Old Wine in New Wineskins: A Preliminary Study on the New Apostolic Reformation Movement and the Challenge of Complexity Leadership

Old Wine in New Wineskins: A Preliminary Study on the New Apostolic Movement and the Challenge of Complexity Leadership

Hio-kee OOI

The purpose of this article is to point out the emergence of the New Apostolic Reformation/Movement, and to give a brief introduction to its several characteristics and its advocates. The article points to some evidences to prove the inner connection of its teachings to the hundred -year old Pentecostal and charismatic movement; namely the restoration theory, the Latter Rain Movement, and the Third Wave Charismatic Movement. It then postulates the thesis of this article, that is the New Apostolic Movement's biggest impact on contemporary churches does not come about through its theological deviance (if there is any), but through the paradigm shift in leadership models from linear to nonlinear, from top-down-hierarchical to bottom-up-informal emergent, from denominational to networking. Therefore, in terms of theology, the New Apostolic Movement is filling itself with the old wine of Pentecostal/Charismatic teaching, but in terms of its form, it is a new wineskin, which is fully adapting to a postmodern, e-formational, networking society. The discourse of this article will be largely a delineation of the new apostolic phenomenon and its network, a search for its historical roots, and a proposal of an alternative interpretation other than the theological.