Preparing for 2024:

Why Are We Doing a Word of the Lord Process?

As we prepare for 2024, we want to enter into a special season of seeking the Lord for the upcoming year for five important reasons:

1. Spirit-led Direction

In Revelation 2.7, Jesus said, “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” While this verse has many implications, one important one is that Jesus wanted His churches to have a posture of listening to and being led by the Spirit. As we engage in this process each year, it helps us to live in this heart posture as a people.

2. It Builds Unity

This process helps us to walk together in the unity that comes from a shared vision.

3. It Builds Faith

As we look back at how God has led us in the past, it builds our faith for the future.

4. It Builds Focus

This process helps to build our focus and spend our best energies on what God is calling us to rather than drowning in a sea of good opportunities or the tyranny of the urgent.

5. Course Correction

As we humble ourselves and seek Him, this process can help us course correct in places we could be drifting from His calling on our lives.

What is our Word of the Lord Discernment Process?

We have three parts to our discernment process: discerning revelation, discerning interpretation, and discerning application.

Discerning Revelation:

As we seek to discern what the Spirit is speaking, we want to enter into a season of special prayer during September. And, at the end of this season, we want to facilitate listening to the body, as well as to our prophetic and apostolic ears.

  • Listening to the Body: We have created an input form for those in one of our churches, or any friends of the Movement, to share anything they sense in prayer. You can submit input here.

  • Listening to the Prophetic: Under the leadership of Joe Ewen and Estevan Andrade we will be receiving input from the prophetic communities in our churches and teams as well as prophetic friends of Antioch.

  • Listening to the Apostolic: Under the leadership of Jimmy Seibert and the Antioch Oversight Team, we will be receiving input from our lead pastors and team leaders as to what they and their teams and churches are sensing from the Lord.

Discerning Interpretation:

The Antioch Oversight Team will meet in October to weigh what has been shared and to seek the Lord together and prayerfully weigh all that has been sent in. We will work to distill this into a simple word or phrase as well as a one-page explanation to share with the Movement about where we believe the Spirit is leading us for the year ahead.

Discerning Application:

  • Movement-wide Application: The Movement Coordination Team will work to discern any movement-wide application (for example, united time of prayer and fasting or united outreach.)

  • Region, Church, and Team Specific: Each region, church and church planting team is charged with discerning specific application as it relates to their sphere of influence.

When is all of this happening?

We are asking for prayer and input from September 18th to October 18th.

Specifically, we will be receiving input via the submission form on our website between now and October 1st.

Along with the submissions that come via the form, there will be some Zoom calls with different leadership teams, leading up to the Antioch Oversight Team meeting in late October.

We hope to have the input distilled into a phrase that we can begin to share and steward by early November.