Acts 11:27

Official prophets were still active in the church apparently until the completion of the New Testament canon. A prophet was a person to whom God had given ability to speak for Him (forth-telling, cf. 1 Corinthians 14:1-5), which in some cases included the ability to receive and announce new revelation (fore-telling). Prophesying also equaled praising God (1 Chronicles 25:1).

"The Jews believed that with the last of the [Old Testament] writing prophets, the spirit of prophecy had ceased in Israel; but the coming Messianic Age would bring an outpouring of God’s Spirit, and prophecy would again flourish. The early Christians, having experienced the inauguration of the Messianic Age [i.e., the age of fulfillment], not only proclaimed Jesus to be the Mosaic eschatological prophet (cf. Acts 3:22; Acts 7:37) but also saw prophecy as a living phenomenon within the church (cf. also Acts 13:1; Acts 15:32; Acts 21:9-10) and ranked it among God’s gifts to his people next to that of being an apostle (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians 4:11)." [Note: Ibid., p. 403.]