Praying for Your Future Leaders

Anyone who has worked as a boss, or a manager or someone who has had to hire someone into a place of leadership understands the importance of finding the right leader. In the church it is no different. We need good, godly leaders to lead our churches and ministries no matter how big or small. The most vital and important aspect for a church and choosing its leader is prayer.

Luke 6:12-15
"One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles: Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor."

We all know Jesus would often withdraw to solitary places to pray. Here it is no different. But it is not where Jesus prays but why he prays that is significant. Luke indicates that Jesus prayed the entire night. For what? "When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them."
Jesus prays for those whom God would appoint from disciples (pupils, students) to apostles (sent out"ones). This was a big decision. Jesus would use these men to be the witnesses of his ministry (see Acts 1). Notice that there were many disciples. Jesus had multiple disciples following him (as indicated by Greek plural of the word) and he chose (elected) twelve. He didn't choose everyone but he spent time praying about who those twelve would be.

A similar situation happens in Acts 1:13-23. Here Jesus has ascended into heaven and the apostles are looking to fill Judas vacancy. They are gathered together "constantly in prayer." While the apostles do have a specific criteria (or resume) for those who can be an apostle (see 1:21-22), they still see the priority of prayer. They narrow it down to 2 leaders and instead of making a off the cuff decision or taking the coolest guy, they pray. But look at their prayer: "Lord you know everyone's heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen." The apostles are now modeling what Jesus had done for them in Luke 6! They know God knows everything. He knows the inner hearts of man. They ask that HE would elect or choose the leader best to represent Him.

We should do the same with our churches. Churches have fallen to pieces over bad leadership or poor decisions in picking the wrong people to lead. We must immerse ourselves in prayer about our leaders. This not only applies to staff or pastors but to our small group leaders and our volunteers. If prayer is vital and important for Jesus and his disciples in regards to leadership then how important should it be for the church today?

Be Blessed