Mission with Prophetic Power: The Journal of John Woolman (SRSC 12)

Afterword

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Being Sent A mission of prophetic power often involves an awareness of being “sent.” We find ourselves looking further. Woolman speaks of being “drawn” to different places, and yet at the same time submits concerns to his community so that his missions are not merely personal preferences, but truly the sending of God through the people of God. Woolman submitted his drawings* to his community and found himself sent to slave owners, to a wide range of Meetings, to native populations, and finally to England. At times, God may give us a voice to speak to broader settings: to government or to wider Church circles. Yet in all of these, the “sent” to a location was (and is) secondary to the “sent” with a passion: for the slaves, for the natives, for those caught in the web of many forces pulling at them. The prophet cries out to the Lord, “I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips” (Isa 6:5). The Lord is concerned for this people and asks “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Isaiah responds, “Here I am! send me” (Isa 6:8). Learn to Discern Ministry in prophetic power requires careful discernment. There is the discernment of life practices that put us on the edge of our communities. Ezekiel was instructed to lie on his one side for over a year and then on the other side for forty days (Ezek 4:4–8). John Woolman felt compelled to wear undyed clothing. Each of these acts caused them to be a bit of a “display” in front of their people. Woolman speaks of “singularity.”* Consequently, we must discern carefully what is unhelpful legalism, what is a mishearing of God’s leading, what is a matter of our own interests, and