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Pastoral Prayer Support Teams

Posted by Jennifer Weed on March 27, 2010 at 1:30
Kevin Moore suggested I blog about praying for pastors, and this post actually started as a comment in a forum started by Phil Miglioratti (I hope I spelled that right. I did it without looking.), but it was getting so long that I turned it into the blog post that Kevin suggested. I think it is vital for pastors to have a prayer support team - more so than ever before, it seems to me, because of the times we're in and how the intensity of spiritual warfare has escalated.

When we started our pastoral prayer support teams at my church, some ministries tried doing it with the pastor emailing the prayer requests to the team, while other church ministries had a point person, or team leader, that sought them out to get the prayer requests from them. After about 2 years, the way that has worked best is clearly the ones who have a point person. Pastors are just too busy to try and remember to send out prayer requests to their team, and it's not something that they're accustomed to thinking about.

For the team that I lead for our worship pastor, Kevin Moore, I try to meet with him weekly to get prayer requests from him. I then email them to the team. There are some weeks that he just has to email me his requests because his schedule is just too full, and there are weeks that we skip all together. You have to find the schedule that works best for the pastor. The leader of the prayer team for our senior pastor meets once a month with him. Recently we have started having the team members hit "reply" to the email when they have prayed through the requests so that we can remain accountable to each other about our commitment to pray. It's been really cool to see how God has worked in the worship ministry and our worship pastor's life and family as a result of our prayers. Praise God!

One of the things that makes it safe, strong, and effective, is to remember that at no point is it about the intercessor. My mission, besides praying, is doing this intercession ministry in such a way that it actually ministers to the pastor and his family, and doing whatever I can to make his job easier. If it becomes a burden to him in any way, then it's not working. A verse that I think of for this is I Thess. 5:12, 13a - "But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work."
But the other thing to remember is that this is very much about relationship. Only in relationship can there be that safe, confidential sharing of prayer needs.

I have a lot more thoughts on the matter, but don't want to overwhelm you with too much to read all at once. I will share more later.
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A Team Effort

Posted by Jennifer Weed on April 2, 2010 at 12:21
Kevin's comment to my last post touched on a point that I meant to include. This has to be a team effort of all the intercessors who are called to support the pastor in prayer. It cannot and should not be just about the team leader (I actually prefer the term point person) praying for the pastor. Our team is an invaluable asset to me, as well. I know that the requests I present to them on Kevin's behalf are faithfully lifted before the Lord on a regular basis.

Because we are a team connected primarily through email, it was sometimes easy to feel like I was the only one praying for the requests, after all, the lie of isolation is one of the key lies the enemy uses to discourage intercessors. Kevin is the one who suggested that they start hitting the "reply" button to the emails once they had received and prayed through the requests, and that has been such an encouragement to me - to know that my fellow prayer warriors are standing in the gap with me for Kevin and his family and ministries.

God has really knit my heart to this team. I am hoping to work out a way for us to meet in person to pray for this ministry on a regular basis - hopefully once a month or every other month. I love knowing we're praying in our prayer closets "together", but it would be such a joy to be able to pray together face to face, for God's glory.
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More on Pastoral Prayer Support Teams

Posted by Jennifer Weed on April 1, 2010 at 23:45
One of the things I shared in my last post was about how the success of the prayer support team depended on a relationship between the pastor and the point person, or leader, of the prayer team. I feel the need to elaborate on that a bit. I'm going to share my personal experience, not because it's necessarily the right or best way, but because it's the way God showed me, and I hope something in it helps or encourages you if you are an intercessor trying to start a prayer support team, or if you are a pastor wanting this for your ministry.

First, the relationship does not nor cannot happen spontaneously, nor does the leader have to already be friends with the pastor. Like any relationship, it takes time to build. When I took on the role of team leader for our worship pastor, we were acquaintances at best. When we first started, getting prayer requests from him was rather difficult. I had to try and catch him before or after worship rehearsal, or try to get him to email me his requests (that didn't work at all). The time was always rushed and in the middle of everyone either getting ready for, or leaving from rehearsal, which made it hectic. The requests were mostly about the ministry, and it just felt...awkward. (Kevin, if you read this, sorry about that.)

However, I knew that this was something God had called me to do, and I prayed and sought ways to make this a better experience for both of us. Over the course of time, God led us to the method that works for both of us, but more importantly, God has knit our hearts together in friendship. It has made it easier for both of us, because I can ask him things that help prompt him to think of the things he needs prayer for, and it helps him to know he can trust me with the ministry AND family/personal requests, whether it's how to word a request the "right way" or whether it's to keep a specific request unspoken for a time.

Even though the prayer support works best in the context of a relationship, it is crucial that that relationship is clearly defined and boundaries are put in place. The relationship is not just a friendship, because the boundaries of a friendship can too easily get blurry. It is that of a brother and sister in Christ, if we are talking about the male pastor and female prayer team leader, which is my frame of reference. A vital component is accountability. My husband is aware of every time I meet with the worship pastor, and is fully supportive of my ministry for him and his family and ministries, and I do my best to stay lined up under my husband's righteous authority. Even though Kevin and I meet in his office now, the door is always open. I have a couple of prayer partners that I stay accountable to in regard to my thought life, my walk with God, and how my husband and I are doing. I cannot speak specifically to how Kevin stays accountable, but I do know that our pastoral staff is all about accountability, and so there is a system in place for that.

The relationship cannot be an exclusive one, even though it is a unique relationship. It has to include bothspouses. My goal from the beginning was to build a relationship with Kevin and his family, and for our team's intercession to minister to the entire family. Like I said in my last post, if at any point it becomes a burden to the pastor or his wife/family, then something is not working. It's a bit of a challenge simply because our 2 families don't move in the same circles because their youngest child is several years older than our oldest child. So meeting outside of church activities is important, I think. We have their family in our home for dinner from time to time to continue building on that relationship between our families.

I hope that helps any of you reading this. Being a part of this prayer team for our worship pastor is one of my favorite ministries that God has let me be a part of. It is such an honor to stand in the gap for him and his family, and it has been a delight to see the hand of God move on their behalf in relation to the prayers He prompts us to pray.
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