The Power of Corporate Hearing

Let Him who has ears hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches

Pastor Bob Birch, the man who mentored me, loves this verse. It was the passion of his heart to teach the body of Christ the importance of every person learning how to wait on God and to hear His voice.

It was natural that Pastor Bob layed this truth as a foundation when he founded Watchmen for the Nations in the early 1990s. In Watchmen we made a covenant that we would refuse to initiate (programs) for God. Instead we would wait, seeking the Lord, as long as it would take until He would speak clearly the desire (vision) of His heart. And once the Lord had made His desire clear, we would again wait on Him for instructions, what specific steps He wanted us to take to fulfill the vision.

Waiting on the Lord is not something we are accustomed to in the church today. As leaders sometimes we feel the pressure that unless we know exactly what is going on/where we are going and unless we have a clear plan to get there, we aren’t really leading. This mindset has led to ministry being program-driven and to a spiritual apathy in the body. People feel they can’t hear God or that it’s not their responsibility to do so. So they rely on the pastor or leader to get the “word of the Lord” for their church and sometimes even their own lives.

I feel this is one of the major “structures” or mindsets in the current church that the Lord is challenging and shaking as He seeks to transition us into the Kingdom mindset. I believe in this season God wants to release deeper revelation to us all about the power of corporate hearing. Rather than looking for God to raise up one strong anointed man or woman of God, like a David or Moses, to lead a people, I believe soon we will see God releasing a corporate David or a corporate Moses – a body of believers who are fully submitted to One Head and who are all hearing the One Voice of the Good Shepherd. That’s why each of us being able to hear what the Spirit is saying and discern with our spirits is so critical. The Lord will speak to each member of the body, like a conductor would give pieces of music to individual instruments in an orchestra. To successfully play a beautiful symphony we need to keep our eyes fixed on the conductor but also our ears open to what everyone else around us is playing because our piece is not a solo, but part of the whole.

Moving in corporate discernment is how we have walked in Watchmen for many years now. Most people don’t realize that when I write an article or preach a message, I’m not speaking purely from my own revelation or study. I have also counseled with and heard the voice of the Lord through other people - young and old, those in traditional ministry and those not, from different regions of the nation and even different cultural backgrounds. So what I share is really coming from a corporate voice; what God has been speaking and confirming to me and others.

But our heart has always longed to see what we walk with the leadership team extend further to the whole body. We wanted to see a model where leaders aren’t necessarily the only ones receiving and disseminating revelation/vision. Instead the whole body is encouraged to hear God and the role of leaders becomes to facilitate the hearing and communication of the word of the Lord regardless of where it flows from. So for example, if the Lord wants to mobilize the body in the nation by giving a dream to a 10-year old child in Inuvik or a word to an 80-year old intercessor in Moncton or a revelation to a fiery young preacher from Estevan, our heart is create a channel where that word can be received and discerned by a trusted covering of leaders. As the word bears witness in our spirits (it seems right to the Holy Spirit and us) we then use all the resources and influence the Lord has given us as leaders to release that word to the broader body. In that way we give the Lord the pleasure of using whomever He wants to speak.

That is why during this consecration call we have put so much emphasis on people sharing what they are hearing (at kingdom@watchmen.org or by filling out the sharing what you’re hearing form on the web) and we have dedicated time to read, discern and respond to every word that comes in. That is why we have created the Strategic Blueprints section of the web so that anyone can see in black and white how the Lord is speaking the same messages/themes to His body throughout our nation.

But as we have been praying the last few days, we felt the Lord encouraging us to continue to press in even deeper in this area of hearing, discerning and sharing together. For the first 13 days of the call, we have sent exhortations from different people as a way of emphasizing that God is speaking through a corporate team and not just one individual (myself). But still we feel the Lord is saying there is something further. So we have decided to venture in working more collaboratively together, combining revelation and insight from the many leaders who walk together in Watchmen and as well from the larger body. Now we understand that not everyone is a writer. So those of us who are gifted in writing felt challenged by the Lord to lay down the use of our gifts solely for the release of our own revelations (in our own style) in order that we might serve a bigger corporate picture the Lord is wanting to reveal. We will venture to hear what God is saying from the diversity of the body and trust God to help us to collaboratively craft this into the communication that He wants us as a nation to receive each day of the call.

What does that mean for us practically? For one, all the submissions will come from a corporate team and not individual writers as they will really represent the revelation and discernment of many and not one person. And also the way we approach the submissions from kingdom@watchmen.org will change. We still want to hear and post your testimonies and affirmations of what you read because it is powerful to see things established in the mouth of two or three witnesses. But we also want to challenge you to share more actively with us what the Lord is saying to you that we might discern together. Sometimes we think what God is speaking to us is only for our life or our church not realizing that really this is something that He is speaking as a broader message to the whole body.

On our part, we commit to take whatever is submitted and ask the Lord to speak to us through it, even concerning the day to day direction of the consecration call.

Why am I taking the time to explain all of this? Because we want you to see in a practical way that we really aren’t leading this consecration call – in the traditional sense of the leading – but we are venturing together in all these principles. For example, some of you have emailed us asking if we could send you the exhortations ahead of time because you are going on vacation. But we can’t do that because we don’t have them written! At the start of this call the Lord spoke to us clearly that He was going to take us on a journey and that we needed only to be obedient to follow His leading one step at a time. We see every day how the Lord is keeping us deliberately close to Him depending on hearing His voice at every turn.

I want to encourage you, if you have not yet joined the consecration call, it’s not too late. I know sometimes people can feel that because they have missed the first days that they are disqualified. But the Lord really spoke to me out of the parable of Matthew 20:1-16 about the labourers who were being hired throughout the day. Some were hired early in the morning, others at the 11th hour – but when it came time to be paid, they all received the same wage. I believe that God will speak to people throughout the 52 days and my faith is that even if someone joins in on Day 51, he will receive the same blessing as those who heard and responded on Day 1. If you’d like to register now click here!

In the light of what we are sharing about corporate hearing and discernment, I want to also encourage you again please share what you’re hearing through the form on the web or by email to kingdom@watchmen.org.

I am so grateful to be with you all on this journey of circumcision, healing and preparation for what the Lord has ahead for us, our familes, churches, cities, provinces and nation as we will enter into the Promised Land and receive our inheritances!

all my love

David

David Demian is a man of singular passion: to be a friend of God. This passion has led him on an amazing journey in life and ministry.  David is a spiritual son to the founder of Watchmen for the Nations, Pastor Bob Birch, who passed the mantle of leadership of the ministry to David in 1998.  David lives in Vancouver, BC, Canada with his wife Ruth and seven children. 

David can be reached by email at director@watchmen.org.

 

Comments

Mary
This morning after prayer, I was focused on this card I had which read, "Ears to Hear". The Holy Spirit led me to focus on that. I said Lord give me ears to hear you. I clicked on your article after and the article was on "the power of corporate hearing”. What a God!