Читать книгу Reclaiming Prophecy - Darin Slack - Страница 4

Wherever you declare yourself along the spectrum of belief about prophetic ministry, I believe your curiosity in this title is not by chance.

And I realize the difficulty for leaders to corral such a powerful—and potentially scary—gift, but I also believe God still redeems what has been lost.

This book exists because many Christian leaders are discarding a critical grace gift to the church—prophecy. The volatile, divisive, and noxious fumes of past abuse and misuse still linger in the atmosphere of many churches. This has left many leaders with no choice but to deny or marginalize the gift.

Have you ever considered the possibility that the enemy has sought to minimize, abuse, and counterfeit this gift of prophecy above all the others because the Apostle Paul, writing by the Holy Spirit, singled it out for its potential to strengthen and edify the Church more than all the others?

When I shared this burden and early manuscript with my pastors, they encouraged me to move forward because while they had read books on prophecy, they had never read one like mine. In essence they said, “This book hasn’t been written, not in this way and not to us—to leaders.”

This is not about promoting an experience or “building brands.” It’s about understanding and embracing the inestimable value of having “ears to hear” what the Spirit is saying to the Church through the grace of a much maligned and misunderstood gift.

I’m not going to make a defense of the gift; that’s a well-traveled road by many excellent scholars. Nor am I going to sit in judgment on ministries claiming prophetic anointing. Instead, I’d like to offer a perspective. More specifically, a process.

With thirty years of submitted local church prophetic ministry and insight into the missteps and successes, I’ve distilled into five steps the milestones of the Holy Spirit’s faithful work in maturing this gift in me and in my local church. I will walk you through DIRECTION, DISTINCTION, DISCERNMENT, DISCIPLESHIP, and DEVELOPMENT to train those gifted in prophecy in your churches to serve the Body of Christ.

I hope to re-envision the hearts of leaders and laity alike for a gift that Paul declared should be foremost in our desires for the Holy Spirit’s manifestations.

Following the Apostle Paul’s Corinthian example of not calling for the eradication of prophecy because of error, abuse, and failure, I want to encourage, as he did, the priority of prophecy while offering a biblically sound, administratively practical point of view on its managed integration, operation, and growth in the local church.

It’s my prayer that this gospel-centered, God-focused content will be a catalyst to reclaim the gift of prophecy and the Holy Spirit’s purpose for it in your life and local church.

May it inspire a fresh discussion and demonstration of the unchanged command of the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 14:1 (emphasis added): “Pursue love, and earnestly desire spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.”

It’s my passion to see the glorious Church of Jesus Christ equipped and matured in this gift ministry and God’s immutable grace.

Darin Slack