The Church Needs Our Prayers

“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” Ephesians 5:25-27

It has heartbreaking to read about the numerous church scandals that have been reported on over the last couple of years! In 2018, Bill Hybels resigned from Willow Creek Church over allegations of sexual misconduct. In 2022, George MacDonald, the former pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel, was arrested for physically assaulting a woman in California. In 2023, a documentary about Hillsong Church was released describing patterns of sexual abuse and financial mismanagement and in October of 2024 another documentary was released which details the story of David Platt’s deception and abuse of power. 

For some Christians this has led to a crisis of faith and a desire to leave the church all together. It can be difficult to reconcile the actions of abusive spiritual leaders with God’s call for pastors to lovingly shepherd their flock and can leave those who have been wounded by the church questioning whether their faith is real. 

While the hurt and questions which led to abandoning the church are understandable; there is another solution. That solution is prayer. Prayer allows us to take our focus off imperfect, sinful people who will always fail us and place them upon God who never does. Without ceasing we need to pray for our churches. Some of the ways we can life our churches up in prayer included: 

• That God will raise up Godly leaders who are filled with the Holy Spirit, love Him, have a desire to live lives of integrity and are humble and teachable. 
• That God will protect our churches against Satan’s attacks and reveal areas where sin needs to be addressed. 
• That the members in our churches will be enraptured by Jesus and not by its spiritual leaders.
• That the members in our churches will courageously speak Biblical truth. 

The recent failings of prominent Christian leaders should drive us to our knees in prayer for God’s bride who He so dearly loves and wants to protect.