Your Sons & Daughters Shall Prophesy - Prophetic Gifts Today In The New Testament Church

The Apostolic Church of Great Britain

He also writes: "The practice of allowing the office of prophet to be used for nominations to local offices, e.g., as elders, deacons and dea conesses, became widespread in the AFC. This raised the ire of many who, while having a Pentecostal experience and attending house meetings to maintain fellowship, vehemently opposed having a prophecy used in this way." 22 Since the 1940s the use of prophecy by the AFC for nominating local offices was gradually abandoned and these appointments were made by the apostleship. "Prophetical ministry through prophets often played an important role in arriving at a decision regarding a minister's location." 23 In August 1913 in the Bournemouth conference, Hutchinson was selected and put into office "through gifts of the Holy Ghost."24 He "was the first Pentecostal leader in Great Britain to allow the ministry of prophecy to guide the affairs of the church. It was this use of prophecy that became the incalculable factor that set the stage for him to play chess, perhaps unconsciously, with the national leadership closest to him."25 A new movement in the first flush of enthusiasm and miraculous man ifestation assumes that God will sovereignly overshadow and superintend everything. They may feel that "all we have to do is pray!" Alas, this has not proven to be so, and the AC gradually discovered that along with sen sitivity to spiritual manifestation must come a sanctified, critical, analyt ical use of wise minds. Certainly there is biblical evidence that ministries in the early Church were identified and sent forth by prophecy. 26 This charismatic dimension, however, is balanced with evaluation, such as in selecting deacons, 27 or in determining the character qualifications that must exist in an elder candidate. 28 Also, many leaders now realize that much of prophetic direction does more confirming than providing brand new, startling information.29 To the credit of the AC, their leadership gradually realized that prophecy was not necessary for every occasion. Yet the challenge remained: How to maintain Pentecostal fervor and manifestation without the excitement of the prophetic at every decision? 5. The appointment ofspecialized prophets to local, national or inter national spheres sets up an unnecessary tension between prophetic min istries. When the ministry of prophecy is legally categorized and assigned, there are two unfortunate ramifications. First, spontaneity of the Holy Spirit is greatly affected, even shutting the door on certain things the Spirit might wish to say at a given time through a given prophet-even if the time and place does not meet with human approval. Second, the prophets themselves, being human, are put into a position of comparison, favoritism or popularity, thereby allowing the church to consider some prophets of greater importance than others. 281.