Is it true that prophesying, as in someone standing up and speaking in the first person on behalf of God, is something that wasn’t really historically practiced in COG (Cleveland) denomination churches, historically. That’s the impression I got from some people in this forum.I moved a lot growing up, and I spent time in a Full Gospel church that felt like a Pentecostal church, A/G’s and some time in the COG, and I spent time in Bethel, the COG affiliate in Indonesia. in the A/Gs growing up, someone might give a prophecy between songs, or else there would be a tongue and interpretation. Usually prophecies, tongues, and interpretations would come from the congregation, but in one of the A/G’s, the assistant pastor might be behind the pulpit if he interpreted. He might have prophesied, too.I read on here that the pastor in a COG is the one who interprets, so if I saw a tongue and interpretation in a COG and the interpretation happened to come form the pulpit, and there wasn’t a prophecy given, considering my experience in the A/G that wasn’t strange at all, and it didn’t occur to me that there were never or almost never prophecies in COGs or that interpretations came from the pulpit.
Re: No Prophesying in Church of God (Cleveland)
Link, I have never once heard that the pastor is the one who interprets. Yes, it so happens that that is often the case, but it is also not unusual for someone else to.
No evidence of laity prophesying ‘from the floor’ (or preacher from the pulpit)
Okay, good. I read a post where someone wrote about interpretations coming from the pastor, but it could just have been their congregation. One pastor that he was the one who should do it, which I read in another post.I moved a lot growing up, and I had an idea about how prophecy and interpretation functioned in Pentecostal churches. And when I saw tongues and interpretation in the COG, that fit the general mold, but if only the pastor was interpreting or their was a tongue and interpretation, I wouldn’t have noticed the absence of prophecy or laity interpreting as a characteristic of the COG, until I read the suggestion here. But I am glad to hear there is variation among congregations on this.Compared to the New Testament, like Pentecostals, and Evangelicals in general, and Protestants, I think the expression of gifts is skewed way too far toward the pastor doing much of it and not enough towards saints exercising their gifts. Of course ‘the pastor’ doing anything in church isn’t really modeled in scripture, and ‘elders’ who are told to pastor the church, show up more frequently.
Was this in a COG (Cleveland)?
Was this in a COG (Cleveland)? Anyway, that is good to hear. In my experience, it was like that in the 1980’s in other Pentecostal churches (probably 70’s, but I was too little and can’t remember what incidents were in which decade sometimes.)
Was this in a COG (Cleveland)? Anyway, that is good to hear. In my experience, it was like that in the 1980’s in other Pentecostal churches (probably 70’s, but I was too little and can’t remember what incidents were in which decade sometimes.) Yes. COG Cleveland, TN That’s good. I wonder if fewer of the gifts are given, if pastors don’t allow prophesying, or if people don’t know they are allowed to speak up or the idea hasn’t occured to them that they can speak their prophecies in church.
No evidence of laity prophesying ‘from the floor’ (or preacher from the pulpit) or no evidence that COG’s don’t have prophesying and interpretations come from the pulpit?
“I think we tend to shy away from prophesy because of the fact that, if it doesn’t come to pass, some ignorant people will claim it was a false prophecy, thus the person is a false prophet. Apparently, we can mess up in the other areas, BUT NOT PROPHECY!“Nothing “ignorant” at all about calling attention to a “thus saith the Lord” that did not come to pass. What is ignorant is equating false prophecy to “messing up”. Pretty sure God’s word takes it more seriously than that________________“Hell will be filled with people that didn’t cuss, didn’t drink, and may even have been baptized. Why? Because none of those things makes someone a Christian.”