When was the last time you prayed for your pastor? For your church's ministry team? Here are three reasons that we should be praying for our ministers and staff teams. 
 

1. They are human and need God's grace

When it comes to our ministers it is far too easy to forget that they are just as reliant as we are on God’s grace. For all have sinned, all have fallen short, and all need Jesus.

We shouldn’t expect superhuman morality from our pastors, they are just like us: humans, slowly being changed by God’s spirit to reflect Him more.

2. They are responsible to God for their congregations

James 3 puts it like this “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 We all stumble in many ways.”

It’s a reminder that everyone stumbles before God, but those who teach are expected to be accountable for their congregations before God. It’s a hefty responsibility, one that they shouldn’t take lightly.

3. They are highly susceptible to burn out

We recently wrote on the Lifelong Ministry Development framework revealed at Synod Last year. This framework was created because there is a clear need for more support of ministers.  And the stakes are high - one person Southern Cross spoke to for this story said professional development and pastoral supervision saved his ministry.

In the few months it has been open,  nearly 200 ministers have signed up for the Lifelong Ministry Development pathway through its website, lmd.org.au.

"There's been a lot of talk about burnout of clergy and those sorts of things," Mr O'Brien says. "We think this is a proactive approach. We want to make it normal that we as gospel ministers are developing, making time to develop our convictions, our character and our competencies – and not feeling guilty about it."

Read here on what Sydney Anglicans are doing to support and develop ministers: [url=http://bit.ly/2tikcVY]http://bit.ly/2tikcVY[/url]

A prayer for ministers

Lord God,

Thank you for the sacrifices our ministers make to point us to Jesus. Thank you for the way your gospel has gripped their hearts, for the humble leadership they show. Thank you for the way they point us to you, for their insight and wisdom.

Please help us to respect them. Help us to respect and follow their leadership and allow them to show us where we need to grow.  

Please help them to rely on you. To be growing in faith always. To continue to care for your people with the right motivations. Comfort them in the hard times, help them to turn to you when things are going well.

Yours is the Kingdom and the glory, forever and ever.

Amen