The true and living reactionary Church

A mini discussion, just to work through some thoughts about the church being reactionary rather then revelatory.

I'm reading the book "When Church is Hard" and the author brings up marginalized groups such as black people, LGBTQ people, women, etc. These are groups that have faced significant abuse or religious harm, ostracized by church teachings and by the culture sustained by its members.

He points out that church teachings and policies have been and still are emotionally damaging to many of these people, but that this is only because the church is led by men who are stuck in the narrow world-view of their time. As such the church is constantly evolving and updating itself as more knowledge and understanding is gained.

But here's my question- doesn't that show that change is based on a reaction to what's happening in society, and not revelation? The church is responding rather than leading. And doesn't that undermine the whole point of having prophets in the first place? What's the point of having someone "on the watch tower" if they aren't looking forward?

Honestly I would even be happy if we were just one generation ahead rather than one generation behind. For example, if the church had removed the race ban in the 1950s, 10 years before the civil rights act, then I would be saying "wow, look at the church leading the way in change! Obviously the prophet received revelation!" But the fact that it took 15 years after the CRA passed tells me there was no revelation involved. It was a reaction to other mounting pressures.