Prayer for our next pastor

When a church is pastorless, no one knows who the next pastor will be. While we pray for the Pastor Search Committee regularly, has it occurred to us to begin praying for the object of their search?  Here is how I’m praying for our next pastor.…

Heavenly Father,

Please send our church a pastor who will be Thy choice first and foremost. Let him know it, let our search committee know it, and let the church be just as confident about it. May the pastor’s family be supportive also, and even excited.  And then…

–protect the pastor and our church from anyone who would rise up later and claim this was a mistake and try to oust him.  Dear Lord, protect Thy church.

Send us a pastor who will be loved as dearly as any pastor has ever been loved. This congregation wants to love its pastor.

Send us a pastor who will love us and hurt with us and agonize in prayer for us.  One who can preach strong sermons “with the bark off,” as they say, because we know he loves us.  We want to be loved by our pastor. And so…

–may we not sit back and demand to be loved, but take the initiative and love those whom you send to shepherd Thy people.  May we do it for Jesus’ sake.  O Lord, strengthen Thy church.

Please send us a pastor who is so sure of Thee and so certain of Thy call upon his life that he can endure the negativity which every pastor faces as a steady diet and yet still smile and love and laugh and sleep well at night.  We want him to be both gentle and strong.

And Father, please send us a pastor who can appreciate this city and its culture without being swallowed up by it.  One who can speak truth to racists of both extremes, materialists of all stripes, and the elite of every variety without becoming the target of one side or the pet of the other.  Let him love this state but be used of Thee to make it better than it is.

Please send us a pastor who loves our past but does not become its captive.  One who is humble and confident.  A servant leader. And at the same time…

–Make us a congregation that allows him to be himself, that does not compare him with previous ministers, and appreciates those qualities that make him unique.

Bless his family, Father, because relocating to another city, another state, and another church can be so stressful on wives and children.  Protect them and guide them in every decision, every step, every act.

We pray that our next pastor and his family will remain with this church for many years.  And may they so love and be loved that they forever look back on this as their very favorite place to serve.

For Jesus’ sake, by Jesus’ blood, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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