Are we equipping people to hear God, or just telling them what He said?
I’ve been wrestling with a crucial question in the modern church:
“Are we equipping people to hear God, or just telling them what He said?” It’s a real frustration to see a void of training dedicated to helping people listen to and discern the voice of the Holy Spirit. While teaching Scripture, memorizing the words of Jesus, and consuming content through sermons and books are vital, imagine the world-changing impact if we poured a comparable amount of energy into the practice of listening to God and actually obeying Him. This longing for impact leads me to focus on the gift of prophecy and its essential role in the life of the church.
It surfaces a crucial question: What is the primary function of the prophetic gift in our missional context today?
The Key Function: Equipping Listeners
The role of the prophet, as outlined in Ephesians 4:11-12, has a two-fold function. The typical role is to discern the times and understand what needs to be done, exemplified by court prophets like Nathan. However, the second and often overlooked function is to equip people to hear, listen, and discern the voice of God.
This function is essential for true growth and multiplication. In the Old Testament, there were schools to train promising prophets, where experienced prophets like Samuel modeled, taught, and coached apprentices like Nathan. Their primary duty was to train the young apprentice prophets on how to listen and respond to God. The goal of the prophetic function is to serve as a conduit of God’s voice, AND in turn, train others to hear and respond to God for themselves. It is so vital for those with the gift of prophecy to empower the saints for the work of ministry, leading to exponential spiritual growth.
This brings up another important question: What are the characteristics of a prophetic leader?
Characteristics of a Prophetic Leader
When discussing the “five-fold ministry,” missional and church planting leaders offer a perspective on the prophetic gift that highlights key characteristics:
- The “Disturber” or “Questioner”: Prophetic leaders are the ones who challenge the status quo and speak truth. They ask the difficult questions that expose hypocrisy, call for repentance, and push the community to align with God’s will. Their function is to create “holy discontent” that leads to growth and change.
- Focus on Hearing God and Guiding Obedience: Prophetic leaders cultivate a culture of God-centeredness through practices like listening prayer. Their speech is often “forth-telling” (declaring God’s truth for a specific time and situation) and “foretelling” (predicting the future), encouraging responsive obedience.
- Foundational and Restored Gift: Prophetic leaders emphasize the ongoing need for the gift as foundational for the church, strengthening ministry, and bringing Christ’s followers into unity. They also stress the importance of testing any prophetic message against the Bible to ensure it is genuine.
- Equipper of the Saints: Prophetic leaders are as noted in the Ephesians 4:11-12 text – to equip and empower the saints for the work of ministry. The goal is to move the church from dependency on one voice to a community where everyone can hear and respond to God.
In essence, prophetic leaders are not mysterious, isolated figures – but a critical and sometimes uncomfortable part of a healthy, functioning church. They are the ones who help the church stay on mission by constantly questioning whether its current practices and culture are truly aligned with God’s heart.
Here are some works by leading missional thinkers on this topic:
- Neil Cole: Primal Fire: Reigniting the Church with the Five Gifts of Jesus. In this book, Cole explores the five equipping gifts, with a focus on how the church can reactivate all five to become a more vibrant and effective movement.
- Paul Ford: Mobilizing Spiritual Gifts focuses on helping churches and individuals identify and use their spiritual gifts for ministry. The author shares his perspective on the prophetic gift as a vital component for building up the body of Christ, and he provides resources for leaders to help their congregations discover and deploy these gifts.
- Alan Hirsch: The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church. This foundational work introduces Hirsch’s influential APEST framework and its significance for the modern church. He specifically identifies the prophet’s role as the “disturber” who challenges the status quo and helps the church return to its missional roots.
A Few Questions for Reflection
I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and I’d love to hear your thoughts.
- How does this description of the “prophet” gift resonate with you?
- What concerns or questions does this kind of ministry bring to mind for you?
- As you think about your own ministry, who comes to mind when you think of people with this gift?
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