The prophet's handbook

prophetic education apart from the pastor’s auspices were not damaging enough, the prophet shunned significant service in the church. He avoided prayer, never established a serviceable prophetic institute, and failed to identify and participate in grooming emerging prophets in the church. Those who were acknowledged were wooed away from the pastor’s influence. There was nothing but chaos in the church, as a prophetic void was created by the prophet’s disobedience. That disobedience released its seeds to flourish throughout the body and contaminated the faith of many of its members. On the Positive Side Of course, there are always two sides to every conflict, and the above is no exception. On too many occasions, prophets are suffocated in their churches by overprotective pastors who mean well but nonetheless sacrifice their prophetics to protect their flock. This happens regularly, often before the prophet has an opportunity to disrupt or subvert the work at all. Reacting to far too many horror stories and very little knowledge, normally tender and open-minded pastors can unintentionally slaughter a beginning prophet out of fear and overlook more positive options. One positive option is to nurture young prophets and seek to establish the bounds of their ministries and establish prudent service parameters for your church. Require your prophets in the church to complete training, probationary trial, apprenticeship, mentoring, and the like before you trust them to serve in your church. Test the prophets’ intentions by assigning them an important yet non-critical sphere of the ministry to manage and cultivate prophetically— perhaps the youngsters, new converts, or new members, if they have been with you long enough. If novices remain within the confines of the agreement, then you can increase their reach in the body and the weight of their responsibility. This process should take two to three years if the prophet is new. If the novices complete the process, you can move forward or identify a quality prophetic education program to which to refer them. Also, pastors, you do not have to wait two or three years for their formal education and training to commence. The two processes—your testing and their development—can go together. Seeking the wisdom of other pastors who have successfully melded the prophetic in their churches is a good way to handle yours. Turning to reputable and seasoned itinerant prophets is yet another positive step. Besides following these suggestions, discuss your concerns honestly and objectively with the budding prophets in your church to elicit sound advice on how the office may be