Women Operating in Prophetic Ministry
Women’s Ministry at the IHOP Missions Base We have had a number of women in our midst who have made profound, accurate, and edifying contributions to our prophetic ministry. While much of this has been behind-the-scenes service to our leadership team, we are enthusiastic about women moving in the prophetic arena. The limits and extent of a woman’s function on the prophetic team are the same as those of a man. We do not give prophetic people a prominent public platform—men or women. We have a growing number of women who are anointed to speak the Word publicly. They speak at our conferences, church services, and in our full-time Bible school as well as our music academy. Our prophetic network consists of about two hundred fifty people who regularly receive dreams, visions, and prophetic words from the Lord. The oversight of this network is provided by our Prophetic Council. This council is made up of both men and women who help nurture the people in the network in their prophetic gifting as well as listening to their prophetic revelation to help us discern the interpretation and application. This prophetic network is designed to provide encouragement, training, and helpful correction to those who regularly receive prophetic information from God.
Stereotypical Women Stereotypes, prejudices, and unfair biases are commonly directed against women. This mind-set greatly hinders the work of God. Some of these deeply imbedded stereotypes in male-dominated cultures exist in the church as well. We need to clearly and boldly identify these false stereotypes so that we can renounce them. However, more and more male leaders in the church can see the great impact that women are having in the kingdom of God. We highly esteem the ministry of a mother in the home. However, we believe that women are also called to function in public ministry outside their home. There are also stereotypes about women and their psychological makeup. One common stereotype is that they are very intuitive but don’t have the proper restraint to control the emotional side of their nature. I don’t think this is a fair stereotype. I do believe that some women can be described that
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