Thom S. Rainer's Blog, page 38

Seven Ways to Be a Better Servant Leader for Your Church

The best leaders for the church are those who demonstrate a willingness to serve first. Is servant leadership necessary for every situation? No, but pastors and church leaders should have a default posture of service. If you’re not willing to be a servant leader, then you are not fit to have authority and influence within the body of Christ. 

Serve first; lead second. It should be the leadership theme of every pastor. I understand the tension with servant leadership. Serving a church means sacrificing. Putting others first means listening is more important than telling, empathy is more important than progress, and stewardship is more important than accumulation. 

Pastors must take the default posture of being a servant leader. What does this posture look like? I’ll share seven ways you can be a better servant leader for your church.

1. Take the initiative. When you know someone is hurting, reach out. Don’t wait on others to ask for help. Instead, make that extra phone call or visit. Send a text of encouragement when you pray for someone. 

2. Learn to offer genuine apologies. Most people recognize a fake apology the moment it is offered. Sincere apologies are rare. Servant leaders own their mistakes and genuinely say, “I’m sorry.”

3. Do not speak ill of others publicly. The pulpit is not the place to call out someone, and an insult exchange on social media is juvenile. With social media, smears are magnified. The world can potentially see them. Public put-downs are the tools of recalcitrants, not servant leaders.  

4. Seek out real accountability. One of the biggest missing ingredients in church leadership today is a willingness to be held accountable. Servant leaders seek accountability and do not wait for it to be forced upon them. This accountability must come from within the local body. For example, a church governed solely by an outside board only gives the appearance of accountability and does not have a structure that facilitates servant leadership.  

5. Give sacrificially to your church. A key part of serving is giving. If you are sacrificing for a particular people, then you will give sacrificially to the body to which they belong. 

6. Be the first to give up your personal preferences. Pastors are notorious for casting their personal preferences as vision. How many churches have change thrust upon them because of the lead pastor’s desires? Far too many. Listen first. Give up personal preferences. Create a shared vision. Then move the church in that direction together. 

7. Volunteer to do the menial tasks. Pastors and church leaders should carry more plungers and garbage cans. Great purpose and meaning are found in the menial. The highest perspective is often found on the lowest rung. 

The church requires servant leadership. Jesus demands servant leadership. God honors servant leadership. Pastors, let’s practice what we preach.  

 

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Why We Have Been Discouraged from Putting a Stake in the Ground for Smaller Churches

The idiom, “stake in the ground,” has its origins where someone would claim ownership, responsibility, or priority. For example, tent dwellers would put stakes in the ground to pitch their tents. Everything within the stakes was their land or home. Likewise, homesteaders would put stakes in the ground to mark off their newly claimed land.

At Church Answers, we have put a stake in the ground for smaller churches. In no way are we abandoning larger churches; we simply are being intentional about providing resources for smaller churches. That is our stake in the ground. 

When I was CEO of Lifeway, we put several stakes in the ground. For example, we created Lifeway Research so we could help churches and Christians understand trends and directions of congregations and believers. We created the Gospel Project, our stake in the ground for a theologically robust Bible study curriculum. We commissioned a new Bible translation, the Christian Standard Bible, our stake in the ground for a translation that balanced accuracy and readability.

As we have emphasized the importance and resourcing of smaller churches at Church Answers, we have heard from well-intending people that this emphasis is not a good idea. Let me share with you some of the objections. I will then comment with my responses.

“More people are attending larger churches.” Only 8% of American churches have an attendance above 250, but the majority of churchgoers do attend larger churches. So, we understand the objection. But we see a move back to smaller church gatherings. We would rather partner with smaller churches to help them reach more people rather than assume they don’t have the capability to grow.“It’s not good business to focus on smaller churches.” We get it. We would do better financially to put our focus exclusively on larger churches. One person suggested to us we could not stay in business with a smaller church focus. We may be naïve, but we are trusting God instead of a business model. We have already been blessed to have several individuals and churches donate to our sister non-profit organization, Revitalize Network (www.revitalizenetwork.org), to help us provide resources at a much lower cost.“Many smaller churches are barely surviving.” Again, that is a true statement. Instead of surrendering to the inevitability of church closings, we are choosing to do everything in God’s power to help these churches survive and thrive. And if some of these churches are indeed about to die, we seek to be a part of a great church adoption movement.“Smaller churches do not have the resources to train their leaders and equip their laity.” Again, this statement may be a current reality, but why do we have to accept such a hopeless condition as a future reality?  One of the reasons we launched Church Answers University (www.churchanswers.university) was to provide ministry training and theological education that is affordable, attainable, and achievable.

