Pastor’s Prayer Partners

Wouldn’t you like for your church, ministry organization, or ministry team to pray for you daily?

I know you want to pray for them daily as well. We all need the strength and power that results from the prayers of other believers.

Feeling the enormity of the ministry and calling upon him, the Apostle Paul unashamedly asked the church in Rome to pray for him.

Romans 15:30 I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. (Paul gives his specific prayer request in verse 31.)

Why should you pray for your leaders? There are many reasons but here is one that Paul shared with them…_Romans 15:32 so that I may come to you with joy, by God’s will, and in your company be refreshed. _As a leader, I want to be refreshed in the company and fellowship of others. Like Paul, when I arrive, I want to show up with “joy”! I don’t want to show up tired, stressed, grumpy, and run down. I believe the prayers of others will allow us to continue to minister in the “joy of the Lord”.

After describing the hardships, he faced, Paul boldly declares that: Jesus has delivered him, Jesus will deliver him, and Jesus will continue to deliver him! Not only does Paul give praise to Christ Jesus, but he also acknowledges that the gracious favor that will be granted to him will come in answer to the prayers of many.

2 Corinthians 1:10-11 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.

Leaders, just like Paul asked the church to pray for him in Romans 15:20, I highly encourage you to ask your people to join you in your ministry struggles by praying to God for you, daily. I think this is a great partnership. Prayer Partners! You may be surprised at how quickly they join you in faithful daily prayer. They really do want the best for you and your family and praying for you and your ministry on a daily basis will allow them to feel more of a part of what God is doing through you and your ministry.

I also encourage you to find some way to pray for your church or team daily. This may be more than you can handle without some help. We have four pastors on staff, so we can divide our church into four groups. We tell the church that every day one of the pastors will be praying for them. We swap group lists quarterly so that by the end of the year we each have prayed for all four groups. When we swap lists each quarter we email each group for any updates, praise reports, and remind them that we are praying for them.

We also give them updates on our needs and specific things that we would like them to pray for us and our families, the staff, ministry leaders, or the church in general.

Inspired by the book “Pray For Your Pastor” by Bill Purvis, we established a yearly system called Pastors Prayer Partners at Believers Church. We invite our entire church to partner with us as we pray daily for them, and they pray daily for us as the leadership.

This is an example of how we invite them to participate.

1) “Pastor’s Prayer Partners”. Today, I’m inviting you to sign up to be a Pastor’s Prayer Partner, but I only want you to do it if you will be seriously committed to it.

A) You will commit to pray for your pastors’ needs, their families’ needs, and your church daily.

• You will pray that God will protect your Pastors physically, morally, mentally, and spiritually.
• Pastors will update you with specific prayer requests for them and their families.
• You will pray for Believers Church’s health, growth, and protection.

B) The Pastors will also commit to pray for you daily.

• Write on the provided card two to three specific things that you want God to do for you this year. No one will see these requests except the pastors.
• We will pray for you this year as you are praying for us. We will all be partnering in prayer.

2) “Pastor’s Prayer Partner Team”.

1. This team commits to praying for the Pastors and Church daily as part of Pastor’s Prayer Partners as well asgather every Sunday before each service to pray for the Pastors, the ministry teams, the teachers, and the service in general asking the Holy Spirit to move in the lives of the attendees.
2. The team prays 30 minutes prior to the service, 8:30 or 10:30 am in the Next Step Room. They may also attend one, serve one and pray during the entire service. (Attend one service and stay and pray for the next service vice versa.) It’s great to have people praying as each service is going on.

We give everyone in attendance a small commitment card that looks like the one below.

Pastor’s Prayer Partner Commitment Form

Name: / Address: City/ States / Zip: / Birthdate: / Email: / Cell: /Other Phone:

• I commit to pray for my pastors’ needs, their families’ needs, and my church every day.
• I commit to join a Pastor’s Prayer Partner Team in prayer 30 minutes prior to at least two services per month to pray for God to move in the service.
• I commit to attend one, serve one and pray during the entire 1st or 2nd service once a month.
• I commit to being an active part of corporate prayer meetings at Believers Church.

This year I would like the Pastors to pray for me daily concerning these areas in my life.

Will You Pray for Me?

Without shame or pride, I humbly ask you, the reader of this article, to pray for me. I need all the prayer I can get! I also ask you to pray for all our Pastors, staff, and leaders at Believers Church of Statesboro.

As I’m writing this, I’m asking the Lord to bless every reader of this article with the full blessing of God, only found in Christ Jesus!

I pray Ephesians 1:17-21 over you as you pray for me.

I (will) keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe.That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

In Jesus’ Holy Name. Amen.