Prayers For Church Leaders – So Important
It should go without saying that many or most church leaders have a difficult job. They may be Senior Pastors, associate pastors of some type including pastors for children, students, senior adults, and worship leaders. Also, remember small group leaders, Sunday School teachers, and those who lead men’s and women’s ministries.
They are responsible for shepherding and or teaching their congregation and helping them grow in their faith. This is why it is important to pray for them! In this post, we will discuss seven prayers that can make a difference in the life of your church leader. These prayers are powerful and effective, and they can help your church leader to be successful in his or her ministry.
Prayers for our church leaders should be a common portion of our prayer life every day, or as many times as possible in your personal prayer life. A Christian believes that prayer can change things. Christians believe that their active and sincere prayers can help to bring strength, courage, and blessings to our church leaders. God hears the prayers of His church and will respond to the sincere and humble requests to guide, care for, and give wisdom to our church leaders.
So, as we talk about prayers for church leaders I want to begin this with a personal plea from the great Apostle, Paul, to the church in Thessalonica. He had just given them some incredibly important words about their faith, then he simple inserts this brief but meaningful request just before he closes the letter;
“Dear brothers and sisters, pray for us.”
1 Thessalonians 5:25
Here is another verse that applies. It’s a great passage in terms of praying for all, including our governmental leaders. However, it certainly applies to the leaders of our churches also as we desperately need our spiritual leaders to lead well.
“I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”
1st Timothy 2:1-4
One more point of scripture that I will remind us all of before we offer some example prayers for church leaders. Remember that even when we aren’t sure exactly how to word a prayer, or feel we can’t express ourselves to God as we would like, He still understands what we are asking.
As a matter of fact, we are told that the Holy Spirit, Himself, intercedes for us (and our leaders) in ways that are so deep that we could hardly understand. This is also from Paul in his letter to the early Christians in Rome:
“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.”
Romans 8:26-27
Prayers For Church Leaders # 1 – Spiritual Growth That Will Affect Others.
At the top of the list when we lift up prayers for our church leaders is to ask God to work to develop them spiritually. There are many things that are required of a pastor – I’m afraid there are too many to even be written on this page.
However, we know for sure, that just by definition of what they do, we need to pray for their spiritual growth. The most important part of their calling is to be obedient to God in leading, loving, and sharing the truth with people who need spiritual guidance in their lives.
Make that a priority in your prayers. Pray that as God helps develop their spiritual lives, they will in turn let that overflow to other leaders and volunteers around them.
– Reliance on the Holy Spirit and God’s Word
As a part of the spiritual growth, we can specifically pray that our pastors and other leaders don’t simply rely on their education or even their feelings about a subject, but learn to hear and rely on the Holy Spirit and what God says in His word.
– To Be Disciplined in Prayer and Study
Pray for your leaders to make time and be disciplined in their times of prayer and bible reading and study. Even more so than a “discipline,” ask God to give them a passion for prayer and bible study.
Example Prayer for the Personal Spiritual Growth of Your Church Leaders”
Dear Father, I want to thank you for (leader’s name) and for allowing them to be a part of our church. Lord, above everything else I ask that they be led by your Holy Spirit that is within them and has an overwhelming love for you that is nourished by prayer and study of your word. Thank you so much for working in their life. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Pray For Church Leaders # 2 – God’s Protection For Their Families
Another prayer that is so very important for our church leaders is to ask God’s protection over them both physically and spiritually. Obviously, you will want them to be free from physical harm and illness as much as possible.
You also want to ask God to protect their minds and hearts spiritually. You don’t want the enemy to attack them in any way spiritually in a way where they would fall into the enemy’s temptation of any kind. You also can pray that they are protected from being affected by false teaching or unhealthy biblical interpretations they may hear from time to time.
Pray For Their Spouses
If they are married, remember to pray fervently for that spouse that they will be a team in supporting each other and staying close to each other through the good times and bad times of ministry.
Pray for Their Children
If they have children, pray very hard that your leaders will not be tempted to put the well-being of the church above their first priority to their children as well as their spouses. Too many times children can grow up with either a mild or intense bitterness because they felt the parent cared more about church ministry than they did the child.
An example prayer for the Protection of your Church leaders’ families:
“Dear Father, I come to you now and ask for your divine protection over the life of (leader’s name) and their family. I ask that you keep them free of physical harm, illness, and disease. When they do have to go through trials and hardships I ask that you strengthen them spiritually, mentally, and guard their health. I ask that the spouse of (leader’s name) be supportive in the ministry but work with (leader’s name) to bring a healthy balance between home and church life.
I also pray a special prayer for the children of this leader (if any) and ask that you guard their hearts and minds and let (leader’s name) always show them the love and priority to them that is according to your will. Please bless and protect this family. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
Pray For Church Leaders # 3 – For God’s Wisdom & Discernment In Decision-Making.
This is just as simple as the title suggests. As you think of it, hopefully on a continual basis, ask God to give your leaders wisdom and discernment as they make decisions that affect people’s lives.
Here is an example prayer for this:
“Lord, we know that the enemy does not want our leaders to make wise decisions for themselves or our churches. But, Lord, we know that you do. As a Christian, we believe that you have placed the Holy Spirit inside of (leader’s name).
Please give him/her the ability to have keen discernment in the difficult manners as well as the everyday decisions that have to be made for the good of people inside and outside of our church.
As your word says may (leader’s name) be “‘..be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.’ Thank you for working in this leader’s life in this way. In Jesus’ name, Amen”
Pray For Church Leaders # 4 – Strength, Courage, and Peace When Trials Come
This topic is another one that is self-explanatory, so here is an example:
“Lord, Your word says that ‘on earth [we] will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.’ (John 16:33) We are asking for the truth of verse to be applied to our leader, (leader’s name). Certainly, a leader will have times of joy and times of difficulty.
