I got an email from a small group leader this week who told me that her and her husband pray for me and my family regularly. This was a nice surprise!
Not that I don’t get encouraging emails—I do. But rarely do I receive an email letting me know that someone is praying for me. As a pastor, I don’t hear those words often. So when I do, it means a lot.
Prayer is one of those things that you don’t expect from someone, but it is sure a huge encouragement when you learn that someone has been bringing you, your family, your concerns, and your ministry before the Father.
In his classic work Spiritual Leadership, J. Oswald Sanders writes, “The spiritual leader should outpace the rest of the church, above all, in prayer.”
I pray regularly for our small group leaders and for their groups. I pray for their faithfulness to Christ. I pray for their personal needs that I’m aware of. I ask God to work in them and through them as they shepherd their small group. I don’t often, however, tell our leaders that I’m doing so. Perhaps I should?
As I considered this couple’s faithfulness to me, my family, and my ministry at our church, it caused me to consider a strange question; do you know if someone is praying for you? Is someone you minister alongside lifting you before God in prayer? Is one of your small group brethren interceding on your behalf? If not, would it be too weird to ask someone to do so regularly?
This question requires humility and vulnerability, but it might be critical to you, your family, and a future of a healthy small group ministry.
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