4 Things To Pray For Our Pastoral Search Committee:

We need to be in constant prayer for our pastoral search committee. We need to be praying for the committee because Satan Hates Search Committees:

Our adversary, the Devil, doesn’t want a search committee to succeed. Consider the goal of a committee: to find a godly pastor to preach God’s Word and strengthen his kingdom here on earth. A search committee, then, seeks someone to oppose the works of the Evil One, to speak truth against his lies, and to snatch slaves from his death-grip.

Here are four specific things to pray for.

1. Unity

Pray for the unity of your committee. There are many potential areas for disagreement, both small and big. Members will have to figure out which qualifications are negotiable and which aren’t, and what makes for a good sermon. Some will like things about a pastoral candidate that others don’t like at all. Some are willing to overlook things about a candidate that others aren’t. Unity is essential for the committee. If they aren’t united, they’ll struggle to settle on a pastor to call. And their disunity will spread to the rest of the church, likely creating wider discord.

2. Spiritual Strength

Spiritual attacks can easily overwhelm a pastoral search. Pray for your committee to stand strong. Pray for them to seek Christ in the midst of the many distractions, challenges, and hardships they may face in their personal lives. Pray also for their families—Satan will often attack them as well.

3. Wisdom

Pray for your committee to filter through the many resumes to find the pastor who best fits your church’s needs. Pray they’d set aside distractions and secondary issues and focus on what’s important. Pray they’d be able to quickly identify pastors who wouldn’t be a good fit for your church. Pray for the many decisions they must make.

4. Endurance

The search-committee process is a long process. It takes most churches at least a year to find a new pastor, some even longer. People will regularly ask, “Why haven’t you found someone yet?” The committee will ask themselves the same question. They’ll grow weary from the work and discouraged when the applicants don’t fit their standards. Pray for your committee members to have endurance to find the pastor you need.

It’s a great privilege to serve on a pastoral search committee. But it’s also hard work. It’s work that keeps committee members from their families. It’s work that often breeds disagreement and even discord among the members. But most of all, it’s work the Evil One wants to frustrate.

So pray for your church’s search committee, making supplication to the Father on their behalf. They need your prayers more than you know.