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Could this prayer be a wasted moment

Some sympathetic thoughts on the prayer at the end of the sermon

I have heard a lot of them. Sometimes I was praying with the preacher, but more often I was making notes of evaluation because that was one of my assignments as this speaker’s pastoral coach.

Most of these prayers — I have heard many hundreds of them — did one of the following:
* Told God (we all heard) things they had left out in the
sermon….
* Summarized the gist of the sermon….
* Expressed feelings about the content of the sermon….
* Wondered if there were any watching or listening who had           not yet placed confident faith in Jesus Christ as Savior….
* Gave a closing thought to the sermon.

These were friends, so I’m not going to give much criticism about those go-to prayers at the end of a sermon. But I do suggest these thoughts:
* The closing-the-sermon prayer is the “Just As I Am”
moment for a sermon, and may be the only time a listener
talks to God about what he has just learned….And it may
be the best time for his or her reflecting on or deciding on
what you have just preached!
* It seems good to give the listener a guided moment to talk
to God about the main point of the sermon, or to ask for
help in that area. I do think many will do that quietly if they
are given that space. Both in the auditorium and online.
“Take a moment to ask the Lord to help you with that kind
of generosity….” “Ask God privately to help you obey His
thoughts and to be more patient….” “Thank God that
salvation is all about His grace and His love….”
* It also seems good to allow a moment for prayer or
reflection to pray about eternal salvation and what you
have hopefully explained about the Cross. “Maybe you are
not sure of those thoughts about eternal life and
forgiveness in Christ — take a quiet moment of prayer to
ask His grace to understand and have confidence in
Christ alone….”

I could be wrong (though I probably would not admit it), but the close of the sermon may be the best time ever to get people to start to change or to ask God for help on the aforementioned thoughts or verses.  (I always wanted to use the word “aforementioned” in a sentence!)

You decide. And while we are on this subject, why not at the close of the prayer introduce the song that follows if it does, instead of just walking off after your prayer and having somebody else give an impromptu or flippant introduction or say why they like this song on their guitar. Or like the hefty intro on the pipe organ.

Singing it might really be a part of a sincere response to the sermon and prayer if the people are guided by their pastor-speaker that way.

Note:
For sure, you would probably have to agree that the purpose of a sermon is to change lives, no t to give a really good Bible study. Certainly it should be based on the Bible, but my premise would be that every sermon has a purpose of change – in practice or in information at least!

While singing “Just As I Am” may not be a practice in churches today as it was in all the Billy Graham campaigns, that does not take away the need for a response by the listener.

… Today we have many different sizes of churches.   In larger ones over 100 one or more shepherds must give vocational time to the church — full-time,  most would say.

… Today we have many pastor-elders who are trained and educated for leading and ministering as servants of Christ and people in the local church.  That does not make them better than others called to give oversight to the church,  but it compels a difference in responsibilities.

…Those who help in the pastoring or “elding” or overseeing of the local church while maintaining other vocations (callings indeed, in line with the priesthood of all believers) cannot possibly give the same amount of time or carry the same burden of those who choose the church ministry as their vocation.
Good writers and believers like Alex Strauch argue that this can be done “by self-sacrifice,” and he quotes R. Paul Stevens  to say they “must be willing to forego a measure of career achievement and private leisure for the privilege of getting the prize (Phil. 3:14).”  Almost as if that prize is for the faithful elders and not for all faithful Christians.
Surely the issue is faithfulness and there can be a division of labor that still obeys the principles and requirements of the New Testament teaching and implications about oversight of the local church.

… Most churches today have many more activities and responsibilities than the early house churches founded by the apostles and early Christians. There could be another debate about whether every scheduled activity is good or necessary, but that is for another day.

… Most churches today have a much more complicated financial system and obligations and buildings.

