GHOP VISION AND VALUES
VISION AND VALUES AUGUST 2010
Night and day worship and intercession in the spirit of the tabernacle of David. Come and partner with God. Come and pray. GHOP.ORG.UK
GHOP VISION AND VALUES Vision & Values Outline • • • • • •
GHOP Purpose GHOP Aims Foundational Scriptures GHOP Core Values GHOP meeting formats GHOP team roles and training
GHOP Purpose Pursue intimacy with God, exalt Jesus and contend for the transformation of the city and nation through night and day worship and intercession.
GHOP Aims •
To labour, in the grace of God, to establish night and day prayer and worship in the city of Glasgow.
•
To call believers to a lifestyle of the pursuit of God through prayer, fasting and meditation on His Word.
•
To intentionally pursue encounter with God in regular, non-‐denominational, prayer and worship gatherings.
•
To strengthen local churches through the training and equipping of worship leaders, musicians, singers and intercessors to lead effective, prophetic, corporate, uniGied, enjoyable prayer and worship.
•
To function in partnership with the wider Body of Christ in fulGilling the great commission to go and make disciples, while living out the two greatest commandments – wholehearted love for God and selGless love for people.
Foundational Scriptures 2 Chron 7:14 – IF My people…then I will…heal the land Luke 18:1-8 – Jesus promises speedy justice when His elect cry out night and day in a city Leviticus 6:13 – the Gire on the altar should never be put out Joshua 1:8 – meditate on God’s word day and night Colossians 3:16 – let the word of Christ dwell in you…teaching and admonishing in songs GHOP.ORG.UK
GHOP VISION AND VALUES Revelation 5:8 – worship and intercession around God’s throne 1 Chron 25:1 – King David set apart musicians to prophesy in the tabernacle 2 Chron 29:30 – King Hezekiah commanded Levites to sing the psalms Psalm 27:4 – one thing…gazing on the beautiful God Luke 10:42 – one thing is needed…Mary chose the better part Revelation 22:17 – Spirit and the bride say “come” – prophetic intercessory worship Isaiah 56:6-7 – I will make them joyful in the house of prayer
GHOP Core Values For us to continue facilitating corporate prayer in the long-‐term, we must have an agreed sense of purpose that reGlects who God is calling us to be. This will develop over time but the values outlined here are our starting point. At the heart of our core values is the need for enjoyable prayer. Enjoyable Prayer Isaiah 56:6-7 “Also the sons of the foreigner….EVEN THEM I will bring to my holy mountain and I will make them joyful in the house of prayer.” Even the gentiles – EVEN THEM…I will make joyful in the house of prayer. In other words, prayer can be enjoyable for everyone. One of the reasons Christians Gind prayer to be hard work is because we haven’t learned to pray in a way that it invigorates our spirits instead of tiring us out. Night and day prayer must be enjoyable to be sustainable. Many of the following values relate to prayer being enjoyable. Value #1 - Intimacy with God He wants to energise our spirits through intimacy with Himself and lead us into increasing levels of freedom as we deal with the issues of our hearts. If we are getting to know a kind, loving Father, and a passionate, affectionate Bridegroom then we run to Him instead of from Him. Even in our weakness He loves us and is gentle with us. He does not confuse our immaturity with rebellion. He sees our sincerity while we are still maturing. We see His gladness, His burning desire and affection towards us. Jesus must be our primary reward (Gen 15:1), not success in ministry or even answered prayer. Bridal intercession – we are not a helpless widow approaching an uncaring judge (Luke 18), but a cherished bride before a loving King whose heart is ravished (Esther, Song of Solomon). This gives us conGidence even though we stand in awe of Him. Our authority exists because of the intimacy we have with Him. GHOP.ORG.UK
GHOP VISION AND VALUES Value #2 - The necessity of combining worship with intercession We need more than a 20-‐minute ‘warm-‐up’ or ‘background music’ in our prayer meetings. If we continually Glow between worship and intercession, we are regularly reminded of God’s power, beauty and ability, so that the need and lack don’t pull us down. In worship, we magnify Him, draw near to His heart and pour our love on His feet, then we stand in agreement with His will when we pray. God chooses to be ministered to at His throne with combination of worship and intercession -‐ (Rev 5:8). David established night and day worship and intercession, praying and singing the word of God in the Tabernacle, setting in place over 8000 full-‐time paid musicians, singers and gatekeepers to minister 24-‐7 before the Lord. Value #3 - Praying in the spirit and spontaneous singing We want a Glowing heart that engages with God’s heart. Paul said he prays and sings “with his spirit” and “with the understanding” (1 Cor 14:15) – ie praying/singing in tongues (where your rational mind allows your spirit to lead the way) and with our own language (the overGlow/love