A distinction must be made between ministerial authority and the ministerial mandate. In the ministerial mandate ministers are given the right and responsibility to fulfil their tasks in the ministerial authority they have received, within a framework that is limited in terms of both duration and location.

The ministerial mandate ends when the minister moves outside the area for which his or her mandate applies, when he or she retires, after the Apostle accepts his or her resignation, when the minister is dismissed from his or her ministry, or dies.