Calling a New Generation of Prophets: Any Takers?

For decades, engaged Christians have espoused a prophetic politics that combines personal conversion and efforts to transform society. We have seen faith-based groups move from outreach-style charity or "service" to much more politically engaged forms of advocacy and organizing around social justice issues. The time has come for a new generation of prophets to rise up in America. These prophets will certainly be charitable and have a servant's heart, but they will be engaged in a new kind of prophetic work: empowering communities to develop their potential as public problem solvers. They will join with others to move beyond advocacy to the active work of building thriving, diverse communities, empowering institutions, and a society not defined by consumerism and upward mobility.

This prophetic work is informed by lessons from the biblical story of Nehemiah and from the freedom movement of the 1950s and 1960s. The story of Nehemiah shows a skillful politician who gained permission from the king of Persia in 446 B.C. to return to Jerusalem in order to lead the Jews in rebuilding the city walls, after years of laying in ruin. Nehemiah's leadership was different than the model of Moses leading the people out of slavery in Egypt or Solomon dispensing wisdom. Nehemiah did not undertake the effort of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem by first setting forth a program on which everyone agreed. Nor did he formulate a detailed theory of wall-rebuilding. No doubt, he could have listed many reasons not to entrust the building efforts to the people themselves. After all, where were the "experts"? What could a delicate-handed goldsmith know of bricks and mortar? How could bands of women and children be as effective in construction as Persian engineers? Fortunately, Nehemiah had a deeper understanding of expertise, efficiency and the meaning of what he called "the good work."

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