song of the heart). We want to encourage freedom of expression in worship without the need for prewritten songs, but also for that expression to be aligned with the truth of His word. Singers, musicians and prayer leaders must hide the word of God in their hearts through meditation and study, so that when we sing we are truly “teaching and admonishing one another” (Col 3:16). Value #4 - Cultivating a prophetic spirit on worship leaders, prayer leaders, musicians and singers We need more than just talented musicians and singers and enthusiastic prayer leaders. We need teams who Glow in the Holy Spirit. This isn’t just an ability to improvise. It is musicians who express what the Spirit is saying and prayer leaders who pray in alignment with the heart of the Father and the intercession of Jesus. This is cultivated through an intentional lifestyle of encountering God in prayer, worship, fasting, praying/singing in the spirit, and meditating on scripture. King David commanded the musicians in the tabernacle to prophesy on their instruments. Elisha asked for a musician to play, and then the prophetic began to Glow. There is a dynamic relationship between the anointing of the Spirit on music and the release of the prophetic. Value #5 - Antiphonal singing/praying and team ministry Antiphonal means responsive, in the manner of the singers in the tabernacle and temple, and the “symphony” of worship taking place in the throne room (Isaiah 6, Revelation 4-‐5 etc.) There is a greater intensity and creativity when a team ministers together; they have an accumulated anointing. We go further together than we can on the strength of one person’s revelation, anointing and energy, even if that one person is remarkably anointed. GHOP.ORG.UK
GHOP VISION AND VALUES Value #6 - Connecting the prayer room with real mission and ministry One of the primary purposes of the prayer room is to contend for a greater manifestation of God’s power in other ministry areas. In Acts 4:29-‐31, the disciples prayed for boldness to speak the word of God and for signs and wonders, “and when they had prayed, the place they were assembled together was shaken, they were all Gilled with the Holy Spirit and they spoke the word of God with boldness.” The prayer room should be connected in real ways to the outreach and ministry of the various kinds the church is engaged in, so that the intercessors remain in touch with what the Holy Spirit is doing through the body of Christ in our city and nation as we function in partnership with other ministries and organisations. Value #7 - A culture of honour No one individual, church or ministry has the fullness of the revelation of God and we have much to learn from one another. We must be committed to honouring other ministries, churches, denominations, etc and also honouring one another within the prayer room. We strengthen one another through blessing, honour and encouragement. Value #8 - God-centred spiritual warfare We present our requests “to God” (Phil 4). We primarily pray for the impartation of good things, rather than the removal of evil. Spiritual warfare is essentially agreement with God and disagreement with the enemy. We may address the demonic directly in personal deliverance, but as we intercede for a city or nation, we address God, who dispatches angels to deal with the principalities and powers (Daniel 10, Esther). Value #9 - Praying biblical prayers Pray the actual prayers of the bible, as well as prophetic promises and decrees in scripture. Josh 1:8 – you shall meditate on the word day and night… We want focussed, uniGied prayer where people stay engaged. Negative, judgemental prayers can cause disconnection (e.g. “Lord, deal with the religious spirit in the church leadership” or prayers that focus mostly on the sin, darkness, or lack). Preaching prayers can cause disconnection (where someone closes their eyes and preaches a sermon, speaking primarily to the people around them rather than speaking to God) and self-centred prayers (mostly praying for “us” and not “them”) distract from the central purpose of standing in the gap for others. Prayers that are too wide in their scope (“God, save the whole of Scotland!”) and not focussed enough can cause disconnection. We can believe for a move of God in a town or city, and God knows that if the Church in one place gets anointed, the whole nation will be affected (eg Ephesus -‐ all of Asia heard the word of God). Praying the bible is an antidote to negative prayers, preaching prayers, and to self-‐centredness in prayer. The New Testament prayers in particular are all to God; they are positive, focussed on praying good things in rather than bad things out; they are also mostly focussed on the church in a city or region. GHOP.ORG.UK
GHOP VISION AND VALUES Praying the bible also ensures we stay within the boundary lines of the will of God. Jesus said we should pray according to His will. The bible is the written expression of His will, and we can be conGident that as we pray the Word of God, we stand in agreement with the heart of the Father and the intercession of the Son.
