New Apostolic Churches in Greater Los Angeles: Renewal, mission, and growth

This study describes the dynamics involved in the emergence of New Apostolic Churches in light of shifts to an Apostolic Paradigm reflected in the concepts of church, mission, and growth.;A surface level reading of church history will let us see how the church has behaved throughout the centuries since its formation. However, just the reading will also bring questions about the different developments that took place within the church, such as in the case of Acts 15, problems about evangelizing and reaching the gentiles.;We also see how believers in the Early Church took the Great Commission so seriously, as well as who were the first missionaries, the People of God. Later in history, we see a change in the role of the church and the Empire. During this time there is also a change in the role of the clergy, the people of God, as well as a change in who were the missionaries.;Another important change we see in history is the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century. Once again, the role of the church changed as well as the role of the clergy and of the people of God. Of course changes took place, and in the last decade of the twentieth century another big change in the church occurred; a change that is still taking place which church leaders around the world are trying to understand.;The last two decades of the twentieth century saw the emergence of a different style of Christianity, one that responds better to the cultural changes of today's postmodern society. Changes taking place in the church are so revolutionary to consider that a second reformation is taking place. This reformation is a reformation of structures in order to have the proper channel to proclaim the message of the Gospel. This has produced a different style of churches that reflect the changes in the way Christianity is lived out. It is about the recent changes in the church that I want to devote this study.;As we read church history, we see different developments as a result of renewal movements in the church. These renewal periods which the church goes through, help clarify the vision and mission of the church, developing into revolutionary and cutting edge congregations whose main purpose is to live out, as close as possible, the New Testament pattern of being the church.