WHAT CAN WORK WHILE FULFILLING BIBLICAL TEACHINGS

… The “soccer field model” seeks to take all the commands or principles of the New Testament about pastors/elders/overseers and give them to the full-time pastors and staff and the lay elders in a way that promotes the plurality and responsibilities of both in a workable and protected way.
The board members or elders or presbyters or non-clerical shepherds give oversight to the church by defining and guarding the four “boundaries” of the ministries and church.  These are the four sides of the soccer field.
The pastor and team of staff shepherd the many ministries and people “on the field” and stay  in bounds.   Because of the nature of leadership,  the senior pastor (the only pastor in some churches) is responsible for the team of staff or member-ministers who carry out the many ministries of the church.    These include care for each other and witness words and actions to reach the unbelieving or unchurched.

… Thus the commands or responsibilities  of :

leading  (Acts 20:28) |
ruling/managing (I Timothy 3:4,5)
shepherding (I Peter 5:1-4)
teaching  ((II Timothy 2:15)
equipping  (Ephesians 4:12)
being examples (I Peter 5:3)

are overseen by the board (elders, overseers, lay pastors).  They do not seek to do it all themselves just as a  “younger women” in Titus 2:5 to be “keepers at home” does not imply they cannot assign responsibilities at home to others in the family!

… This can work well in a church of 50 and a church of 10,000.

COMMON QUESTIONS

… What about a renegade pastor?
Release him. Fire him. The board has oversight and guards the boundaries that way.

…Does this model not give the pastor too much authority?
It gives the pastor the same authority for ministries as he has for Sunday or weekend services. The board does not check every hymn or every word in the sermon beforehand, but they could tag him out if he began teaching things that were not within bounds or doing things in the pulpit that did not show their values.

… Can’t these lay elders of board members use their spiritual gifts in other ways?
Absolutely. But they serve as senior high teachers or directors of groups or leaders of worship or parking attendants not because they are on the board but because they are willing  to do that and want to be active servants and ministers in the church.Can 

… In what sense then do these overseers shepherd the people?
By instituting a system that works – normally through the groups of the church where care can happen. In any church over  150, if board members feel they must personally shepherd all the people,  they either spend all their time doing that or simply pray for their list as a group. That is not shepherding.

… Should members of the pastoral staff be a part of the board also?
This does not rule that out.  But in a practical way, it may caution against that.  The agenda of the pastoral staff and the agenda of the oversight board are two different agendas,  not redundant  as in some models.  The pastor and staff lead the ministries of Sunday and the week,  with the lead pastor as captain.  The lead pastor then joins the oversight board as an equal to make and guard the policies and goals and lead the finances and financial projects of the church.

…Can there be other boards of the church?
No.   This is a one-board-of-oversight system.   In many churches there should be a finance team or a building projects team or a missions team,  but they all report to the oversight board to avoid the confusion that results from multiple equal boards.

… How does this relate to the “congregational rule” preference that some churches have?
The congregation leads or rules by selecting their pastor and  the members of the oversight board. In most systems they also must approve any building projects and the annual budget. And there is no Biblical mandate for the congregation to decide everything,  as used to be true in some churches.

… Where do the deacons or deaconess fit in?
Obviously churches handle this in many different ways. The title simply mean serving, and probably many of us would like to recognize all who teach or serve or help in various ways would be under the general heading of servant or minister or deacon.   Rather than electing people to serve these ways, many churches appoint them to teach or take care of shut-ins  or count the offerings or visit in the hospital or lead the youth or serve in various ways. If the original deacons took care of widows or tables for eating, many ministries in the church would be parallel.

 Looking for care papers…..but this is related.

With the reaction to hymnbooks and “boring singing of choirs and soloists,”
the evolution of the worship service in many churches has landed on singing
that sounds like performance of the people up front, and then the sermon.

Is there more?
There is more.

And before more of the young switch out or over to the formal and sense-filled traditions of
the ancient church, maybe more of us can consider some of the strong additions that
combat spectator mentality in worship, or passivity.

POSSIBLE ADDITIONS THAT POINT TO THE LORD
AND ADD PARTICIPATION AND MEANING

1. “The Lord’s Prayer” — rather meaningful, to say the least. The content reflects the heart of the writer!
   
   
2. “Confessions” — “The Apostles’ Creed” is elevated prose, and the common objection that you are making people say out loud what they are not sure of in the heart — that could be said of every song we ask them to sing!
   