Value #10 - Militant boldness against darkness We do not want to be lulled into tolerating sin, sickness, spiritual dullness and powerlessness in our churches and communities. We must take a stand for the fulness of the Kingdom of God. Jesus did not pray for healing; He commanded it. On certain issues, we need to contend for breakthrough, and take ground “by force” (Matt 11:12). This isn’t the same as being loud and shouting, although loudness is ok, as long as we don’t forget the core truth that we are praying to a God who delights in us and wants to give us more than we could imagine.
Value #11 - Conviction of the coming revival, a victorious church and the return of Jesus There is a great harvest of souls promised in the last days, and the greatest days of the church are yet to come. The greatest manifestations of God’s glory and power ever seen are ahead. Jesus is returning for His bride in response to the Spirit and the bride crying “come!”, that we would rule and reign on the earth Him. Without these truths being established in us, we will Gind it difGicult to persevere in prayer in the long term.
Value #12 - Structure and spontaneity We love spontaneity and the prophetic, but we also recognise God’s wisdom in combining structure with spontaneity as seen in our solar system and in the human body. In God’s order, creative spontaneity is enhanced by the right structure. An effective structure for prayer and worship will produce greater levels of spontaneous and prophetic Glow than having no structure at all. At GHOP, we have adopted the Harp & Bowl model of intercessory worship developed at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City (www.ihop.org). The model provides a framework within which the musicians, singers and intercessors can Glow in spontaneous worship and intercession. It removes much of the fear associated with public spontaneous expression when each person on the team understands the part they play. The primary aim of the Harp & Bowl model is to develop the themes in a biblical prayer through antiphonal (spontaneous responsive) singing/praying.
GHOP.ORG.UK
GHOP VISION AND VALUES GHOP Prayer Formats As the schedule of opportunities to gather for prayer and worship develops, each regular meeting will be one of three types: Intercession, Devotional or Worship with the Word. Intercession This corporate two-‐hour meeting will, at times, have a speciGic prayer focus, but there is opportunity to pray whatever prayer burdens those gathered have on their hearts. We provide prayer leaders, a worship leader, singers, musicians and technical personnel to facilitate these sets. The meeting starts with corporate worship, and the team then develops the prayer themes antiphonally, seeking to engage the whole room in agreement. Intercession is usually focussed on local/regional issues but will include national and international themes. There are also cycles of “rapid Gire prayer” when, one by one, intercessors pray 15-‐second prayers on a speciGic theme, and times of small group prayer for those who wish to participate. Devotional This format is a time of personal reGlection, prayer, study, and meditation. Typically this involves a worship leader and a reduced number of musicians and singers worshipping the Lord. Participants are invited to engage in worship or soak quietly in the presence of the Lord. Worship with the Word Worship With the Word is a prayer format in which we agree with God's heart as we sing the Biblical truths of who God is, who we are before Him and what He promises to do. These sets have a worship leader, prayer leader and a team of musicians and singers that engage in corporate worship and meditation on the scriptures. During these sets a member of the team reads a selected passage from the Bible, then the worship team develops the passage antiphonally, singing related scriptures to draw out the meaning of the passage.
GHOP Team Roles and Training The roles in a GHOP team include Worship Leaders, Prophetic Singers, Musicians, Prayer Leaders and Technical Support. We will also explore creative expressions other than music -‐ dance and art, as well as creative lighting, visuals and media. Each of these are gifts designed by the Lord to enhance and inspire intercession and worship and also to be expressions of intercession, worship and the prophetic. New team members will be required to Gill in an application form then attend training to be equipped practically for the unique dynamics of Harp & Bowl and to explore the GHOP core values, before joining a team. GHOP training days will be advertised on the website.
GHOP.ORG.UK
GHOP VISION AND VALUES
GHOP.ORG.UK