Cath’s new book My Sheep Have Ears is being published next week! You can order it from 3dm Publishing at http://3dmpublishing.com/. This is an interview she gave about the book.
Cath – tell us a bit about yourself:
I live in Sheffield and have been involved in prophetic ministry for over 15 years. For the last 10 years, I have overseen the prophetic ministry here at St Thomas’ Church, which has involved things such as teaching, mentoring, leading ministry sessions, and leading a prophetic council to serve the church. Over the last few years I have worked increasingly with other churches that want to learn what we have developed here, and how they can embrace this kind of culture too. This has involved developing various forms of training, coaching and resourcing, which I have done as part of the 3DM Europe team.
My vision has always been to make prophecy normal and accessible to everyone. There are lots of perspectives on what prophecy is, but in its simplest form I would say prophecy is hearing God speak and being able to repeat what He says, communicating the heart, mind and intention of God. That’s what I am passionate about training individuals and churches to do.
So, where has this book come from?
I’ve always had a heart to help other people grow in hearing God’s voice and using the gift of prophecy. I believe in the 5-fold ministry of Ephesians 4, and as someone who would see themselves as a ‘prophet’ I believe that one of the key roles of the prophet is helping other people learn how to hear God for themselves. My approach is “If I can prophesy, then I’m going to make sure as many other people as possible can too!”
My journey with learning to hear God’s voice has been an interesting one. I wouldn’t see myself as a ‘born natural’. I know many people who have grown up naturally being able to hear God speak to them in various ways from a very young age, which is brilliant. But I believe they are in the minority. In my experience, for the majority of Christians it’s much more of a journey and a process to learn to do this. That’s certainly been my personal story. It’s something I have actively and intentionally gone after – and haven’t just waited for ‘it’ to happen. I’ve read lots of books, been to conferences, prayed for God to teach me and generally used lots of ways to pursue the gift of prophecy. So because I have been on this journey, I know what the experience is like for the majority of us. I think this has really enabled me to help and teach others who are struggling to hear God speak. If I’m honest, I think it can sometimes be much harder for people who easily hear God’s voice to teach others, as it’s not a skill they have had to learn in the same way.
From your perspective, what would some of the aims of the book be?
Our ministry is all about making prophecy accessible (it’s in the name!) so I really wanted to unpack the process of what it actually looks like for someone to hear God. I make the point in the book that the Bible is full of stories about God speaking to people, but it doesn’t really tell you much of HOW that actually happened. Was it an audible voice? Was it internal? I think hearing stories from ordinary people about how they hear God is always helpful, so there are lots of these in the book.
The book is aimed at people and churches that would like to be open to the prophetic and are looking for practical teaching on what it looks like to use this gift on a day-to-day basis. I think that in the past there have been some expressions of prophecy that have come wrapped up in unhelpful packaging! This can lead to bad experiences and consequently an unhelpful reputation. Often it becomes associated with unaccountable, lone-ranger style prophets hopping from church to church, speaking judgement over people. I have seen that kind of thing go on myself and don’t like it, which is why having the context of community and discipleship is key in grounding prophecy and allowing it to edify the body in the way God intended. I feel it’s important not to allow our bad experiences to create a fear that stops us from reading the scriptures and learning how the Holy Spirit has always intended to operate within the church. My prayer is that through this book I am able to offer something on this amazing gift of prophecy God has given us, in a way that people can easily take hold of.
One of the clear themes throughout the book is community – that we hear God together and we weigh things together. Prophecy doesn’t happen in an isolated vacuum, rather as part of community life. I have read so many good books on prophecy, but lots of them are generally focussed on how I as an individual can learn to hear God better for myself. I don’t believe you can practice the gift of prophecy healthily outside of community. The strategic part of my book is working through the questions “How can we hear God together and how can we grow this culture together?” I explore some practical ways to do this.
How does this book relate to the 3DM movement?
As I have worked with 3DM much more closely over the recent years, it’s been a huge opportunity to reflect on what God has taught me in the area of prophecy through the lenses of discipleship and mission. This journey is reflected in the book, meaning much of the perspective I write from is one of missional discipleship. So my hope is that anyone who is generally interested in the prophetic would be able to pick up this book and find it helpful, but also people who are already familiar with the DNA of missional discipleship will find it uses much of the same language.
One of the key questions the whole ministry of Accessible Prophecy seeks to help people answer is: “How can we grow a healthy, biblical prophetic culture that both resources discipleship and empowers mission?”
In this movement we are part of, we know that discipleship is all about asking, “What is God saying to me?” and “What am I going to do about it?” So teaching people how to hear God is a key part of discipleship! In addition, God is by nature a missional God; therefore if we are hearing his heart and responding to his voice, we will find ourselves being sent out on the mission field. So resourcing discipleship and empowering mission are two strong themes of the book.
Lastly, what would your hopes be for someone who picks up a copy of this book?
There would probably be two things: Firstly – realising the joy in hearing the voice of the Father. Knowing as a disciples that your heavenly Father is speaking directly to you and that you can hear the Shepherd’s voice is something I would want for everyone, and it’s why I have worked so hard over the years to equip people to do this as much as I can. My book is an expression of this.
Secondly – I would love this book to help people explore how they can become a church that embraces the prophetic. To me, this kind of church is a place where people are confident in hearing God for themselves and where there is a sense of individual and cooperate vision, inspired by hearing God together. But it’s also a place where the gift of prophecy is taken out in to the world and God’s word is released to others.
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