In the near future, I will share with you two more of our stakes in the ground: partnering with global churches and emphasizing personal and church evangelism. 

For now, hear me clearly. There is great hope for smaller churches. In many ways their health will parallel the health of all churches in America.

We believe in the smaller churches. We will partner with local churches. We believe in the leaders of smaller churches.

There is much hope for smaller churches. 

And we believe the best is yet to come.

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Planning a New Year in Ministry To Women

The start of a new year is always an expectant and exciting time to plan and dream for what God has ahead in the coming year. As you look at the 2023 calendar, I’d like to offer a few things to keep in mind as you think through vision, strategy, and planning for your ministry to women.

1. Celebrate the value and contribution of women in your church family. 

Women make up more than 50% of our faith families and are often found serving both inside and outside the church walls. Women often have unique needs that, as church leaders, we have an opportunity to help shepherd and develop them as members. Everything we do for women comes from a heart of wanting to move them closer to Jesus. When we remember that God is working, moving, and using women in their families, workplaces, and communities for His redemptive purposes, we remember the “why” behind the “how.”

2. Evaluate needs and past events, and dream up fresh starts.

You can’t help lead your women if you don’t know where they are or what they need. The beginning of the year is a great time to have intentional conversations to figure out what holes are in your ministry as well as where your women are spiritually, physically, and emotionally. I’ve done this a few different ways:

a. If you have a standing women’s ministry team, use them to have conversations with women in their small groups and areas where they serve to have specific conversations with women in the church.

b. Have a brainstorming session with key women of all ages and life stages over a meal to share what they are hearing and seeing in women of the church and how to increase involvement. 

c. Send a survey out through email and social media. 

d. One other practical way to do this is to have an evaluation form after events throughout the year that help to get feedback after events and studies. 

Through the feedback of your women, you will have the tools and information to see if some of your longstanding events need to be tweaked or maybe even scrapped from the calendar altogether, and you will have a guide to help you envision new ideas.

3. Complement, don’t compete with other ministries and the overall vision of the church. 

Ministry to women is only a part of the overall discipleship structure in your church. It is important to make sure that we aren’t competing with other ministries in the church and finding ways to naturally have them intersect for the overall health of the church. One big way to think through this is how children’s and women’s ministry feed off of one another. For example, my women’s Bible study numbers directly affect how many kids we have in our children’s activities, and so in planning, we make sure that our start and end dates align with both our student and children ministries. One other practice that is helpful when planning is to lay out a weekly calendar of what our members will be asked to commit to. A few well-executed events are better than an overcomplicated and busy calendar.

4. Plan with purpose & intentionality, offering a diverse offering of spiritual formation, community and connection, and opportunities to serve. 

The church’s main purpose is to equip and make disciples. A core tenet of growing disciples is through Bible studies, training, conferences, and discipleship groups to help bring the Word alive. At the same time, if we only spend our time in environments where we are only growing in knowledge, we are missing key elements to our formation. 

Community and connection are some of the key distinctions I see in ministry to women where we are able to help foster multi-generational relationships and offer moments to connect over shared experiences. Finally, opportunities to serve together help to reinforce the mission of the church and are ways women can use their talents and spiritual gifts for the good of others. 

5. Keep all women in mind, especially those outside of your own demographic.

There is a natural tendency to plan around the roles of women being moms and wives, and in doing so, we leave out so many in our churches who are walking through different seasons. As you plan your calendar year, make sure that you are looking through the lens of a teenage student, a single young professional living away from family, and the widow who can’t drive in the dark. As a ministry to women, the goal is to see, meet, and lead all women under our care.

I’m cheering for you as you expectantly serve your women, churches, and communities this upcoming year. I’d love to hear what you are looking forward to most! Leave a comment below or shoot me an email at jacki@churchanswers.com. 

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Fifteen Ways Lead Pastors Can Drive Their Staff Nuts

Lead pastors can have two personas. The congregation knows one. The church staff knows the other. While the goal is to be the same person around everyone, it does not always occur.

Most lead pastors will act differently around the staff they work with for hours each day compared to other congregants they may see in passing once or twice a week. This dichotomy is not necessarily bad. But things go sideways when the lead pastor plays nice with the congregation while poorly leading the staff.

