Five Prayers Every Pastor Should Pray for His Church

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

The longer I serve in pastoral ministry, the more I see and experience the need for prayer. Just the other day, I was talking through an ongoing issue in our church culture with our Associate Pastor. We are already teaching about it on Sunday mornings and in small groups but have seen little change. But rather than continuing to strategize like I would have when I was younger, I finally shrugged and summarized, “I think we need to keep praying about this.”

It’s not that prayer is a last resort. Nor is it that we won’t continue to think deeply and consider if there’s a different angle we should come from as we lead the church toward growth in this area. It’s simply that I now realize there are some things that will never change without God changing hearts in response to prayer.

Pastoral prayer and the heart of God

Jesus taught this to the disciples, who were frustrated and baffled by a ministry situation. They had done all they could, but it just seemed they were at a dead end. They had a desperate father who needed ministry and a little boy who was extremely ill due to demonic oppression. But they also had religious leaders arguing with them (Mark 9:14). Jesus later explained to the disciples privately why their leadership was impotent: “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer” (Mark 9:29).

No matter what the challenges are in your church right now, remember what Jesus told that father: “All things are possible for one who believes.” (Mark 9:23). In prayer, we believe and ask God to help our unbelief (Mark 9:24). Here are five things that will only happen in your church by prayer.

1. Pray for the lost to be saved

“Salvation belongs to the LORD” (Jonah 2:9). The miracle of salvation is one of the things about ministry that brings us the greatest joy. Yet for most pastors, there are seasons of prayerlessness for the lost. Jesus came “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). So, you can expect that He wants to save people in your community. Some years we plant seeds, water, reach out to the community, and just don’t see the fruit. But praying consistently that God will save the lost reminds us that we are reliant on Him for salvation. It also gives God glory when unbelievers turn to Christ.

Sometimes, when I have noticed that I am lacking in compassion or prayer for the lost in our community, I will go write my sermon for a few hours in an area where I know a lot of unbelievers tend to gather. Your local coffee shop or library could be where God breaks your heart to pray regularly for the lost in your community. Brothers, pray for God to do the miracle of saving the lost!

2. Pray for believers to be matured

Besides evangelism, one of our primary missions in pastoral ministry is to mature the believers (Colossians 1:28). This is one reason that God gave you to your church (Ephesians 4:12)! There are truths you will mine out of Scripture this year that could be exactly what someone in your congregation needs to take that next step of faith or obedience. Yet, without prayer, it is like planting seeds every Sunday and in every counseling session and never watering them. Prayer is the water and fertilizer that God uses to bring spiritual fruit out of the preaching of the Word.

Just imagine what God could do in the hearts and lives of your congregation, if He answers your prayers for their spiritual maturity. Marriages may become joyful again, parents may get back to discipling their kids, church members may serve, people may come to church hungry to be fed. Brothers, pray for God to do the miracle of maturing the believers in your church!

3. Pray for the leadership to lead humbly

One of the dangers of our calling is that we could lead our churches (and even have growth or what appears to be success) and yet not please the Lord or reflect Him if we lack humility. “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). One of the best ways to cultivate humility in ourselves and the leaders in our churches is through prayer. In the very act of prayer, we acknowledge that we don’t have all the answers or all the power to do what only God can do.

In my ministry, it is often after prayer that God has shown me blind spots or brought an answer to a ministry need through someone I never would have expected. Jesus could have demanded service, yet He wielded a towel and basin. We lead like Jesus if we are growing in humility. Brothers, pray for God to do the miracle of making you and your church leadership being humble leaders!

4. Pray for the church to grow in joy

One of the marks of a mature church is a deep sense of joy. We can pray for God to give our churches joy. Then, when unbelievers visit, they will want this joy that the world cannot offer (Luke 2:10). We can pray for God to give our churches joy that is not surface-deep but rather deep like a glacier, because it is joy in God! We can pray that God would give our church joy that is Spirit-produced as we worship the living God on Sunday mornings together (Psalm 4:7).

One of the callings of pastoral ministry that has an apostolic pattern in Paul is to work with your church members for their joy (2 Corinthians 1:24). This is an area that my church has seen a lot of growth in over the past decade. One of my greatest joys in ministry now is to see the joyful fellowship happening during snack time on Sunday morning after worship. Change can happen through prayer. Brothers, pray for God to do the miracle of your church fellowship growing in joy!

5. Pray for the glory of God to be the goal

God’s glory is the ultimate goal of ministry (Romans 16:27). So, it is in tune with God’s purposes to spend time praying for God to be glorified in our churches.

In Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian church in Ephesians 3, he prays for supernatural strength for them to understand the depths of the love of Christ. Then he prays a prayer for God’s glory to be seen in their church through God doing more than they can imagine: “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:20-21). What a prayer to echo for your church! Brothers, pray for the glory of God to be the goal in all things in your church!

Just as I was recently talking with our Associate Pastor about a challenge in our church and we remembered to pray about it more, we also have recently seen several direct answers to prayer. Things that seemed impossible have been accomplished by God.

What answers to prayer could you be thanking God for a few months or a year from now? Start with praying for the salvation of the lost, believers to be matured, humble leadership, joyful fellowship, and the glory of God to always be the goal!

©2025 Tim Counts. All rights reserved. Used with permission.