About twenty years ago, I began to hear different teachers and prophetic voices declaring a great change was coming to the Western Church. Instead of having multiple streams, the church would begin to flow as one river. Many identified two of the key areas of convergence would be the prayer and mission movements. In the past, these two streams had existed as fairly independent expressions of the body of Christ, but several leaders began to describe how the Lord was going to join these movements together to see the greatest expansion of the Gospel throughout the earth in our history prior to the Lord’s return. It sounded exciting but at the time the prayer and mission world seemed too far apart to be able to be joined as one.

In addition, the Lord spoke to several other leaders, including me, expressing that He was not only joining prayer and missions together, but they would be united with the local church. This sounded once again impossible but in these  last two decades we have seen remarkable things take place. Not only has there been a dramatic convergence of the prayer and mission movements, we are also witnessing a convergence of these movements with the local church. We have seen many prayer ministries become mission ministries and many mission movements have returned to their roots as prayer ministries. And now we’re beginning to see these types of ministries function from the foundation of the local church. It’s an amazing thing to watch this unfold when just twenty years ago this type of convergence seemed nearly impossible.

This year has tested all of us but one of the gifts this year has brought is a reality check. The Western church in particular has received a reality check of epic proportions. We found that our current methods aren’t up to the task to meet a global pandemic. Overnight our buildings were shut and we were left scrambling for answers. We saw just how fragile our little structures really are. 

I am convinced God has used the tumult of 2020 in order to reset our methods and models. He is changing the understanding and expression of Christianity in this generation. 

Jesus is repossessing His church. He is minimizing personalities unto the amplification of His own glory. He shut down our programs because He wants to manifest His presence. 

Widespread persecution is coming. The church must be ready to stand in a day of increased trials and tribulations. This means the church must become completely aligned with Jesus’ vision, values, and mission to be able to stand.

I’m going to share several of the key points of reformation I see the Lord making in part two next week. I encourage you to lean in to hear what the Spirit of the Lord is saying in this hour!

The reformation of the Western church is now.