As we are looking toward 2020, I want to share six prophetic insights I believe the Lord is emphasizing for His Church in the coming year and beyond. I pray that the Lord witnesses to your heart through this writing and draws you into the center of His desires for the coming year.

Presence Centers – The local church must develop “presence centers” as the core of ministry. For the last century, programs have outpaced prayer in the church. Programs tend to create activity giving an illusion of impact. Prayer and worship, on the other hand, seems like little activity but it ultimately release great kingdom impact. I believe the Lord is calling for a reformation in how the church operates in all phases of ministry. He is calling the Church to put Jesus at the center through devoted, persistent worship and prayer. The destiny of the Bride is to become completely fascinated with Jesus, fixated on His beauty and glory. This will happen in and through local churches. I see local churches establishing prayer rooms or “presence centers”, to host His presence through worship and prayer as the central focus of ministry. From the presence center of the church massive kingdom impact will spring forth. Fruitfulness always springs from intimacy. I believe it will become commonplace across many denominations for the local church to staff prayer and worship centers in order to host the presence of God at the center of their ministry.

Spiritual Family – The church is called to firstly operate as a family. It’s not called to operate as an organization or a business. The church has learned much from skilled business leaders, but unfortunately we have borrowed business culture and imported it into the family of God. Our Father is not a CEO. His desire is for the church to be a kingdom family with the same love for one another that He shares for us. Within our local assemblies we are to love each other as the Father, Son, and Spirit love within the Godhead. We must move from models of ministry that see one another as solely co-workers into models that cause us to serve and love, laying our lives down for one another, as brothers and sisters. I believe the church will grow much closer in true spiritual family in the days ahead, strengthening and confirming our witness to the world. In this place of spiritual family God will command His anointing and blessing (Psalm 133).

Women in Leadership – For too long we have disqualified some of our most gifted teachers and leaders in the church on the basis of their gender. This has caused the church to be far less effective than God has intended. The Father has put within women the same anointing and gifting that He has put within men (Women in Ministry Pt. 1 blog I wrote about this earlier this year). This is the hour that the Church must recognize God’s gifts in women and see them elevated to the place He has called them. For the Bride to come to maturity she must grow up into the head, Christ. The main way that God has ordained for this growth to take place is through the service of the gift ministries (Eph 4:11-15). Men and women are called and anointed by God into these gift ministries. In certain sectors of the church we are going to see a dramatic increase in the release of women into ministry and church leadership. As a result we will see these sectors begin to grow and mature in ways we haven’t seen before. This is an hour that God is elevating women.

Cultural Unity – Within the next twenty years the U.S. will become a majority- minority nation. The church in America must recognize this trend and come to terms with the issues that have separated us culturally. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is still the only answer for a racially divided culture. The only means of healing and forgiveness is not through political action but through spiritual reformation. I believe we will continue to see reconciliation movements flourish within the church while tensions will continue to be stoked in the world. Where the church embraces the gospel imperative of cultural reconciliation, God will spark outpourings of the Holy Spirit leading to a powerful gospel witness to the world. Where the church continues to ignore the gospel imperative to reconciliation I believe she will languish spiritually and ultimately become culturally irrelevant.

Worship Messengers – Worship music has undergone a major shift in the last two decades, taking the foreground as a major segment of contemporary and popular music. I believe this shift is not completed. God doesn’t simply want worship music and worship leaders to become popular He wants them to be prophetic. God is raising up the worship movement to lead the church in calling Jesus back to the planet (Isa 24:16, Isa 42:10-14). Moses, Deborah, David, Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, and Habakkuk all prophesied the word of the Lord through song. God is going to put the His word in the mouth of worship messengers and they will prophetically declare the dramatic activity of the Lord in the earth at the end of the age. There is a generation of worship leaders who are about to arise who will release the word of the Lord and the outcome won’t simply be public popularity it will be prophetic proclamation that will spark awakening and prepare the earth for the return of the Lord.

LGBTQ Revival – I’ve gone on the record (The Coming LGBTQ Revival) stating that there is a massive revival coming to the LGBTQ community. We are already seeing the rumblings of this move of the Spirit. Many “once gay” people are now testifying of having radical encounters with Jesus, having been set free from homosexual lifestyles. I believe we have only seen the tip of the iceberg. God is going to release a massive move of His Spirit to see thousands upon thousands delivered from LGBTQ. Many of these people will be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers and will give leadership to the Church in the days ahead. The Church must get ready to receive those who will be coming out of the grave with grave clothes still wrapped around them. Though the culture has put great pressure upon the church to accept LGBTQ as an alternative lifestyle, God is challenging that pressure with deliverance and salvation. The church must stand in the gentleness and boldness of Christ against the sway of the enemy. Pray for revival in the LGBTQ community and get ready to see God breakthrough with power.

I encourage you to prayerfully consider what I’ve shared here and ask the Lord to bring these things to pass. I believe the days ahead hold great blessing and promise. Believers must lean into the heart of the Lord to hear and obey what the Spirit is saying to the Church in this hour. I pray you find great grace in the Lord in these days and step into 2020 with passion, focus, and vision.