Phrases like “presence-centered community” or “culture of prayer” or “prioritize God’s presence” mean different things to different people. Is a presence-centered community one where God is doing miracles, healing bodies and releasing his power as people lay hands on each other? Are we prioritizing God’s presence because we do 45 minutes of worship on Sunday instead of 20? Do we have a culture of prayer because we have launched a prayer meeting or two? Do we have to pray and worship together every day for it to count? Do we have to go 24/7 for it to be a culture of prayer? Or do our Sunday church services have to feel like prayer meetings? Where do we draw the lines and how do we explain what we mean?
These phrases are not biblical phrases, so we can’t look at biblical definitions. But we can look at biblical examples to demonstrate what we mean. Below are three biblical examples that I would give to explain what I mean by “presence-centered community.”
- The Heavenly Throne Room. Revelation 4-5 describes the heavenly scene where everything orients around the One on the throne and the Lamb. Musical, antiphonal, extravagant, day & night praise, worship and prayer are happening constantly. All eyes are on Him. The heavenly community is “presence-centered”, to say the least. Jesus taught us to pray for earth to be like heaven. Heaven is our north star in all of this.
- David’s Tabernacle. During his reign, King David revolutionized Israel’s worship to reflect the heavenly throne room. He instituted musical, antiphonal, extravagant, day & night praise, worship and prayer around the Ark of the Covenant in his tent in Jerusalem. I Chronicles describes Israel’s resources and priority going towards ministering to the Lord and sustaining that tent/tabernacle of worship. This foreshadowed the Christian worship that Jesus is awakening across the nations of the earth.
- The Church at Antioch. Acts 13 describes the believers at Antioch uniquely embracing ministry to the Lord, with fasting and prayer, in an ongoing way. I believe that Antioch is the prototype for a mature Christian church in the New Testament, even more so than Jerusalem. Their church was embracing the values of the tabernacle of David in the New Covenant. Antioch became the birthplace of cross-cultural Christian missions ministry and Paul’s apostolic missions base.
So when I say “presence-centered” or “culture of prayer” I mean churches and ministries that are aiming to build in a way that reflects these three communities in Scripture. A presence-centered community is heavenly, Davidic and Antiochian in its collective values, culture and practices.
One of the distinctives of these communities is that they consistently and corporately engaged with God through worship and prayer as their primary activity. In God’s presence together, He would speak to them and lead them into their (individual and corporate) ministry assignments. As I’ve said before, prayer was not on their agenda, prayer set the agenda. That’s the difference between enjoying God’s presence vs. being presence centered. Or between having a prayer ministry vs. having a prayer culture. Most churches and ministries acknowledge that prayer and worship are important. Far fewer are willing to slow down, pray first, seek Him and let Him lead them together from His presence into mission.