New Testament Prophets (4) - Great Divide

We have a serious problem in Christchurch. We have just gone through a huge calamity, but Christians do not know what is going. They have been taught that life has meaning and purpose, so they expect their leaders to be able to explain the meaning of the earthquake.

The problem is that most church leaders ducked for cover when they earthquake struck and quoted the dean who said that the earthquake was not an act of God, but just the earth doing what the earth does. This explanation let them off the hook for explaining why God had allowed an earthquake, but if left people confused. The earth doing its thing argument was helpful for some of the pastoral problems, as leaders did not have to explain why some Christians were killed and injured. It was just bad luck. The people who died were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Another problem made this worse. In the September earthquake, when no one was killed and only a few injured, Christian leaders called it as a miracle. But when nearly two hundred people were killed in the February earthquake, there was no explanation of why we did get another miracle. Only silence.

The lack of credible Christian explanations left a huge void of unanswered questions. Where was God? Why did he warn some people, but not others? If we could some warn people, why could he not prevent people from being killed? If he knew in advance that the earthquake was coming, why could he not prevent it from happening. Or did he choose to let it happen anyway? These are hard questions, but Christians expect the leaders who bring a word from God each week to provide some answers.

Without a clear trumpet call, the people get confused. The silence of Christian leaders meant that their people were left to look to find their own answers. When the message is unclear, the people get muddled and grab what they can. The dreams and voices circulating in Christchurch came from the fringes of the church where people have gone for insight, but they produced only fear and confusion.

Why has this happened? Prophets are the people most like to get a revelation of God’s purposes and plans, but most pastors do not have relationship with a reliable prophet who can shed light on the current darkness. We have a huge divide between the prophetic and the pastoral in this city that prevents the church from functioning at full capacity.

Most churches are led by pastors who see intercessors and prophetic people as problem and not a blessing. The fiasco over 28 September has confirmed their belief that these people are a nuisance who will do more harm than good, if given too much freedom. Pastors prefer to limit the prophetic to personal words to encourage individual believers given in a church meeting where the process can be controlled.

This truncation of the prophetic role means that church leaders do not know how to handle a prophetic warning to a church, a city or a nation. When prophecy goes beyond the personal, they want to control the process. Some leaders have suggested that all words should be submitted to them for testing before they are released.

I think it is unfortunate the way the prophecy has been distributed. It would have been a lot more beneficial of bring it to some of the church leaders and for them to pray as to an appropriate response and its distribution.

I believe that such a word should have been submitted to significant, recognised, godly leaders in the city.

Yet, the same leaders say that they tend to ignore most of the prophecies given to them, because they are rubbish. That might be true, but it is hard to see how the prophetic role can emerge when the process is controlled by people who are ambivalent about prophecy.

The other side of this problem is that people with a prophetic calling have mostly been squeezed out of the centre of church life and tend to live on the fringes where the battle is tougher and isolation leaves them vulnerable to deception. Many have experienced rejection, leaving a residue of frustration and bitterness. When prophetic people gather together without a pastoral influence, they tend to become hard and judgmental, which tinges their words with a harshness which grates on the pastors. This isolation and neglect leaves the church without a clear prophetic voice.

The biblical model for the leadership of the church is diversity of ministries submitted to each other. When evangelists gain control a church becomes a revolving door. When prophets gain control, the church skinks to a rigid righteous remnant. When pastors gain control, the church become soft and flabby. A healthy church needs each of these ministries operating in unity, by submitting to each other in love.

In the current tragedy in Christchurch, the church needed a clear trumpet call. Because the prophets are largely missing from the church, it got clatter and confusion. Every church needs both pastors and prophets to function effectively (see Pastors and Prophets). Until the prophetic role is integrated into the church, and the pastors and prophets come to unity, through submission to each other, confusions will continue to occur.

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