A Prayer about Choosing Church Leaders

A Prayer

Dear God,

As I read the book of Acts, thank you for giving me wisdom and insight into how my church should choose church leaders. As elections come up for elder boards and vacancies occur in pastoral positions, I pray that you will guide my church to choose leaders who will build up the body of believers and reflect the heart of Jesus.

Please grant us the Holy Spirit to help us be unified in our choices and humble in our losses. Whether the candidates each individual chooses are elected or not, I ask that you help us to be gracious and supportive of one another.

Help us remember that prayer should be first and foremost as we select leaders that will honor you, honor their families, and honor the church. Please point us to scripture that indicates what you value most. May the people we nominate have Christian maturity (Acts 1:21-22, 1 Timothy 3:6) and trustworthiness (Exodus 18:21); be above reproach, faithful to their spouses, and able to manage their families well, convincing their children to be faithful Christians; be temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent, gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money, not in pursuit of dishonest gain, and in good regard with non-Christians (1 Timothy 3:2-4,7, Titus 1:5-9). If at all possible, please put people with all of these characteristics in our churches and give us the wisdom to be able to recognize their strengths and nominate them to the board of elders or select them as a pastor.

While all of these characteristics are all worthy of living up to, we do understand that perfection is lacking in humanity. Sometimes we find ourselves in places where we cannot find people who live up to this entire list. In these situations, I pray that you will guide us to the person whom you have chosen and help them to improve in areas where they are deficient. As we search for leaders with these qualities, please help us to recognize our own shortcomings and work on them as well.

May our church aim for high ideals and choose leaders who exemplify the qualities that you desire. Please help us all as we work towards becoming the kind of leaders and believers that you want us to be.

In Jesus name we pray. Amen.