist causes the Church to be evangelistic.

"For years we have called apostles missionaries. But the thing that this term has often left out is the dynamic concept of raising up an apostolic people who are fully activated saints, mobilized for the work of the Great Commission," Cannistraci explains.

"As well as being fathers, with a nurturing, loving and reproductive side, I would also see them as generals in an army," he continues. "They have tremendous, broad powers of authority and are able to influence and mobilize people for specific Kingdom goals."

Cannistraci doesn't think you have to be famous to be an apostle. In fact, he thinks that most of the great apostles in the earth are unknown, quietly doing their job in the backwoods of Africa, China, and Latin America.

"I was just in Guatemala a few weeks ago and sat in a very humble office with a man who oversees eight hundred churches," relates Cannistraci. "He's a beautiful man, but no one has ever heard of him."

In addition, he sees apostles as reformers, calling the church to the standard of God and bringing correction when people get off track.

"We see Paul the apostle correcting the church and bringing reformation," Cannistraci says. "A lot of guys today are calling themselves apostles, it seems to be the designer label of the day. But when I think of apostles, I think of those that are truly expanding the boundaries of the Kingdom, growing it and making it larger. In this sense, men like Luther and Wesley were apostolic because they brought reformation."

There are a number of characteristics of false apostles that Cannistraci thinks are worth noting because so many people are getting caught up in what he describes as "apostolic fever." The first and foremost thing he believes everyone should understand is that a true apostle is one who has been transformed by Christ from the inside out.

"What makes an apostle false is that he lacks the true, internal transformation that is required to be an apostle," explains Cannistraci. "He may have a dynamic personality, he may be an influencer, or he may be famous, but ultimately he is masquerading because he is not a man changed by God."

He also points out that false apostles are characterized by methods that lack integrity or apostolic precedence. He cites things like secrecy, manipulation, flattery, pet doctrines, or attempts to isolate themselves from the rest of the body of Christ.

"Third, I think false apostles teach things that are not based on truth and pervert the gospel," Cannistraci adds. "We should make sure that we only follow those who are in relationship with others, who have a place of submission in their own lives and are recognized by others around them as apostles. If he's the only guy saying he is an apostle, that's a red light."

Because the command of the Lord to disciple the nations is an enormous task, he also believes that it calls for a great change. Among the changes is a shift from control-based relationships to empowering relationships, those that release the work of God as it is seen in the New Testament.

"Denominations have each been guilty of their own unique sin. But one common sin for many has been a hierarchical control which has worked against them," says Cannistraci. "God is emphasizing relationship, spiritual family, not denominational function. I am not against denominations, in fact I have written about the gift they can be when they are created by God. However, there has been this fear in the heart of ministers that they could lose their license or their church if they do the wrong thing."

"On the other hand, you have these tremendous new churches which play by an entirely new set of rules," Cannistraci continues. "They are liberated. Their government is simple and non-confining, providing good accountability without limiting the vision of the senior pastor in terms of fulfilling the Great Commission. These congregations are flowing with enthusiasm, financial blessing, and a readiness to take the gospel to the lost."

In so far as a denomination can facilitate relationship, Cannistraci sees it as a good thing. But the moment it begins to block relationship and stifle apostolic initiative-the ability to create and do new things without running it through a bureaucracy-it becomes a hindrance.

"Another picture of an apostle is that of a pioneer, a spiritual innovator, one who is willing to try new things and be creative," says Cannistraci. "I believe we are moving away from the wineskin of religious tradition to spiritual innovation."

When it comes to the topic of apostolic fathers networking together, Cannistraci sees a tremendous trend towards apostles realizing their need for one another.

"Essentially, the body of Christ is a network of networks. We really aren't talking about anything new here," he explains. "It's clans and tribes and families coming together as one nation. It's very common to bump into these apostolic networks which have been developing over the last ten years, many of which are older than that. When people come together, the spirit of selfishness and pride is broken and a brand new dimension of anointing can be released. However, we can't build the body of Christ, Jesus is doing that. All we can do is recognize each other, meet each other, and love each other as long lost relatives who are already family. We must be careful not to organize the life right out of everything, which is a typical thing for us to do. I'm all for formal networks of networks, but there is a tremendous humility that we need to practice in this regard. We must recognize that there will be many such networks and no single one has been appointed to unite the entire church in North America or wherever."

When it comes to apostolic ministry and its operation within a city, Cannistraci believes that God will raise up multiple clusters of pastors who love one another. Then, from these groups, a body of representatives will pull everything together for the city. However, he doesn't see that starting with a central decision to get all pastors into one fellowship.

"I think it starts organically with pastors connecting with other pastors in small groups," says Cannistraci. "I believe it is a Kingdom pattern for taking cities. The new wine is found in the clusters. When you have the clusters coming together, you have this enormous force in the city built on love rather than a political or ecumenical agenda. I have great affection for all city-reaching efforts, but for me, the key is when pastors actually like each other and will fight for one another. Once this happens, the devil will never be able to hold a city shut."

The bottom line is that the paradigm of family is foundational to Cannistraci when it comes to things apostolic. He feels that, especially in the West, we are prone to reducing everything to a series of steps that we try to activate without relationship-but God has always been about establishing families.

"In all of this talk about the apostolic ministry which is wonderful, my concern is that we can't forget the heart of this thing," Cannistraci concludes. "It is really for the glory of Jesus, through the power of the Spirit, in the love of God, within the context of family."