Flippin Prophets

One of the striking things about Pauls letter to the church in Ephesus is that he twice mentions apostles and prophets. Firstly in chapter 2 and then in chapter 4 along with evangelists, pastors and teachers. The first mention has the apostles and prophets as the foundation of the house of God with Jesus as the corner stone. Over the years this verse has been used by churches as an incentive to invite apostles to visit their churches or have prophets speak at meetings. In some large churches they may even have had an apostle or prophet or both on staff. However, it is very rare to see a city with an apostle and prophet working together in harness as the foundation of the church, which is surely what Ephesians 2:20 implies.

On my trips to Bethel church in Redding, California I saw the biblical model working in one church. Bill Johnson the apostle and Kris Vallotton the prophet work as one unit giving the church its foundation. I am in no way suggesting that Bethel have a perfect model of church or of the ministry of apostle or prophet, but they have grasped the important fact that we need the apostle and prophet to be a team. One without the other is far less than half, even if half were in any way useful. Half a kettle doesn’t boil water!

Throughout most of my Christian life prophets, if accepted at all, have been men and women who have either been low key members of local churches who occasionally stand up and deliver a prophesy, or they have been more well known figures who travel around large churches and conferences and deliver prophesies or sermons on being prophetic. Some prophets have modelled themselves on the Old Testament style of “Thus sayeth the Lord” whilst others have accepted the Ephesians 4 description of being people who equip the church to be prophetic. Rarely (actually never) have I found apostles and prophets working together in the ekklesia in a city to bring about the kingdom of God.

Both the apostle and the prophet are ministries which look at the kingdom of heaven and bring it down to earth. The distinction between apostle and prophet seems to be that the apostle sees the big picture over a considerable period of time, like the Roman apostle seeing a pagan city and knowing where to start first to bring about a permanent culture change. Whilst the prophet gets the ‘now moment’ the word from God which causes an action or change at a precise point in the plan. It might be like the apostle being an architect of a building who sees what it must be like, whereas the prophet would be the project manager who knows when to bring on site a particular supply. One without the other doesn't get the building built. But what building are we talking about? An ekklesia for the city. 

Far too often apostles and prophets have been seen as trans-local ministries, probably because small churches can’t afford to pay the salaries of a large staff so they plump for the omni-talented pastor model. Whilst there’s northing in principle wrong with these ministries travelling to help other cities and take new ground, there is far more need in the 21st century to change the culture of a city and so for apostles and prophets to based in one place and bring about the Kingdom of God in that place.