Establishing CONECT in Cities

Jesus prayed we would be one in John 17.  Yet we’ve seen pastors coming together for unity over the past two decades and we’ve not seen cities transformed as much as we hoped.  Why? It is because unity for unity’s sake can lead to compromise.  What has been lacking is a local purpose.  Ephesians 3:10 says the purpose of the Church is to show forth the manifold wisdom of God to principalities and powers.   The primary goal is not unity, though unity is required and expected.  In Desert Storm I saw the typical infighting occur until the shooting war started.  When we all realized we had a common objective and a common enemy, then I saw teamwork and unity like I’d never seen.  Every city is unique and Satan has a unique strategy employed against each city.  Local Church and Christian leaders (church, government, business, education, professional, technical etc) need to determine the:

Why?  Because there is a war, a heavenly conflict that we are involved in.  Only after God’s unique purpose for the church, ministry, business or city is determined, along with the disposition of enemy forces opposing it and the location and capabilities of friendly forces, can an effective strategy be developed.  This is actually a description of the first principle that must be applied when any army goes to war.  It is the principle of objective.  

C.O.N.E.C.T. stands for the Christian Outreach Network Establishing City-wide Teamwork.  It is wisdom that enables local leaders to develop strategic apostolic plans based upon the Biblical Principles of Corporate Spiritual Warfare.

CONECT unites the churches in a city around the highest common denominator.  It starts with prayer because Christians can agree that God’s house is to be called a house of prayer for all nations.  CONECT was designed for a time when churches in a city would begin working together to establish 24 hour houses of prayer, praise and worship and when apostolic ministry centers would emerge.  It was designed for a time when a passionate people would come forth seeking the face and presence of the Lord.  It is all about seeking a habitation instead of a visitation.  As we embark on a quest for His presence the Lord will speak to us about what His purpose is for each individual, each ministry, each business, and each city.  CONECT accomplishes a number of things simultaneously.

Implementing CONECT in a city or ministry:

Establishes a strategic communication center that improves corporate communication, teamwork, and the stewardship of prophetic reports.  This will prove to be a foundational element in the emerging apostolic ministry centers as corporate communication is absolutely essential in war for gathering intelligence, counter intelligence, defense and launching offensive operations.

In Ezekiel 37 we see the body come together bone to bone and joint to joint, then sinew, flesh and skin covered it, then breath entered it and it rose on its feet a great an mighty army.  

CONECT is like sinew in the body of Christ.

Each city is made up of various local churches and each church is unique.  Some excel at praise and worship, others at teaching, some at evangelism, some at healing, others at outreach to the poor and homeless and the list goes on. 

There is a revelation coming in the body of Christ with regards to the name of our God as “Lord of the Hosts” or “Lord of the Armies.”  Wars are not typically won by individuals.  They are won by armies.  Armies are made up of different divisions, battalions, companies and units based upon skills or their area of operation.  

In war each unit and person has a specific mission to accomplish but they all work together in order to accomplish the overall objective.  It is also extremely important in war to know who is operating in your theatre of operations, know who is on your flank etc… because operations need to be coordinated in order to be as efficient and effective as possible. 

CONECT helps leaders in a city identify the various units the Lord has deployed in their city.  Some of these units are:

In any military operation there is a staff that supports the admiral or general responsible for that operation.  That staff is composed of officers who specialize in certain areas.  One of those officers is a Communications Officer who oversees the communications which is absolutely essential in any operation.  Also, each unit in the field typically has one or more people trained as communication specialists.

In CONECT we see the Lord drawing the Christian leaders (gatekeepers) of a city or region together in an unprecedented manner.  CONECT provides the tools and training necessary to establish a strategic communication center to support any leadership team’s operations.  Any ministry can benefit from the small house church, to the large local church, to many local churches in a city working together to establish 24 hour prayer.

In cities where no practical unity exists CONECT seeks to establish corporate teamwork and prayer.  In cities and regions where there is a measure of teamwork and prayer is already established, CONECT seeks to improve their effectiveness through improved communication and strategic teamwork.  CONECT does not usurp anyone’s authority.  Instead, it drives responsibility and authority down to the lowest level possible and facilitates teamwork and cooperation. 

Four Simple Steps to Start

The overall concept for CONECT is very simple.  It is only four steps that can be applied in a local church, a city, a country etc.  The steps are:

1. Build the wall of prayer

   1. Each family or church prays for two others

   2. Every person does their share (Eph. 4:16)

   3. Disciple your people

   4. Training in personal prayer life development

2. Establish the Watch  

   1. Training for intercessors, watchmen and prophets

   2. Be a good steward of your peoples time, efforts and reports

   3. Coordinate the efforts of those who watch and pray, prayer walk and do research

3. Assign a person to function as the Communication Center Coordinator (CCC) in each local church and a CONECTer in each city.  

