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Prophetic Ministry
Lack of vision and direction limits the modern church. Many Christians just go from fad to fad, with nothing followed through to completion. Many churches have to obtain a vision by copying other successful churches. The Bible says that without a vision the people will perish (Prov 29:18). A dearth of prophets has caused a lack of vision in the church.The church needs prophets to give a clear call to battle. It is currently losing the battle because it does not have a focused strategy. A great babble of voices all claim to have the truth and Christians are tossed around by every new wave that comes along. A clear prophetic voice is needed to prepare the church for victory.The most urgent need of the modern church is for the restoration of the prophetic ministry. In recent years, the gift of prophecy has been rediscovered, but there is still a desperate shortage of prophets. The church will not come to true maturity until prophets are being raised up among God’s people.The prophetic ministry is a fundamental aspect of the eldership. Without a prophet, a church will be weak in vision and at risk of sinfulness. The reason we have so many immature and weak churches is that prophets are missing from their leadership. Likewise, without an evangelist the church will not grow.The main reason that the prophetic ministry is not functioning in the modern church is that most churches are led by a pastor-leader, so most prophets have had to become pastors to find a place of ministry. This is not a solution, because the church operates best when elders are functioning in their true ministry and not trying to be something they are not.All of the ascension ministries of leadership are needed for a church to grow to maturity. The prophetic ministry must be part of the foundation of the church. Without a prophet, a church will be prone to sin. A strong church needs the righteousness that only comes when prophets are present. The modern church has millions of pastors, but only a few prophets. This serious imbalance has severely weakened the body of Christ.
159 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 3, 2012
18 people are currently reading
15 people want to read
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August 9, 2020
As someone who is affiliated with Reconstructionism, Theonomy, and Faith-for-all-of-Life Christianity, it's common to hear about prophetic preaching (bringing about covenant lawsuits against sins in the Church and culture). If you consider either some function or continuance of prophets/prophecy, then I would recommend this book to at least read and think over.
Now to get into the actual review.
One of the interesting things he argues, quite often at different points throughout the book, is that Church should at least have four Elders and that there should be one gifted with Pastoring, Teaching, Evangelist, and Prophet. The Pastor-Elder would be the one doing much of the 'soul care' (counseling), the Teacher-Elder would work towards the doctrinal orthodoxy of the local church, the Evangelist-Elder keeps the focus of the institution outward and avoids the error of insilur churches, and the Prophet-Elder would carry out the proclamation of the covenantal sanctions against sinning churches and nations, prepare the church for those coming judgments by leading them through hopeful and confident applications, and encourage the saints. He says much more on prophets, but this will suffice for now.
He also puts forward that everybody should have the gift of prophecy. Still, not all should be in the office of a prophet, that they can see angels and command them to carry out God's will because Christ gave us authority over the angels, and that prophets will help interpret out-of-the-ordinary dreams (often from many people and deliberating with other prophets in a church) and then come to an application or specific proclamation.
I agree with 62% of what he wrote, disagree with 38%. I agreed with more on my first read-through, disagreed with less, and was undecided on a bit. However, after reading the next book by the same author, I will review shortly, Kingdom Authority, it defined a lot of things left undefined.
Now to get into the actual review.
One of the interesting things he argues, quite often at different points throughout the book, is that Church should at least have four Elders and that there should be one gifted with Pastoring, Teaching, Evangelist, and Prophet. The Pastor-Elder would be the one doing much of the 'soul care' (counseling), the Teacher-Elder would work towards the doctrinal orthodoxy of the local church, the Evangelist-Elder keeps the focus of the institution outward and avoids the error of insilur churches, and the Prophet-Elder would carry out the proclamation of the covenantal sanctions against sinning churches and nations, prepare the church for those coming judgments by leading them through hopeful and confident applications, and encourage the saints. He says much more on prophets, but this will suffice for now.
He also puts forward that everybody should have the gift of prophecy. Still, not all should be in the office of a prophet, that they can see angels and command them to carry out God's will because Christ gave us authority over the angels, and that prophets will help interpret out-of-the-ordinary dreams (often from many people and deliberating with other prophets in a church) and then come to an application or specific proclamation.
I agree with 62% of what he wrote, disagree with 38%. I agreed with more on my first read-through, disagreed with less, and was undecided on a bit. However, after reading the next book by the same author, I will review shortly, Kingdom Authority, it defined a lot of things left undefined.
Displaying 1 of 1 review