   Read the first questions and answer of the Heidelberg Confession and you may get tears in your eyes, and it may motivate you to check into this if you were not yet sure. (Sing it with the rich Getty song, “What Is Our Hope in Life and Death?” Beautiful content!)
   
   And of course there are others. Some have written their own, using their church statement of faith.
   
   
3. Pastoral prayer — and often by the pastor. Some say this and the sermon are the two main ways you pastor the church all at once!
   
   I like the P-R-A-Y plan because it teaches families and individuals a pattern for regular prayers —
   Praise, Repent, Ask, Yield.
   And it is an easy prayer for the pastor and wife to pray back and forth.
   
   Or to sometimes have people stand during the Ask part when, for instance, you say you will be praying for students and service men and women….or to represent someone they love when you are going to pray for the sick. (Whenever we did this, or another category like the unsaved, people who stood would thank me for praying for the one they loved. Peekers told me about a third of the people would stand for some categories!)
   
   The Yield is related to the theme or text of the day.
   
   Many times the prayers in the service are ad-libs by the guitarist, as he strums.
   
   
4. Scripture Reading: “Give attention to the public reading of Scripture,” is a pretty clear instruction in I Timothy 4:13; and some writers remind us that the Bible was written for oral reading first. We should not always skip this, or assign it to people who may not do it well just “to get them involved in ministry,” as one pastor told me. As if ministry is what you do up front!
   
   
5. “Church life moment” — a three-minute update and promo in-between worship songs to invite people to pray or give or go! My own plan was communion, first Sunday; groups (usually an interview to show how helpful they are), second Sunday; missions, an update on giving and a feature on where the money goes, local or global); and finances or youth, to give an update, fourth Sunday. These are more than commercials, though they are that. And staff interviewed, and never gave away the microphone! And three minutes was a true deadline, except for communion.
   
   
6. “Just As I Am” moment — Billy Graham is in the presence of our Lord, but he knew that a response time is needed for the sermon (in addition to a whole way of life response, of course). Today that is often during the closing prayer, where you direct them to silently pray in the area of the sermon purpose — “Ask God for help you to forgive others,” for instance, if that was the point of the sermon. And also to deal with the salvation assurance, if your sermon briefly “went to the cross” and explained what salvation means. Another brief pause so they will pray quietly.
   
   This is instead of praying material you forgot in the sermon, or emphasizing one of your points — which I hear often in reviewing sermons. I always say, “God does not need to hear what you forgot”!
   
   
7. Benediction — so much better than another summary of the sermon or “see you next week” kind of glibness.
   
   I wonder why so many New Testament letters end with a beautiful benediction, if that is not to help us to end our times with others or our services with the blessing of God. And glory to God.
   
   Nothing wrong with singing
   or the sermon, of course;
   
   but there is more.

… this will either make you smile or grimace.

I probably get more pushback on this suggestion that I give regularly –-
to have a consistent time for wrapping up services each Sunday or weekend.

When one week goes an hour and five minutes and the next week goes an hour and 20 minutes and the next week goes an hour and 10 and the next week, extravagant, goes an hour and 30, I get pretty serious about it.

(Always realizing of course that nobody has to do anything I say. Even though I’m coaching them, I’m not the third base coach who can get you benched if you proceed when I tell you to stop! 🙂

But here is why I suggest that each week the service should be about the same length (in no particular order) even though I know all the books of the New Testament are not all the same length — or the Old….even though I know nobody except your wife said anything to you about how long the sermon was last week. Or your teens…..even though what the worship leader said between songs sounded very good —if you like palaver.