Mistreating church staff places them in the awkward situation of not liking—or worse, detesting—the pastor the church loves. Here are some ways lead pastors can drive their staff nuts.

1. Pretend you know better than everyone else, especially in areas that require specialized knowledge or technical expertise you don’t have.

2. During meetings, don’t take notes and constantly check your phone. Better yet, do all the talking at “team” meetings.

3. Make up your vision as you go. Then, create fires to accomplish this short-sightedness.

4. Design a big, ongoing task for your team. Never mention it again. 

5. Create a bunch of drama over something minor. Call an all-staff meeting to discuss it.

6. Tell the staff one thing. Then tell the church the exact opposite from the pulpit in your worship services.

7. Never discipline anyone and try to be everyone’s best friend.

8. Listen to prominent and influential church members more than your direct reports.

9. Don’t tell anyone when you’ll be on vacation.

10. Tell the congregation, “The buck stops with me.” Then flee from intra-staff conflict. 

11. Create rules for the staff. Make exceptions for yourself.

12. Be more interested in denominational politics than in your local church.

13. Never address the elephant in the room. Instead, pretend it’s not there.

14. Be threatened by others that are more talented than you. To deal with your insecurity, reassign these talented people to ministry areas outside their talent.

15. Begin meetings with passive-aggressive devotionals that are spiritual on the surface but, in reality, are attacks on someone in the room.  

We love pastors at Church Answers, and we work daily to serve them in the best possible way. Most are incredible leaders. But sometimes problems start at the top. This list is extreme, yes, but it’s also helpful to self-evaluate.

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Seven of My Resolutions for the New Year

Many of us adopt “New Year’s resolutions.” I don’t necessarily use that terminology, but I do consider goals I want to set for the new year. I share them with you to help you think about some goals, too—but my primary reason is to ask you to pray for me in this new year. 

1. I will read through the Bible this year. I have done that for years using the same system (check here if you’d like to know what that system is), but I still have to recommit to it each year. 

2. I will memorize at least 25 verses this year. That’s one verse every two weeks. My church, though, has encouraged us to memorize 60 as a congregation, so I’ll meet this goal easily if I do what my pastors have asked.

3. I will grow in loving my wife like Christ loves the church—and ask her if I’m getting there. My pastoral mentor for years set this kind of goal, and I’m following his lead this year. The accountability with my wife herself should teach me much. 

4. I will serve through my church any way I’m needed. I set this goal because I want to be ready to do anything, regardless of what that role is. I’m accustomed to being the preacher/professor, so I’m typically in front of the crowd—but I must be willing to serve gladly even if few people know I’m serving. 

5. I will share the gospel at least once a week. That may sound like a hard goal to meet (and I suspect it will be), but I’m reminded there are many ways to share the good news—personally, electronically, etc. The goal is a response to what God is doing in my life in burdening me deeply for non-believers. 

6. I will pray like Jesus and the early church did. That, too, is a tough goal—but I need that challenge. When I recently wrote the book, The Potential and Power of Prayer, God simply overwhelmed me with my responsibility to pray with more intentionality. I want to make a difference from my knees. 

7. I will develop at least one hobby to help me relax and rest. I work multiple jobs, and I’m always busy—perhaps idolatrously at times. I know I need to leave things at God’s feet and rest more. The hobby I most want to work on this next year is outdoor adventure (camping, rock climbing, hiking, etc.). I want to rest in God’s grace, knowing His work goes on without me when I’m taking a needed break. 

What are your goals/resolutions for this year?  By the way, if you’re interested in “leading from your knees” in 2023, I encourage you to join my Church Answers six-month cohort called “Victory over the Enemy: Leading from Our Knees,” that begins in just a few weeks. We will look together at living and leading victoriously over the enemy.

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Bestselling Bible Translations at the End of 2022

It is a fascinating exercise to see which Bible translations are preferred in the United States. This data comes from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, whose methodology is comprehensive and fair.

I am comparing the 2022 end-of-year data with another summary I did in June 2021. In other words, the comparative rankings are 18 months apart. The numbers in parentheses are the rankings as of June 2021.