I just want to ask that when those times of difficulty come, whether it is now or later in their ministry, please give (leader’s name) peace of heart, and the strength and courage to stand firm. Work in them so they will stand and do what is right according to Your word even in the face of adversity. I trust in you to do that and thank you for answering this prayer. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
Prayers For Church Leaders # 5 – Choosing The Path Of Humility
This topic is one that is easy to forget in prayers for our church leaders if we don’t put some thought into the process. Everyone wants their pastor or other leaders to have confidence in declaring the word of God and when leading and making decisions. But, a leader that gets overconfident and displays arrogance can really hurt the church and that particular leader. So, we want to pray that they will be both confident and humble. Jesus was the ultimate example of humility, yet He was also the ultimate example of Godly strength.
Here is an example prayer for this. It doesn’t have to be very long.
“Lord, we simply ask that (leader’s name) will stay humble in representing You and in leading our church. We believe that you showed us an example of great humility and leadership. Even if (leader’s name) becomes successful in the eyes of the church or community, I ask that (leader’s name) will know instinctively that everything good comes from you.
All the glory belongs to you and we ask that (leader’s name) will be a confident leader while realizing that we can only be truly successful if we walk in your power. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
Prayers For Church Leaders # 6 – To Be Effective Communicators of the Gospel
All of these are very important, but certainly, we do not want to omit a prayer for church leaders to be able to communicate the gospel effectively. Those who preach and teach, whether it’s to a large congregation or a small group in a home, want to be able to effectively communicate God’s word to others. Let’s pray that they will.
“Dear Heavenly Father, We know that we are living in a world whose primary need is to know you in a personal way – not just to know about you but to have a relationship with you. Please, work in the life of (leader’s name) so that he/she would communicate the Gospel in a manner that is clear and understandable to a small group class or a room filled with thousands.
Give (leader’s name) clarity of mind and the correct words to say when your word is taught. Most of all, as they communicate your word, I ask that (leader’s name) will be dependent on the Holy Spirit in every circumstance. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
Pray For Church Leaders # 7 – To Spiritually Motivate, Not Emotionally Manipulate People
This is one that might be overlooked in prayers for church leaders, but after about 3 decades of ministry, this topic became heavy on my heart. It may be a bit hard to explain, so forgive me if it takes a few paragraphs.
There are ministers who are great orators, can use soaring words to bring the crowd to a high, and then turn it into a gentle whisper and have you hanging on every word.
It’s great when a minister has great capabilities like that. However, God wants hearts to be changed and not just our human emotions manipulated.
Also, it’s common and has been for many decades for pastors to emotionally manipulate people into making decisions that they don’t really mean or are not yet ready to make.
I know I’m on a bit of thin ice here, but I’ve just seen it too much. If you are a preacher, pastor, teacher who must always see immediate visible results of your talk or sermon, you need to be careful.
This is especially true in churches that have what is called a “walk forward” invitation at the end of their service, or if the minister simply asks people to raise their hand if they made a spiritual commitment that day.
It’s a fine line that a minister must walk between spiritually encouraging someone to make a decision versus manipulating their emotions trying to get them to make a decision. Too many people make decisions and commitments that they don’t keep after being manipulated emotionally.
It’s also very easy for your Worship Pastors, worship leaders, etc., to do this. Beautiful music and lyrics can bring powerful emotions that can be a gift from God. However, I see competent musicians/worship leaders who rely on getting a big emotional response from the crowd. If the crowd doesn’t respond as the leader perceives that they should, then they may, in some way, whip up the crowd so they will display more emotion about the song.
I know this because at times I was guilty of it myself.
It’s awesome when our worship is filled with God-honoring emotions and it can happen frequently, maybe every week in our church services. However, I don’t think it’s so awesome if we, as worship leaders, try to manipulate the crowd in only a human capacity. It’s easy to get people to respond in a way where we can give a perceived impression that “there was a massive movement of God in that song.”
And, the truth of the matter is that it may very well have been a huge spiritual moment of blessing in that song that was orchestrated by God. Encourage the crowd to worship? Certainly! But, let’s just make sure that we let God be the true author of those moments, and let’s not be emotionally manipulative to the crowd in order to get or “feel” those special moments.
Here is a simple prayer that I might pray especially for my pastors and worship leaders:
“Lord, thank you that you have gifted your servants in many ways. Thank you for giving us our teachers, preachers, and musicians. We also thank you that you have given us the capacity for a wide range of emotions. We believe that we should be emotional about Your great love and compassion toward us.
Lord, I simply ask that my leaders – pastors, worship leaders, and others will know how to motivate me spiritually. We realize that some emotions that we might feel in a worship gathering might be more intense than when we are alone. We don’t ask you to take those moments away.
We simply ask that our leaders be sensitive to the Holy Spirit while giving encouragement for people to make a decision to follow Christ or even when encouraging Christians to worship. We want our spiritual decisions to be real and genuine. We want our worship to be the same.
Please give our leaders the ability to discern in these circumstances and we ask you to bless them greatly! In Jesus’ name, amen.
Prayers For Church Leaders – Just Getting Started
Well, that will just give you some ideas. There are many situations that your church leaders face that are quite unbelievable. They get put in decision-making situations that are very important and some of them come quickly and unexpectedly. They help people face the suffering of illness, difficulties in marriage, job loss, and literally hundreds of other situations that might arise in the lives of those they serve.
As you become more and more involved in your church you will find that your leaders will face many unique circumstances. Love them, encourage them, and pray for them in those circumstances. Lift up prayers for our church leaders frequently. God is listening.
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