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How to Pray for your Pastor
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Christians need to pray for and with each other. But we particularly need to support Christian leaders, whether in the church, or in society.  Church leaders face many challenges - balancing the roles of pastor, priest, preacher, church leader, and administrator, besides other roles they may have such as husband or father. Those Christians in secular leadership positions face the challenge of remaining true to the gospel in a complex and difficult world.  Like it or not, Christian leaders will have cast upon them heavy burdens of expectation, with society ready to condemn any weakness or mistake.

"The best way to fire your pastor,
is to pray for them!"
We should expect our leaders to be men and women of prayer, but we should equally expect to support them in prayer.  Our recent global survey on prayer estimated that fewer than one quarter of churchgoers pray regularly for their church leaders. Here we offer some thoughts that may help you pray for your leader in your personal prayer time through the week. If you have more than one leader, you could spend a week praying for each one.
Through the week..... Monday - Pray for them as pastor - bringing the love of Jesus to those around them, shepherding their church members. Tuesday - Pray for their preaching ministry, that they wo uld hear, and believe God's word, and proclaim in faithfully - being effective in their communication.
Wednesday - Pray for their leadership role - seeking future vision, and leading the church into that vision, encouraging and enabling church members in ministry.

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 Thursday - Pray for their own walk of faith - for their prayer life, for their faith, that they would grow spiritually and in their love for God.
Friday - Pray for their personal time - for relaxation and renewal, to avoid the pressures and stress of ministry. Saturday - If your leader is married, pray for them as husband / wife, and if appropriate,  as father / mother. Otherwise pray for their relationships with those who are close to them. Sunday - Pray for them as they lead worship, and in their roles as church leader - particularly their relationships with church members, and any relationships that are difficult at this time.


Prayer for leadership is the spiritual equivalent of filling a balloon, giving the church the potential to grow in its mission, following the wind of God's Spirit.  Two things will help this :
- the whole church, or as many as possible, sharing the task of praying for their leadership,
- praying for the broader leadership in the church, not just those who are in full-time positions of leadership or who are ordained.

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This material is copyright to The Teal Trust, (www.teal.org.uk) � 2002, but may be reproduced with permission for non-profit use.