1. Some people make reservations at a restaurant and like to be there on time.
2. The nursery workers hate it when the kids start crying, those who can tell time or who just think it’s time their parents show up.
3. First time visitors are not used to that long sermon or service. And some decide on the spot that they will not come back. The ones from Catholic or more traditional, formal churches — the kind many grew up in before they quit! — are accustomed to 15-18 minute sermons.
4. Some people don’t even invite first-time visitors because they’re aware that sometimes the service goes much longer than usual. (They love you like everything and so they don’t want to tell you this.)
5. Almost everything else they go to has a set ending time. (And I do know about overtime games!)
6. Only a few people like it when the service goes long. (Both of them pastor nearby churches.:-)
7. Nice people argue with me on this, but it is just as normal for the Holy Spirit to lead in planning the service and sermon as it is for Him to “add content” to the speaker as he nears the end.
8. Consistency is a nice gift. And so is the discipline of those who plan the service.
9. If you are ever going to go to two more services you are going to have to have almost exact same ending times each service.
10. Children’s and youth and adults teachers need to know when the service is over.

        And I wanted to agree today, after 43 years of direct pastoring     and 17 years of coaching with pastors and boards to excel in ministry.

I always loved basketball.   My father put up a basket on the sycamore true in our paved back yard !when I was in first grade, and we had great games back there with the neighbor guys.

If there had been ESPN back in the 40’s,  they probably would have been broadcast live, in black and white.

I remember making a few shots with the older guys, probably junior high kids then.  You would probably recognize their names from the pros if I could remember them!

I made other teams too, even small college later, and have played weekly until the end of 2025.

But, alas, I was always barely good, and never great.

I never worked at it, or put in the time with dreams of better

And I see that a lot with pastors, and I sorrow.   Many could have a much more effective, expansive,  and vibrant leadership ministry if they determined so, and called on the grace of our Lord.   Some do, but many could.

Maybe working a little harder… or confronting a staff member with mediocrity … certainly getting a better and clearer agenda for the main oversight board …  putting more study, energy, and passion  into the sermons … loving people more clearly and individually … being willing to try some better ways …  praying more and getting the staff and church people to do the same —it’s not like he has to have the wit and clarity of Alistair Begg or the study skills of John Piper,  or even the smile of Joel Osteen. 

Many could kick it up a notch or two, very clearly.

But, alas,  some that are doing okay will stay good, but never great.

I am not implying that God is not sovereign, or saying anything here about morality or lack of devotion.   I’m just talking about human nature, drive, and commitment to excellence and more.

Even a little bit about nerve.

Maybe I’m just sad that I got cut on the first day of seventh grade basketball tryouts.  Oh what could have been!

  PERHAPS UNIMPORTANT TO SOME, BUT MAYBE ONE OF THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GOOD AND EXCELLENT, AND CALLING FOR THE SENIOR TO EMBRACE…

Concerns expressed based upon consultation with over 160 churches in many details and also upon experience as a senior/lead for 41 years.

*** The reason some decisions are very hard is that strategic ones sometimes have little support from other pastoral leaders and must be made by one person.  “Majority rules” is not always best.  (Always a board of oversight is needed and seems theologically correct so that the senior is not selfish or a tyrant.)!

Example:  Often staff members are opposed to the assignment of a small group for true discipleship-accountability as opposed to a fellowship or community group —  that strong discipleship-accountability  group may be the best way to develop leaders and strong Christians.

The senior, in light of goals for the church and first commands from Scripture, may have to insist.!

*** The senior is the “main worship leader of the church” by the way he participates but also by calling for changes or variety or strategy that is sometimes opposed  to or neglected by another staff member or committee that is assigned to think in that area!

That is often true about adding a worship service when it is needed, or adding a worship item — a song or hymn or pastoral prayer or “living church” moment or benediction in the order of worship.!

***  One of the hardest assignments for the main leader of staff is to determine rewards for special hard work rather than benefits or raises across the board for everyone so no feelings are hurt.!

In my own coaching I have smiled but pushed back with the seniors who want to reward all staff alike so they do not hurt any feelings.  I should have rejected the title of senior pastor if I wanted to live life without hurting some feelings or making hard decisions. For the good of the church.!

*** There are not many church situations where the senior/lead does not each week work harder and longer without complaint.! Related, he must set guidelines and expectations for excellence and hard work expectations for all full-time, and not just allow each person to decide what is “full.”  There are many definitions and  feelings about that. This is a difficult item in the role.!

