Community Listening Prayer is a shared spiritual practice in which a group intentionally listens for what is on God’s mind and heart for their community—His desires, His invitations, and the specific works He is calling them into. This practice is rooted in the Three Means of Grace:

• The Spirit (revelation and illumination)

• The Bible (the authoritative Word that tests and interprets revelation)

• God’s People (discernment through the Body)

At its core, this is a seeking-the-will-of-God practice. It is not passive. It is active, relational, and ongoing.

1. Ask, Seek, Knock (Listening to the Spirit)

We begin by asking God for revelation—what He desires to show us now and what He wants us to keep seeking over time. We listen with openness, humility, and expectancy. We record whatever God brings to mind:

• Scripture verses or biblical stories

• Words or impressions

• Internal nudges

• Images or metaphors

• Dreams or recurring themes

• Sense of burdens or joys God is highlighting

These are not final conclusions but starting points—seeds we commit to pray over, revisit, and explore as a community. Listening becomes a continuing posture, not a one-time moment.

2. Search the Scriptures (Testing & Illuminating)

Like the Bereans, we take the revelation back to Scripture. We ask:

• Does this align with the character of God revealed in Scripture?

• Do biblical themes, passages, or patterns confirm or illuminate what we sensed?

• How does the Word sharpen, correct, affirm, or refocus our listening?

Here, Scripture becomes:

• The plumb line that keeps us anchored

• The interpretive lens that clarifies what the Spirit is saying

• The confirmation of God’s voice and will

Revelation is never meant to stand alone—it is strengthened by Scripture.

3. Process With God’s People (Discernment in Community)

Because the Spirit speaks to the Body, not just isolated individuals, we bring everything we’ve received to one another. Together we:

• Share what we heard

• Notice patterns, common themes, or repeated Scripture

• Reflect on how insights develop over time

• Discern what seems to be from God and what may need to be set aside

• Ask: What is God forming in us? What is He sending us into?

Community provides:

• Safety (we don’t discern alone)

• Confirmation (God often speaks in harmony)

• Accountability (we follow what God reveals)

• Unity (the community receives one shared direction)

Discernment becomes a collective journey.

1. The Gathering Practice — all three means of grace together

In one meeting:

• We listen (Ask, Seek, Knock)

• We open the Scriptures

• We process together

This creates a concentrated moment of corporate listening.

 2. The Ongoing Practice — sustained listening over time

Between gatherings, individuals and smaller groups continue:

• Listening

• Searching the Scriptures

• Recording insights

Then, in periodic community gatherings, we integrate everything that has accumulated:

• What patterns do we see emerging?

• What confirmations has God given?

• What clarity has sharpened over time?

• What next steps or obedience is God calling for?

This creates a long-term communal discernment process that matures with time and repetition.

“What is God speaking to this community?” Not just in one moment, but over weeks, months, and seasons. As we faithfully listen, test, and discern, we learn to recognize:

• God’s invitations

• God’s warnings

• God’s timing

• God’s assignments

• God’s heart for our community and the people around us

This slow, attentive, communal listening becomes both a means of spiritual formation and a pathway of obedience that aligns the entire community with God’s purposes.

The Humble Posture of John the Baptist: Direction Comes From God Alone

This kind of discernment is rooted in a foundational truth that John the Baptist declared when people questioned his ministry:

“A person can receive not even one thing unless it has been given to him from heaven.” - John 3:27 (NASB 2020) 

“People cannot receive anything unless God gives it to them.” - John 3:27 (EASY)

John’s response is much more than a theological statement—it models a humble stewardship of calling, purpose, and direction. John understood:

• His ministry came from God, not from himself.

• His role was assigned, not self-chosen.

• His influence and opportunities were given, not earned.

• His identity and purpose were received, not invented.

And because of that, he could walk in clarity, peace, and surrender—even when his role began to shrink and Jesus’ role began to expand. His life teaches us that direction, purpose, and assignment flow from God, and our role is to receive, not to manufacture or force outcomes.

Applying John’s Wisdom to Communal Discernment

Like John, a community seeking God’s purposes must embrace:

1. Humble Reception (not ambition) - We do not decide our mission; we receive it.

2. Patient Discernment (not hurried activity) - God’s purposes unfold over time, often gradually, as the community keeps listening.

3. Stewardship (not ownership) - We hold the direction God gives with open hands, managing it faithfully but never claiming it as our own.

4. Submission to Jesus’ Increase - Like John, we recognize that Jesus must increase, even if it means our preferences, agendas, or previous assumptions must decrease.

The Result: A Community Aligned With Heaven

When we discern like this—slowly, humbly, prayerfully, collectively—our direction becomes:

• Heaven-given, not human-driven

• Spirit-led, not personality-led

• Biblically grounded

• Communally confirmed

• Sustainable over years and seasons

And the community becomes shaped by:

• Obedience

• Unity

• Clarity

• Dependence on the Spirit

• Alignment with Jesus’ mission

Just as John the Baptist received his assignment from heaven, so every community of believers must learn to receive, not invent, its calling—through an ongoing posture of listening, searching the Scriptures, and discerning together.