Training Prophets

When people think about prophetic training their minds usually run directly towards the gift, or learning how to prophesy – typical courses would be “How to Hear God” or “Interpreting Dreams”. While these training courses and seminars can be beneficial, they cannot form the primary track of equipping because gifting is only one small part of the prophetic. Being a prophetic builder is a much different operation than simply itinerating and speaking prophecies over individuals. The prophetic builder must be a craftsman, a skilled architect capable of coming along-side pastoral leaders to assist in the constructing of individual lives and communities.

I think it is important to know the basis of the training that we conduct as churches consider bringing in a team from SWM. We do conduct seminars that provide teaching and practicum’s, although those are usually by invitation only for those we have selected from churches we are in relationship with. Our training also consists of personal mentoring and visits to churches with seasoned prophets to learn “on the job.” All of the prophets who are Associated Ministries with SWM have been through extensive training and are personally known to me – I know that their marriages are healthy, I am very familiar and involved in the churches they are building, and I have known each of them for years, some for decades.

Training a prophet requires an ongoing and somewhat intense discipleship process that addresses all areas of the emerging prophet’s life. We expect every prophet being raised up by God is in a valid process of personal maturity and ministry development in all three of the following areas: 1) Character 2) Competence 3) Connectivity. This componential structure is used to assess the development of emerging prophets, and each one goes beyond the execution of ministry and deals with issues of personal maturity. A brief look at each of the components follows.

Character

Within each component there are numerous qualities or characteristics, and I will focus on just one to provide an insight into the emphasis of our training. In this category Character does speak to the personal purity and ruthless integrity required of all of God’s people, but it also more broadly includes the personal characteristics that must be possessed by a prophet if they are going to be effective. For example:

Imbued with a strong sense of faith and certainty in the purposes of God (not tentative and hesitant).

The quality of the prophetic impartation must be weighty and substantial, and the prophet must carry the spiritual authority necessary to shift things in the spirit realm. That only comes when there is internal certainty within the prophet’s heart and mind, removing all sense of doubt, insecurity and ambiguity. An uncertain prophet is one who does not know the Lord, so they must wrestle with the Lord and go before Him with fully assured faith, having removed all question marks which seek to undermine faith and decisiveness.

This is not a human temperament characteristic of carnal aggression, it is an internal confidence and undeniable certainty even in the face of immense opposition and contradictory circumstances. Development of character will result in prophets who deliver the word of the Lord from a place of internal humility that manifests as a clean, uncluttered and bold declaration. Their pronouncements are authoritative and powerful but not harsh or manipulative, and the word of the Lord that flows from them has the capacity to affect change and transformation because they themselves have been transformed.

Competence

Prophets must grow in the competence, wisdom and ability that allows them to steward Divine resource – it is not enough to have insight, it must be skillfully managed and delivered in order to achieve divine purpose. True prophetic utterance is the product of a very skillful internal management process which understands issues including: a) how to receive supernatural revelation within the context of natural knowledge and an awareness of historical realities without being corrupted b) being operationally diverse and discharge of ministry that is appropriate to the context. A prophet must be:

Deeply mystical, revelatory and supernatural, while functioning within a governed environment that produces an orderly discharge of ministry.

Their visionary capacity and personal revelation strength must not produce a disordered life; everything that God does is governed. Paul is an example of one with powerful prophetic revelation and mystical capacity: he talked to God face to face, he heard God while praying and in a trance, an angle of the Lord stood by him on the ship and communicated God’s purposes, and he ascended to the third heaven and heard things that were not lawful to be uttered on the earth.

However, his revelation and mystical capacity did not produce personal warp or an ungoverned life; he “earthed” all of the revelation given to him by God and engaged in strategic and governed building in all the churches. He warned the spooky prophets of Corinth that government was required in the prophetic realm. Likewise we expect our prophets to live in this authentic realm without becoming eccentric or strange, and without succumbing to the seduction endemic to power which so often results in self-indulgence.

Connectivity

There are no individuals, regardless of their rank or ministry, who are called by God to live in isolation. Being correctly joined and related is a primary component of Kingdom life. For the prophet, key relational joining to the apostolic leadership God has designed them to fit within is an essential aspect of their functionality. It is relational proximity to apostolic grace which produces a prophet who is a builder.

Prophets must speak from a place of healthy relational joining within their own church and the wider Kingdom Community. This is especially true in regards to relationships with authority, an area where many prophets have faltered either via an adversarial relationship with authority on the one hand, or a fear of power on the other.Prophets must be relationally healthy and have a deep sense of community and an ability to work with leaders to build.

Prophetic ministry must be discharged with a clear understanding of rank, and a complete absence of the fear of man.

When a prophet stands in a church and powerfully declares the purposes of God he is functioning within an authority given to him by the Lord and in agreement with those leaders he is cooperatively serving with. All of them must desire the Lord’s purpose and seek first His Kingdom.

The reality of Kingdom ruler-ship is the only correct context for the prophetic to function as God speaks and asserts His right to design His Church. It is only when all people – pastor, prophet, members – have a true fear of the Lord that there can be an uninterrupted flow of grace through the prophet to the people.

The following are qualities that are not acceptable in the prophets who we are in relationship with:

Clearly there is a continuing need for quality prophets to become functional within the church in the 21st century, particularly prophets able to function within a strong building dimension in partnership with church leaders. God is raising up a new breed of prophets who have the capacity to build the house of the Lord!