By Ps Lim Wei-en
This weekend, being Church Council elections weekend, let us show our support and affirmation for the incoming team of elders and deacons through this prayer, adapted from 1 Timothy 3:1-13.
Our great and mighty God,
Thank You for saving us through Your Son Jesus and incorporating us into His Body, the church. Thank You for providing for us with faithful shepherds over the years, under whose leadership we have been taught Your Word, equipped for service, and led to fulfil the Great Commission.
We give thanks for the nominees who are standing for election into the Church Council. Thank You for these men and women of faith who have availed themselves to serve You. For those who will be elected into the Church Council, we thank You in advance for their leadership, and we lift up the incoming elders and deacons to You.
We pray first for those who will be chosen as elders. Sanctify their ambitions so that they will aspire to be faithful and loving overseer, which You have declared a noble task. May they be above reproach, faithful to their spouses (if married), temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable. May they exhibit the fruit of the Spirit that comes from a life of walking in the Spirit. Grant them understanding and wisdom as they meditate on Your Word, that they will be able to teach the church Your ways. May they not be given to drunkenness, be not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. May they be deeply content in all that they have in Christ Jesus.
Bless and protect the families of our elders and grant them peace. May those who have aging parents be given strength and patience to care for them. May those who have children be given wisdom and grace to raise and guide them in such a way that it will be a joy for the children to obey them. May our elders’ conduct in the home, marketplace and society be blameless and upright, so that they will be people worthy of respect and who have a good reputation with outsiders. May they be kept from deeds of sin and disgrace.
In the same way, we pray for our deacons to live lives worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain. Keep their lives free from the love of money, the allure of self-indulgence and the threat of addiction. Ground them in the deep truths of the faith so that they may serve with integrity and a clear conscience, pursuing holiness in both their private and public lives. Keep them free from gossip, slander and the use of harsh words. Instead, may they be encouragers and builders of lives. May they be known for being temperate and trustworthy in everything.
Bless and protect their families from the snares of the evil one. May our deacons be faithful to their spouses (if married) and manage their children and household well. May they aspire to be excellent in their service for You and Your people, so that they will gain a good standing in the church, and be assured that they are on the right track in their faith in Christ Jesus.
Lord, fill our Council with Your Holy Spirit, so that they may always abide in Christ, experience the joy of their salvation, serve You wholeheartedly and with Your strength, lead with Your wisdom, count it their honour to make sacrifices for You, and be exemplary models to the rest of the church. Help them to simultaneously find contentment in who You have made our church to be, yet be bold to dream bigger God-shaped dreams for our church. May Your peace which surpasses understanding, Your presence which never leaves nor forsakes us, and Your power that flows from the Spirit of the resurrected Christ be theirs – for the term of their leadership and beyond.
Use this Council for Your glory!
In the name of Jesus, the Cornerstone of the Church, we pray, Amen.