   1. Training provided for the administrative communication plan

   2. Tools

4. Leaders seek the Lord for strategy based upon up to date spiritual intelligence.  

   1. Training on the Biblical Principles of War taught to military leaders for over 2500 years

   2. Learn to think, act and plan strageically

1 Timothy 1:18 “This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, “  The word for warfare comes from the Greek word strateuomai and it means apostolic campaign.  (See 1 Cor. 10:3-4)

CONECT is all about helping you, wage a good warfare in your church and in your city.

If you would like to learn how to CONECT your church, click here.

If you would like to learn how to CONECT with other churches and leaders in your city then click here.

If you would like to help us CONECT churches in cities around the world, click here.

If you want to just do one of the steps like:    Books/CDs on how to: 

Build  wall of prayer - click here

Set the Watch - click here

Become a Certified Communication Center Coordinator or CONECTer - click here

Leaders - trained to think, act and plan strategically like an apostle or admiral - click here

 

To inquire regarding ministry, delivering Spiritual War College courses, or a CONECTing the Church Conference in your city or church click here.

For those taking the online course, see the course content below.

In the last decade there has been a great increase in corporate expressions of prayer and intercession like Prayer Summits, March For Jesus, Praying Through the Window (10/40), 40/70 Window Prayer Initiative, A.D. 2000 Prayer Track, Watch of the Lord, etc. Today the trend towards corporate expressions of  prayer continues with prayer walking, spiritual mapping, establishing 24 hour prayer centers, restoring the Watch of the Lord and city-wide prayer gatherings. This has led to an influx of information to church leaders from prayer warriors and intercessors. The trumpet has sounded in our land. Church leaders are gathering to seek the Lord for strategies in prayer, evangelism, church planting, and missions. 

God is called Lord of the Hosts (armies) 245 times in the Bible. Revelation is coming forth in the church today to know Him as Lord of the Armies and Captain of the Hosts. CONECT was developed with a military view in mind. It seeks to answer the following questions:

CONECT will assist any church as they build The Wall of Prayer and in establishing the Watch of the Lord.  CONECT has been strongly influenced by the author's experience as a naval officer in Desert Storm while serving on the admiral's staff. It was the admiral's responsibility to maintain communications with all naval units and armed forces in his area of operations, to track those forces, gather intelligence on enemy forces, display the intelligence in a concise manner, and develop and implement strategy based upon current intelligence and resources at hand. However, none of this could be accomplished without excellent communication lines.  To see the practical steps, teaching, training, and administrative plans go to the 4 Practical Steps to Implement CONECT..

The church today is involved in a battle with eternal consequences and to the victor go the spoils. The issue at hand are the souls of men and women, and heaven or hell. The trumpet is being sounded for the gathering of church leaders in cities and nations so we can devise and implement strategies at the Lords direction. CONECT was developed as a tool to enable Christians to connect with:

Once the people and churches are connected then communication lines are established. Using Nehemiah as a model, CONECT provides the leadership with:

CONECT is a simple tool that acts like a ligament that joins the various parts of the body together. 

The key to its use, is that is provides a system that is easy to use, it is easy to reproduce, and it can be adapted by local churches or ministries to establish lines of communication through the use of a strategic communication center. The body cannot function properly unless all its parts are in their proper place and are communicating with each other and the head. Without communications an army cannot function effectively. That is why it is an age old strategy in warfare to knock out the communication centers and cut communication lines. You will find that when an army's communication lines are cut, so are the supply lines. When communication centers are knocked out, the army is left with out direction, intelligence, and defeat is close at hand. No great campaign can succeed unless there are reliable communications between the various units, their officers, and the general staff.

If you want to implement CONECT to establish a strategic communication center in your church or city then go to the 4 Steps to CONECT or check out our Certified CONECTer/Communication Center Coordinator Training in our War College.

Lord I pray that we acknowledge that the Captain of the Host is Jesus and we honor and esteem those men and women in the body of Christ whom He has appointed as officers in His army and has given them assignments as five-fold ministers, elders, deacons, saints, business people, government officials, homemakers, teachers, public servants....... Lord, you are a man of war (Ex. 15:3). Your stir up your zeal like a warrior (Isaiah. 42:13). You are coming forth in the Day of The Lord with Your army of mighty men. Everyone marches in formation as a strong people set in battle array (Joel 2:1-11). Everyone is in their place in rank and file.

Lord I thank you for the great and mighty army you are raising up in this hour. I pray  each of us will hear your specific assignment and we would respond to the call, get in our place and stay there, fulfilling our function and giving you all the glory. I thank you for the divine wisdom and strategies you are giving us in these days. Lord, I pray that we would receive and understand your character displayed in your name as the Lord of Hosts.  Pour out your spirit of wisdom and revelation upon us (Ephesians 1:17-21).  In Jesus name.

Tim Taylor