Apostolic-Prophetic Movement

The Apostolic-Prophetic Movement in millennial-era Charismatic Christianity is seen by its participants as a restoration of the neglected elements of the Five-Fold Ministry described in the New Testament book of Ephesians, "some apostles, and some prophets; and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers; for the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ". This movement is rooted in the Third Wave Charismatic or Pentecostal experience.

This movement is Primitivist, in that it defers more to the authority of original documents and doctrines than to the later developments and elaborations transmitted by the authorities of the Catholic and Orthodox churches. It may also be associated with primitivism in as much as outsiders interpret prophetic interpretation. Prophecy has been a part of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christian practice and more notably during times of revival in the Body of Christ. That world-wide, not merely a local phenomenon of the United States, as witness for example the Kimbanguist Church in Belgian Congo which began with vigor in the 1920s and flourished through 40 years of rigorous, often violent, suppression by the colonial rulers. But in the U.S., the practice gained new impetus in the 1990s, taking on the form of a distinct movement of the Spirit. A notable early forerunner of this movement is David Wilkerson whose book The Vision which made dramatic and incredible predictions in the 1970s which arguably have been borne out, as well as subsequent books such as America's Last Call, and Set the Trumpet to Your Mouth have defined prophecy for a large audience, although he eschews the title of Prophet, for which he does not believe himself qualified.

The Kansas City Prophets

In the United States, some of the original kernel of influential leaders who shaped the recent movement were Bill Hamon, Rick Joyner, Paul Cain, Bob Jones, Mike Bickle, James Goll, John Paul Jackson, and Lou Engle. Cain and Jones were the elder statesmen - Cain had participated in the Voice of Healing Revival initiated by William Branham during the 1950s. A number of these notables, and several less notable leaders and their associates and hangers-on operated frequently out of Kansas City, Missouri during the 1990s -- many still do -- and came to be known to their detractors and supporters alike as the Kansas City Prophets. Of the aforementioned leaders, Paul Cain, in particular, fell into disgrace on moral grounds, leading to a public apology to the "body of Christ" (meaning, Christians at large) by Rick Joyner for promoting Cain's service in the Prophetic office, while overlooking the flaws of his character as judged by Christian standards. Cain has now completed a Restoration process and has returned to ministry supervised by his overseers.

The various so called Prophetic ministers named above continue to be active throughout North America and are widely-sought as Conference speakers by charismatic and some Pentecostal groups. Various "Prophetic" words given years ago are claimed to have actually happened e.g., Bob Jones publicly spoke in a Church (?) in Florida about a "Burning Bush from Texas" who was God's choice as the next president.