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

The Use of Prophecy in Church Today

ing about spiritual manifestations, and it seemed to me that we needed to use a microphone for prophecies so everyone could hear clearly. Also, I thought, this would enable us to have better sound quality. I was unprepared for the negative reaction. To my amazement, when we asked people to come forward to the mike and be recognized from the platform, some felt that such supervision was a spiritual insult. If God wants a person to minister, they thought, why should man have to give his approval? (I should have done a better job explaining things!) Then we bought seventeen acres of land and began construction. We had to sell the former Mennonite property to help raise funds, so we needed temporary housing for the congregation. A Lutheran church was made available to us on Sunday afternoons. We planned to be in this loca tion only about six months, but due to construction complications we ended up being there for three years. Everything about this sanctuary was different and challenging, but we had nowhere else to go, so we made do. The acoustics were ideal for the pipe organ in the rear loft (the ceiling was eighty feet high) but, as the Lutheran pastor had explained, terrible for speaking. We faced some imme diate decisions. Where do we put our choir? The orchestra? The piano? We had two encircling pulpits that restricted my movements, and an immovable marble Communion table. The Lutheran prayer altar was raised up one step from the floor, so that people knelt on the step-an approach that severely tested the patience of those accustomed to thirty minutes of prayer directly on the floor before every service. It even seemed that the elements of nature were against us! The sun streamed in through the huge stained glass window (remember, it was Sunday afternoon), and many people used their bulletins to shield their eyes during the sermon an uninspiring sight for a preacher! We adjusted gradually, but the high ceiling and poor acoustics cre ated a challenging problem for both worship and spiritual manifesta tions. What had happened to our praise? We were accustomed to fer vent praise and worship with the sound enveloping the congregation. But in this new sanctuary the sound went up and up and up-and never came back down! 1 People would stand to prophesy, and only those close by could hear them. It was a blessing in disguise, however, because this time the idea of microphones for prophecy and exhortation was found acceptable and we were enabled to give better spiritual oversight, as well as hear clearly. The manifestation of spiritual gifts in our churches happens best if rea sonable guidelines exist and everyone cooperates to see it happen. The les sons our church learned in the Lutheran sanctuary helped us develop prin ciples and guidelines that are appropriate for congregations large and small. 354