3 Bold Prayer Goals for Pastors

By Dr. J. Kie Bowman

What does a pastor’s prayer life have in common with bullet holes in the side of a barn? An old story, known as the “Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy” describes a boy shooting at a barn then painting “bull’s-eyes” around the bullet holes. In the shooter’s “laissez-faire” approach to life, the bull’s-eyes, or goals, were meaningless. People who set goals, however, are different. Goal setters paint the “bull’s-eye” first.

Setting goals is a healthy way to measure progress in sports, business, and education; but goals can be effective tools to improve your spiritual disciplines as well. With that in mind, consider these three bold goals for your prayer life.

Pray for regularity in your personal prayer life

If you ever struggle to maintain your prayer life as a pastor, you’re not alone. In fact, you’re in the majority! Current research shows that 3/4 of American pastors admit they need help with the consistency of their own prayer lives.1 In light of this glaring need, it’s easy to see that the first goal for a pastor is to increase the effectiveness of his own prayer life.

In the most famous prayer in history, Jesus advised us to pray for our “daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). It’s impossible to pray “give us this day our daily bread” if we’re not praying daily. Step one, therefore, in prioritizing our own prayer lives starts with a commitment to pray every day for the rest of our lives.

Next, a pastor’s prayer life will never grow by accident. Just like every other believer, pastors must intentionally commit to prayer. That commitment will necessarily require a definite time on your calendar and a specific place known for its privacy and solitude, so that your personal prayer life can flourish (Matthew 6:6).

Some may be tempted to resist a disciplined approach to prayer; but reflecting upon his own highly effective ministry, the late Billy Graham regretted not spending more time in prayer. In addition to wishing he had spent more time in Bible study and with his family, the evangelist said, “I would also spend more time in spiritual nurture, seeking to grow closer to God so I could become more like Christ. I would spend more time in prayer . . . ”2

Pastors are busy people; but if we’re too busy to pray, we are too busy! No wonder Leonard Ravenhill said, “Failing here, we fail everywhere.”

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Pray for your church to be a House of Prayer.

What is the blueprint for a New Testament church? One pastor said, “Everything in the book of Acts happened at a prayer meeting, after a prayer meeting, or on the way to a prayer meeting!” How important is prayer in the life of today’s church?

Armin Gesswein, a key mentor in Billy Graham’s ministry, once observed, “When Jesus ascended into heaven, all He left behind on earth was a prayer meeting.” When we consider that the early church started in the upper room after ten days of prayer (Acts 1:11-14), we recognize how accurate Gesswein was and how far from the path we’ve wandered.

Most churches still devote some time to prayer in their Sunday services, but there is a gargantuan difference between praying at church and being a praying church. Even the “prayer meeting” at most churches is on life support. In fact, according to recent studies, prayer meetings have disappeared completely from the majority of churches.3 Leading a life-giving prayer meeting isn’t the only step in building a praying church, but abandoning the prayer meeting, which was an essential practice of the early church, is a doomed strategy.

Corrective changes never happen by accident or immediately. As a pastor, you need to do your research and discover from other pastors who excel in leading praying churches, how to create a prayer culture in your own congregation. Be persistent in every effort to lead people to pray because as C. H. Spurgeon once advised pastors, “If a church is to be what it ought to be for the purposes of God, we must train it in the holy art of prayer.”

Pray for pastors and churches to pray together for revival and awakening in your community.

Do you pray for spiritual awakening and revival? Another great goal to set would be to begin praying for God to send revival and awakening in your church and city.

What if you regularly joined with a few other pastors and started praying and planning to blanket your city in prayer through the churches?  California pastor Mark Rogers has written, “. . . we should regularly meet together and pray for God to revive his people and save the lost. . . .  God can and does work in extraordinary ways, and the Bible teaches that God works in response to fervent, united prayer.”4

When pastors lead their churches to pray together with other praying churches, they have taken a significant step toward revival in their city. City movements of prayer are already occurring in cities across America and there are reproducible principles to learn from them.5  The only thing needed to get started is a praying pastor willing to recruit more praying pastors who will pray, plan their work, and work their plan. God will bless your efforts!

If pastors devote themselves to these 3 goals, they will deepen their spiritual lives and significantly improve the quality of their congregations and communities. Where it all ends is unknown until it is attempted, but how it begins is clear. Pastors must set goals for prayer. Now, go shoot at a few bull’s-eyes for Jesus!

Footnotes:

1 Aaron, Earls, “Pastors Identify 7 Spiritual Needs for Their Life Ministry,” Lifeway research, March 22, 2022, https://research.lifeway.com/2022/03/22/pastors-identify-7-spiritual-needs-for-their-life-ministry/

2 “Notable Quotes from Billy Graham,” Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, November 5, 2009, https://billygraham.org/story/notable-quotes-from-billy-graham/

3 Aaron Earls, “Survey Reveals 90 percent of Churches Meet on Wednesday Nights,” Baptist And Reflector, September 17, 2019, https://baptistandreflector.org/survey-reveals-90-percent-of-churches-meet-on-wednesday-nights/

4 Mark Rogers, “Edwards, Revival, and the Necessary Means of Prayer, IX 9Marks,” June 14,2022, https://www.9marks.org/article/jonathan-edwards-revival-and-the-necessary-means-of-prayer/

5 Kie Bowman, “How churches can lead a city of prayer,” BPToolbox, Baptist Press, October 27, 2023, https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/bptoolbox/how-churches-can-lead-a-city-of-prayer/

Resources for Further Reading:

Armin Gesswein’s classic With One Accord in One Place: The Role of Prayer in the Early Church.

City of Prayer: Transform Your Community through Praying Churches by Trey Kent and Kie Bowman.

Join the Church Prayer Leader Network for help in becoming a praying church.