1. New International Version (NIV) (1)

2. English Standard Version (ESV) (4)

3. New Living Translation (NLT) (3)

4. Christian Standard Bible (CSB) (6)

5. King James Version (KJV) (2)

6. New King James Version (NKJV) (5)

7. Reina Valera (RV) (7)

8. New International Reader’s Version (NIrV) (9)

9. New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) (not ranked)

10. New American Standard Bible (NASB) (not ranked)

No longer in the top ten bestselling translations:

The Message (Message) (8)Nueva Version International (NVI) (10)

 

Observations:

The biggest surprise is the drop in the King James Version from 2nd to 5th.  It is a significant drop in just 18 months. If this ranking becomes normative, it behooves us to do a deeper dive to understand why this translation has fallen from favor for many Bible readers.The biggest beneficiaries of the KJV decline are the English Standard Version, the New Living Translation, and the Christian Standard Bible. All three of those translations are relatively new in the history of English translations.The New International Version remains the best-selling translation. Though we don’t have market share data, we anecdotally surmise that the NIV is losing market share to the next  three translations (ESV, NLT, CSB). There has not become a clear-cut “heir apparent” for the number one ranking if the NIV does indeed lose its place as the best-selling translation. Based on our conversations with church leaders, we could see either the ESV or the NLT taking the top position. Both of these translations have been in the second spot at different months of the year.We were surprised to see the NASB return to the top ten rankings after falling out 18 months ago.Disclosure: Church Answers has a partnership with Tyndale and the NLT. Also, I was the CEO of the company that commissioned the CSB.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this information.

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Five Leadership Resolutions for Your Church in 2023

New Year’s resolutions are often self-focused. It’s understandable. Successful people often reflect on who they are. They try to be more self-aware, and they desire to develop themselves. So, good leaders often make resolutions involving individual goals, desires, and objectives.

But what about the people around you? Good pastors will consider those around them. This year, rather than making resolutions about you, make them about the people around you. Here are five areas to consider in making specific leadership resolutions that benefit your church members this year.

Serve first. Everyone in an organization, from top to bottom, serves the mission. As a leader, you cannot serve the mission without serving others. The best leaders are passionate about a mission, and they are willing to serve others who join them on that mission.

These leaders realize organizational and individual goals cannot be attained with an attitude of “me first.” Leaders who show the way by serving others (as opposed to being self-serving) help create a culture of sacrifice for a mission. Resolve this year to serve the mission by serving your church members and staff.

Simplify work. Many people look for ways to simplify their lives this time of year. But the mantra to simplify lasts about a month before the complexities of life sneak in by Groundhog Day. One of the best gifts a leader can give followers is simplicity. Complexity may dominate your followers’ lives in every way, but you can grant them simplicity in the one area in which you have control. Managers who simplify work for their subordinates often create more work for themselves. Resolve this year to simplify for your followers, even if it means more complexity for you.

Release problems. Some problems are unsolvable. This dilemma becomes a significant hurdle for leaders who have an innate desire to fix everything. Unfortunately, idealistic leaders will often present good solutions to the wrong problems.

Sometimes the “best” solution will not work. In some instances, followers may never grasp the best solution. Let it go. Leaders serve people, not ideals. Resolve this year to release your church members and staff from the burden of idealistic solutions to unsolvable problems.

Yield preferences. Most followers have a keen radar for the personal preferences of a leader, especially when these preferences are spun as vision. Leaders have positional authority over followers, and those in charge have more opportunities to voice opinions and vocalize what they like.

The best pastors find ways to create a collective vision with input from various church members. They do not champion their preferences as the vision for all. Resolve this year to yield your personal preferences and build a collective vision from a variety of followers.

Recognize pride. Humility is the most difficult leadership trait to see in ourselves. The opposite of humility, pride is the most destructive leadership predisposition. Great leaders never stop fighting the battle to recognize pride and remain humble. It’s the quintessential leadership struggle. We stand on a sliding scale somewhere between healthy humility and unhealthy pride.

Even at our best, determining where we are on this scale is tricky. We rarely recognize our pride until it’s too late. Followers often see it long before leaders become self-aware of arrogance.

Great pastors appoint accountability partners at all levels of the church to call attention to potential problems originating in pride. Resolve this year to put measures in place to recognize prideful tendencies and give key people around you permission to call out problems associated with your pride.

Leadership is a gift from followers. Graciously accept this gift by resolving to serve the people around you by putting them first. Make 2023 the year of serving others.

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Ten Major Trends for Local Churches in America in 2023

It is one of many blessings God has given me.

