5 Reasons Pastors Don’t Pray, What We Can Do about It, and a New Book Introduction

I freely admit that I’m introducing one of my books today, but here’s why I’m doing that: I’m convinced too many church leaders—beginning with me—and their congregations sometimes live powerless lives because we don’t pray like we should. My new book, The Potential and Power of Prayer, is designed to help pastors, leaders, church members, and entire congregations address this issue. 

As you’ll see in the book, here are some reasons pastors don’t pray. 

1. We’re “fixers” by nature. That is, we want to meet needs, restore homes, and lead people. We have a tendency to try to “fix” first based on our abilities and training, and then pray second.
2. We’ve had no role model prayer warriors. Few of us can speak of another church leader who invested in us and showed us how to pray. Instead, we’ve had to learn to pray on our own and “on the fly.”
3. We’re afraid to tell anyone when we struggle with prayer. That’s because we’re pastors—and pastors shouldn’t have any trouble praying. And if we do, we surely shouldn’t let anybody know.
4. We have so much to do in ministry that prayer seems to get in the way of the work. We can quote Martin Luther about having so much to do today that we must spend three hours in prayer, but we seldom follow that pattern. Too many of us work for three hours, and then spend only a few minutes in prayer. . . .
5. We can do far too much “church” in our own ability. The truth is that we can do much without praying, even if our accomplishments then carry little eternal value. We pray only when we “need to” when prayer is not in our DNA.

So, what do we do if this struggle with prayer is our struggle?

1. Be honest with somebody. Don’t hide your battle. Tell somebody. Get somebody to pray for you that you will be a prayer warrior.
2. Seek to learn from a prayer warrior. Find somebody who seems to pray well and often, and ask for some time and conversation. Ask, “tell me about your prayer life—how you learned to pray, how you pray now, etc.”—and listen and learn.
3. Ask God to move your heart to love Him and need Him. I realize this suggestion sounds circular, since I’m proposing that you pray that you will pray. But, that’s exactly what I’m saying: if you struggle with prayer, start by praying this simple prayer a few times each day, “Lord, help me to love You and need You.” Your love for God + your need for God will lead to more praying.

Don’t forget to pray today!