Bangor University MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY The Teaching and Practice of the Apostolic Church, with special reference to its concept of Directive Prophecy Thomas, Brynmor Award date: 2016 Awarding institution: Bangor University Link to publication General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 27. Sep. 2021 The Teaching and Practice of the Apostolic Church, with special reference to its concept of Directive Prophecy A dissertation submitted in accordance with the regulations of Bangor University for the degree of Master of Philosophy by Brynmor Thomas Word Count: 70,515 Prof. D. Densil Morgan School of Theology, Religious Studies and Islamic Studies University of Wales Trinity St David /School of Religion and Philosophy Bangor University Abstract The Apostolic Church in the UK was established in 1916 under the direct supervision and leadership of Pastor Daniel Powell ‘DP’ Williams (1882-1947). He had been considerably influenced by the charismatic ministry of William J. Hutchinson (1864-1928) who had established the Apostolic Faith Church in 1911. Following a disagreement between Hutchinson and Williams, ‘DP’ concentrated his energies on his homeland in West Wales where plans soon came to fruition for the establishment of the Apostolic Church in Wales. Faithfully assisted by his brother William ‘Jones’ Williams (1891-1945), ‘DP’ adopted the practice of directive prophecy as a central tenet of the new denomination. This specific use of the prophetic gift has had wide ranging impact upon the nature and development of the denomination. The Apostolic Church has accepted directive prophecy despite the opposition of the other main stream classical Pentecostal denominations. Classical Pentecostals widely accept the roles of prophecy in the contemporary church to include edification, exhortation and comfort with a possible predictive element. The Apostolic Church is unique in that it inherited both a theology and praxis of directive prophecy from the Apostolic Faith Church. Directive prophecy has been keenly accepted by its adherents and criticised by opponents as a result the Apostolic Church has become somewhat isolated within the Pentecostal movement. This has generally been due to the fact that directive prophecy is considered authoritarian and restrictive by its critics. There is therefore a need to revisit the Apostolic Church’s understanding of directive prophecy and assess its acceptance and practice within the denomination. In order to facilitate this evaluation of directive prophecy this research will therefore consider the following definition of directive prophecy: Directive prophecy is prophecy that instructs the recipient with regard to actions to be taken, location to serve in or steps to be taken that will lead into a greater sense of the purpose of God and its practice within the Apostolic Church. Coupled with this definition, the Apostolic Church has inherited a hierarchical approach to leadership, recognising apostles as the primary leaders with prophets holding a secondary role. However both ministries function together and exercise an authoritative role in the Church. This purpose of this research is to summarise the biblical roles of apostles and prophets and further evaluate the historical development of the use of directive prophecy within the Apostolic Church. In order to evaluate the validity of directive prophecy it will be necessary to establish the historical context of the Apostolic Church, tracing its history over its 100 years of existence, finally considering whether an authoritative role from senior leadership is conducive for contemporary congregations. Acknowledgments Particular thanks are expressed for those who have assisted in the preparation of the dissertation. They include: Prof. Densil Morgan, my supervisor Gi Jung Song, my support worker and research assistant Andrew Saunders, who carried out searches of archive material. Roger Clarkson , who made himself available for a plethora of basic activities Mrs Diana Horley, who helped me in coordinating questionnaires and their returns. Those that are arranged for questionnaires to be completed in their local churches and those that completed questionnaires. Warren Jones who never became impatient with my searching questions. My wife, Jane who supports me to the hilt in whatever I do. Dr Chris Palmer, my informal mentor Vaughan Thomas, my