Every now and again I like to share an example of a pastoral prayer from Grace Fellowship Church. I do this because there are few examples of pastoral prayers online and I thought these may serve to inspire themes, passages, or ideas as other pastors and elders prepare to lead their churches in prayer. Please feel free to use or to adapt these prayers however you see fit. Here is one pastor Paul Martin prayed before our church not too long ago.
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O God, we thank you and call on your name. We glory in you, our God, our strength. You have told us to seek your presence continually, and we do that now. You have told us to remember the wondrous works you have done, and we do that now. You are our God, and there is none like you. You never promise what you will not keep. You never fail, regardless of how small and insignificant we might appear. You have a people, purchased by the blood of your Son. And you will bring them all into glory.
But Lord, we have sinned and failed and doubted this week. We have not been who we are in Christ. We have loved the world and ignored Your word. We have forgotten you by thinking so much of ourselves. Please forgive us. We are sure you will. Just as you plucked Israel out of Egypt, just as you rescued David from the giant, just as you snatched Paul on the road to Damascus, you have saved us. Redeemed us. Called us. Purchased us. Predestined us. Foreknown us. Justified us. Glorified us. We are yours! And all of our hope is in you. We believe we will stand in the Day of Judgment only because of your precious Son. He has done all of this for us. Even more, he has given his life in exchange for ours. O Great God, hallelujah, what a Saviour!
And now Lord, we desire this Good News of your salvation to extend through all the earth. Bless our city. Let us see more conversions. Bring the lost into this place and let them meet you here. Save our children. May all who grow up hearing the gospel, believe it entirely. Save our lost spouses and co-workers and friends and enemies and neighbours and the people we commute with and the ones at the coffee shop. Bless the work of the pregnancy care centre. Give them both money and staff to let every woman in Toronto know that she is not alone, that the life she carries is precious, and that abortion is not her only option.
Bless New City Baptist Church. Use Pastor John Bell to herald Jesus today. Encourage them as they run their VBS, and let them see fruit to their hard work. Cause your Gospel to advance all through Canada, we pray. Make Canada a Christian nation. Not for political reasons or societal gain, but for the glory of your great Name. And O God, receive our gifts to you today. What we give is an expression of how much we love you. Take it, please. Use it to your glory and for good in the world. Thank you for blessing us so that we have something to give you. That is so kind of you.
Now, God, prepare our hearts to receive your Word. May it change us. What good is hearing it unless it does that? Wash us, shape us, refine us, shatter our misconceptions about you, reconstruct our values, make us different. Make us less, and you more, for that would be best of all. And do all this for Jesus’ sake, we ask. Amen.