At Church Answers, we hear from tens of thousands of churches, church leaders, and church members every year. We are truly blessed to have our “ear to the ground” to hear what is taking place among the estimated 350,000 congregations in America.

We take each piece of data (we call them “dots”) we receive and connect the dots to understand developments in the present that will become trends in the near future.

Here are ten of the most common developments we’ve discerned. They will likely become trends in 2023.

1. Local congregations will emphasize evangelism more than at any point in the past three decades. Church leaders understand they can’t lead a church to growth with cultural Christians (a true oxymoron) and transfer growth. If churches desire truly to make disciples, they must begin with evangelism.

2. The increase in the growth of diversity in congregations will be its greatest ever in 2023. Millennials see a monocultural generation as out-of-touch. Gen Z cannot imagine anything monocultural, especially a church.

3. The year 2023 will be a record year for church adoptions. An adopted church is a congregation that comes into the family, care, and authority of another, usually healthier, church. Of course, more churches will seek adoption because they are about to die and close.

4. More churches will have specific global partners. Churches in America will seek to partner with churches in other nations, particularly where the gospel is spreading the most rapidly. This trend is more than an increase in mission giving; it is an intentional and strategic partnership with a specific church or churches.

5. The time between pastors for churches will be longer than ever. I can remember when a long-term interim period was twelve months. Today, many churches have these interim periods for two to three years or more.

6. The number of interim pastors will be greater than ever. This trend is obviously a corollary of trend number five. Some of these interim pastors are preachers only. Others are considered “intentional interims” with consultive roles as well as preaching.

7. More churches will request consultations than at any point in American church history. For example, we get ten times more requests now at Church Answers than we did just three years ago. Congregations are more willing or more desperate to seek outside help.

8. Church autopsies will be the fastest growing area of research in American churches. I wrote Autopsy of a Deceased Church in 2014 and the demand for the book began growing again in 2022. Thousands of churches have closed, and we are trying to discover the reasons for their death.

9. More pastors and staff will become bi-vocational and co-vocational. The latter term usually refers to those who chose to remain in the marketplace. Bi-vocational pastors are those who have work outside the church because their church could not compensate them with full-time pay.

10. More pastors and staff will get their theological and ministry training in the church. This trend has been growing the past decade and will continue to grow even more in 2023.

Yes, American churches have many challenges. But I see a lot of hope in the midst of these challenges.

My prayer is for your church to become a hope-filled congregation in 2023!

Thom

Check out these three resources:

To become a certified church consultant To get my book, Autopsy of a Deceased Church , on sale To provide theological and ministry training for your staff and key lay leaders

 

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Why Churches Resist Change from New Pastors (and What You Can Do About It)

“It’s my first week. What should I change here?” Perhaps new pastors don’t vocalize the question, but I know they think it. The default setting to change something is only natural for a good leader. Having a vision means being dissatisfied with the status quo. 

“The search committee said they were bringing me on to make needed changes. Why is the church resisting the obvious?!”

Why have so many pastors’ honeymoons ended after the first few months? Resistance to change is one of the largest hurdles in leadership. I once had a handful of pencils launched toward me when my tweaks to a potluck dinner were discovered. I learned not to mess with potlucks. Luckily the pencils weren’t that sharp. No blood, no foul. 

Every church leader has been there. We’ve all met the resistance. Here are a few reasons why people resist change.

You are the change. New pastors often miss this fact. Even if you change nothing—and I mean absolutely nothing—in your first year as a pastor, people will still experience a huge change: you. You are not new to yourself, but you certainly are new to the people of the church. Any change efforts you introduce in your first few months are only magnified by the fact that people are still trying to get to know who you are. 

Technical change and cultural change. When people say they want change, they often mean technical changes. Technical problems require specific expertise. For many, pastors are seen as the hired expert on hand to work through technical problems. People desiring technical changes ask these questions: Can you ensure my curriculum is in my room? Can you see that church is not so hot in the summer? Why haven’t I received the newsletter? These questions involve small technical changes, but often people desire significant technical changes too, like a new building. 

Technical changes are important. If you pastor a church of any size, then you must manage the organization of people. Few people, however, understand that lasting change is cultural, not technical. A technical expert does not solve cultural problems. If you are a leader, then you’re most likely gravitating toward the cultural changes you believe need to be made. That’s what leaders do. They challenge the status quo. But you must realize that very few people in your church default to cultural changes. There’s a reason why some things get embedded in the culture of a church. Most people find them acceptable. Early in your leadership, win people over with easy technical changes before launching into significant cultural changes. 