proofreader and wordsmith. vii The teaching and practice of the Apostolic Church, with special reference to its concept of Directive Prophecy Brynmor Thomas Bangor University 2016 Contents Chapter 1. Introduction and methodology 1 Historical context and background 1 Directive prophecy in practice throughout the history of the Apostolic Church 8 Methodology 10 Research questions 10 Explanatory notes 11 Primary sources 12 Council minutes 12 Correspondence 12 Empirical studies and personal interviews 13 Secondary sources 16 Written prophecies 17 Literature review 17 The problems with methodology involving prophecy 19 Summary 20 Chapter 2. Key historical figures 21 Introduction 21 William Oliver Hutchinson (1864 -1928) 24 Hutchinson’s apostleship 29 Tongues, interpretation and prophecy 30 Hutchinson's understanding of the Man-Child referred to Revelation 12 31 British Israelism 32 Daniel P. Williams (1882-1947) 34 Religious context: Annibynwyr Welsh Congregationalism and Independents 36 Williams’ conversion experience 39 Evidence of glossolalia and other charismata in the Great Welsh Revival 1904-05 45 William Jones Williams (1891-1945) 46 Andrew Turnbull (1872-1937) 48 Turnbull’s conversion 48 Turnbull’s preparation for ministry 49 Turnbull and charismata 49 A comparison of experience: A. Turnbull and D.P. Williams 53 Turnbull and the early understanding and practice of directive prophecy within the 53 Apostolic Church Thomas Napier Turnbull (1895-1980) 54 Chapter 3. Apostles and Prophets 56 Apostles in the New Testament 56 Apostles in the contemporary church 59 The Catholic Apostolic Church 60 The Apostolic Faith Church 63 Apostles in the classical Pentecostal churches in the UK 64 Apostles in the Charismatic Movement 66 What is a prophet? 70 Prophecy in the Old Testament 70 Primitive prophets and ecstasy 72 The primitive prophets and the messenger formula 73 The canonical or writing prophets 74 Do Old Testament prophets have relevance to the contemporary church? 75 Jesus the Prophet 76 Prophecy in the New Testament 79 The charism of prophecy 81 The doma of the Prophet 81 Prophecy in the contemporary church 82 Prophecy in the classical UK Pentecostal denominations 84 The Charismatic Movement’s understanding of prophecy 84 Chapter 4. Directive prophecy in Apostolic Church teaching 85 Apostolic Councils 85 A hierarchy of gifts 91 The interface between apostles and prophets within the Apostolic Church 94 Developing an understanding of directive prophecy 95 ‘Thus saith the Lord’: the control of prophecy 96 The levels of prophetic utterance 100 The spirit of prophecy 100 The gift of prophecy 101 The prophetic office 101 Contemporary prophets in the AC 102 Prophecy and gender 104 Conflict with other British classical Pentecostal groups 106 Claims to exclusivity 108 Church government and the so called ‘set prophet’ issue 109 Proselytizing among other believers 110 The danger of Montanism 110 The effect of the Latter Rain Movement on the Apostolic Church 111 Chapter 5. From the Latter Rain controversy to the present 123 Introduction 123 The secularization of Britain and the decline in church attendance 124 Recent changes in AC ecclesiology that have directly affected the development 125 of prophecy within the Fellowship Changes in current AC praxis 127 How do changing attitudes impact on the hierarchical nature of the AC? 128 The ages of typical Apostolic ministers 129 Contemporary Apostolic ministers who are recognized as apostles 130 Contemporary Apostolic ministers who are recognized as prophets 130 Contemporary Apostolic ministers who are recognized as pastors 131 A summary of the results of the minister’s survey 131 Current Apostolic Church trends 132 Experience of different denominations 132 How important is the ‘Apostolic brand’ to its congregants? 133 Contemporary preferences in preaching styles 134 Are Apostolics currently being more influenced by their own conventions or 135 by interdenominational conventions? Would Apostolics prefer to attend their own denominational events or 135 would they be more drawn to interdenominational events? The issue of directive prophecy 138 139 How important is it to be the recipient of directive prophecy? What happens to 139 the prophetic word that has been received? Who should evaluate prophecy? 140 Conclusion from the congregational survey 141 Chapter 6. Concluding thoughts 143 Personal reflections on directive prophecy within