Each day, countless numbers of lay people respond on your behalf to the gentle nudging of the Holy Spirit. They pray for you and listen not only to the voice of God but listen for it. And when they hear His call, they answer.

Their prayers are as diverse as their backgrounds, but they are as unified as the One who prompts them into action. Some are energized by personal experience; the words of others are formed only in obedience to what He asks. One appeals for wisdom, another for strength or encouragement. Your health and well-being and your family's are regular petitions. The content of many prayers has meaning only in the context of spiritual language.

These prayers flow from the heart of God, but they are offered with the concern of those you serve. We in the pew care about you and are concerned that you not attempt to fulfill your responsibilities alone. Yet we recognize we have made it more difficult for you to share with us. Still, we realize the mantle of ministry is a garment that is not to be worn by the pastor or teacher alone, but it was meant for the entire Body. So we seek answers to the questions of our concern.

When the demands of ministry weigh heavily upon your shoulders, who shares your burden? When spiritual warfare is most intense, do you have capable soldiers to fight by your side? When you need a listening ear to help you work through the hard times of ministry, who sits with you as a quiet confidant, withholding judgment but generously sharing comfort and encouragement? Is there a Joshua in your fellowship to fight battles at your command? Do you have sufficient Aarons and Hurs to raise your arms with sustaining strength until the victory is complete?

There are no easy answers to these questions. It is one thing to acknowledge your need for laity to assist you and quite another to identify those who are capable of fulfilling such trust. Therefore, we pray for you that the gap between need and fulfillment will not be insurmountable.

Heavenly Father, You have called us all to Your work, but You have asked those who serve as pastors to walk a special kind of obedience. We pray now for our pastors and for all the needs that are unique to their calling. Give them a deep assurance that what they do is worth the cost. Teach them to know what it means to rest in their work.

Send people of faith to minister to our ministers. Call us, the laity, to such a ministry. Give us a glimpse of the pastor's burden. Raise us from our sleep. Disrupt our complacency. Show us the need. Cause us to act. Let us experience the joy of serving and sacrifice so that we too will one day hear You say, "Well Done."

Lord, we ask You to provide great wisdom to our pastors. Help them to know who among us is worthy of their trust. Lead them to those who are safe and give safety to the sharing. Provide an Aaron and a Hur to each pastor in this Fellowship. Equip each of Your servants with people who are willing to share their own strength. Let this be as natural as Your Word describes the function of the body of Christ.

Heal the hurt in our pastors, which is caused by our sins against them. Redeem past memories when we did not rightly handle their trust, when we violated their confidence. Do not let past scars prevent them from finding assistance for their present burdens. Give discernment to our pastors, Lord, so they will know those with whom they can share, and give them wisdom to know the extent of the sharing. In each instance where they extend their trust, teach them what is appropriate and what is not, when to share and when not to, whom to trust and whom not to.

Bring down the walls of distrust that too frequently were justly built but now serve only to isolate our pastors from Your provision. Defeat our enemy's plans by causing this to happen. Knit Your Body tightly together so that it truly acts as one. Remove any hindrance from its proper functioning.

Lord, call and send Joshuas throughout our Fellowship--men and women who prevail in battle while our pastors lead, even in those times when leadership is manifested by "sitting and resting." Teach us Your ways, that so often seem foreign to us, and cause them to become as familiar as anything in our reality. Prepare Your people for this, both pastors and laity. Show us the vision You have of how we should work together. Give us Your mind in this matter, we pray.

We also remember each family member of our pastors, people who have many of the same needs for a sharing and caring laity. Meet these needs, Lord. For the spouse who is struggling to cope, who has little hope of encouragement, we ask for Your provision. Restore the song. Bring into these circumstances people of genuine compassion and renew joy and meaning in the way only You can. We know Your mercies are new every morning, Lord, but sometimes it helps us to experience Your mercies through others' friendship, and we ask You to dispatch friends--true friends--to us on these occasions.

And we remember the children. Lord, provide role models for each pastor's child or teenager, role models who confirm the reality of Your existence to them. Assist them in coming to a saving knowledge of You as Lord and Savior. Teach them, as You teach us all, the reality of the realm of the Spirit. Give to our pastors the blessing and legacy of families who know and serve You.

Father, we all stand in need of Your sustaining power. Give it generously. Let us experience the reality of Your presence each day. May we know this because we see Your church act as You have ordained it to act, with each member serving the others. Thank You again for the gift You have given to us in our pastors. Thank You for all they do. Keep them in our minds, Lord, by calling us to prayer on their behalf and to share and care for their well- being. Bless them, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Pastor, these words give such an incomplete story of the call He has given to us for you. These concerns are not just ours but His. So we agree with His prompting, and we petition Him as best we know how. May you find in His provision the answer to every need facing you and your ministry at this time. God bless you!