Lack of trust with those who propose the change. Just because people like you and send encouraging cards in your first month doesn’t necessarily mean they fully trust you. Even when people respect the office of pastor, not knowing the person who fills that spot often leads to a cautious acceptance from the congregation. Respect and trust are two different mindsets. People may respect you while not fully trusting you. Earn their trust by honoring their respect before making big moves. 

Belief that change is not necessary. It’s a fundamental question: Do the people I’m leading even recognize the need for change? If the current way appears successful, then the evidence of a problem is hidden from the plain sight of the people. As the leader, you may have the advantage of inside organizational knowledge. A knowledge to which the average churchgoer may have zero exposure. Before implementing a change effort, you must show people the hidden problem. 

Belief that change is not feasible. Even if everyone agrees that change would be good, not everyone may agree that change is possible. It’s easier to show people the problem than the feasibility of fixing it. Getting people to agree on a common problem is not enough. To enact lasting change, you must also show them how the solution is feasible. 

Loss of position, status, and power. People will resist a change effort if it reshuffles the power alignment. Rare is the person who willingly gives up position, status, or power without some resistance. This resistance makes sense. If someone challenged your position, then you would likely resist that effort as well. Though people are rightly repulsed by the idea of the church being a political organization, forming political allies is necessary within every organization. Before you challenge the current power structure of a church, serve and befriend the power brokers. If you can win them over, then you will have their help in enacting long-term cultural changes. 

Threats to values and ideals. People react emotionally when you challenge their values and ideals. When change is viewed as an assault on a current set of ideals and values, you can expect widespread resistance. These values may not be what’s formally published in the constitution and bylaws. The only way to uncover these values and ideals is to spend time with different people. Detached pastors will never know the unspoken—yet well-understood—values of their congregants. 

Change is likely to occur when the people within an organization believe the benefits of making the change outweigh the costs of making the change. This attitudinal shift doesn’t come easily or quickly!

We cover topics like this one every day in Church Answers Central – the world’s largest online community for practical ministry support. Get 24/7 answers to your church questions. Join a vibrant community of nearly 2,000 church leaders in a safe environment. Connect with top church health experts like Thom Rainer, Chuck Lawless, Sam Rainer, and others like you. Become a member today !

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10 Folks to Remember at Christmas

As we look forward to Christmas this year, don’t forget that Christmas isn’t easy for some folks. Here are some to pray for (and even reach out to) this year. Your gift of love might make a difference. 

1. Those who’ve lost loved ones in the past year. The first Christmas after a death is often hard. It’s certainly different when a loved one is not in the room. 

2. Those who’ve suffered some other deep loss this past year. That loss could be something like a home destroyed by fire, a friendship broken by unforgiveness, a family shattered by divorce, or even a long-term job ended by a “pink slip.” 

3. Those who have family members serving overseas as missionaries. Most families of missionaries I know are supportive of their calling, but it’s not always easy when kids and grandkids are time zones away on Christmas. 

4. Those who have family members serving in the military away from home. Their reasons for being away from home are different from the missionaries in #3, but the family sadness at Christmas still happens. 

5. Those family members who are serving overseas in various capacities. We should pray not only for their families here in the States (#3 and #4), but also for those folks whose callings and responsibilities have taken them far from home. 

6. Those facing terminal illness for whom this Christmas may be their final one. None of us knows the Lord’s ultimate timing for us, but sometimes we have a good sense that the end is near. This Christmas celebration can be sweet and sad at the same time. 

7. Those who have wayward children who likely won’t be home for Christmas. Those parents grieve, too, sometimes in unique ways. They cling to hope that this might be the Christmas for return and reunion, then weep when it doesn’t happen.

8. Those wayward children connected who won’t be home. God knows where they are, and He knows what they’re facing. All need our prayers, and their hurting parents will be grateful to know we are joining them in prayer. 

9. Those caught in poverty. They want to give gifts to each other, but they cannot afford basic needs. The glitz of Christmas only magnifies their poverty. 

10. Those pastors living in a difficult and painful ministry. At a time of year when they are to be leading their congregations to rejoice, it’s tough to celebrate. They often feel loneliness and despair they must cover up for a season. 

Church Answers readers, would you take a minute today and pray for some of these folks? If possible, connect with them and let them know you’re praying for them. 

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