*** The senior lead is called — this is an opinion — to lead the way in loving the people, caring for “the least of these,” to use a Biblical phrase.  Of course all of us are to love always, but someone must lead the way.!

And that includes directing such care from staff, but also modeling it as he can.  Love, said the Apostle Paul by inspiration, is the greatest.!

*** Of course this is also true about godliness, and a humble spirit toward the Holy Spirit.  This of course is not automatic but must be chosen and nurtured.!

*** And the same is true about  our view of and use of the inspired Scriptures.   The senior and usually preaching pastor must of course lead the way in exposing and teaching the only writings most of us believe to be verbally inspired and directed by God’s Holy Spirit.!

Not all who teach or preach hold that as true or use the Scriptures as the basis for their !sermons or lessons.!

When the senior just gives motivational and self-help talks, inspiring as they might be, others will use their own ideas and sources for their pronouncements also.!

“Where did you get that?” Is still a good question to ask a teacher or a speaker giving sermons and lessons and even group leadership.  And the senior is called to answer first.!

*** In cases where there are other staff who preach on occasion, I have often witnessed hesitancy to help them do better.  Unless there is a homiletics expert on staff or in the church, this has to be the responsibility of the senior pastor.   We all have blind spots, and  forget the need for variety in delivery or being truly expository, or just plain smiling or giving illustrations!!

None of us got much better on our own;  or at least quickly.!

When I was 27 a friend said to me, “You know, you never smile when you speak.”  It was a friendly slap, and motivated a change.  (I had had a chipped tooth starting at age 12 — in those days they did not fix them until you were fully grown — so I smiled in a small way or not at all even after age 21 when my tooth was capped!  This friendly censure changed me for the good.! Now I am second only to Joel Osteen!!

I was there in the senior role for 41 years at two churches, and had to learn some of these the hard way, and all of them in spite of my hesitancy at times.  I do think they are musts. You decide.

In addition to the sermon and singing.

A call to worship
There are so many strong verses that call us to honor the Lord with our thoughts and voices and hearts, and they make serious the start of our worship.

And they beat any other way to start the service.

A pastoral prayer
The main way a person pastors a group — above pastoral appointments and staff and board meetings and dreaming — is with the sermon and the pastoral prayer. This is so much more than the common “transitional prayer” of a few extemporaneous thoughts while the guitar player strums and makes up a prayer.

(I like P-R-A-Y as it teaches individuals and families and groups a plan —Praise, Repent, Ask, Yield.)

A “living church” moment
Only 2-3 minutes, between songs. Over the objections of the worship leader 🙂 With the people seated. With the staff person never giving away the mic.

My church coach, the best ever, Lyle Schaller, urged us to “renew the vision” every six weeks; and this is an appropriate place. This part of our worship set usually had communion week 1. Groups, the church’s second most important gathering, was week 2 —usually an interview with a single or couple about their benefits from being in a true community group.
Week 3 was about missions, local or global, and giving and going.
Week 4 was finances (yes, out loud and careful and appreciative, and needed if people are going to be generous).


A response time
The only thing close to the “Just As I Am” time with Billy Graham is the prayer at the end of the sermon and the song that follows.

Best practice, in my opinion, is to give listeners a quiet time during the prayer to ask God’s help to do or believe or change to whatever the sermon was calling for (a Bible study gives information; a sermon seeks to change hearts and lives).

…..and also to give another brief window of quiet when the pastor asks listeners to seek God to help them to take the appropriate step to Christ and His cross or to thank Him for eternal life through the Savior.

(This second pause demands a time at the cross somewhere in the sermon.)

A benediction
Many drop out here, or up at the top of the page :-), but even people under 40 can be joyful to leave with a Jude 24, 25* promise-joy rather than a “Have a good week!” Or
“See you next week”!

• And many more that ring in God’s love and promises to shine on us!
  
  One can certainly smile and take these as the musings of someone who has pastored or coached pastors for 62 years and may be hanging near the senility scale…..or as one who has been a part of more worship services than he deserves, always “taking notes” about what hits the heart of any age.
  
  Whatever you decide, do it carefully, and at least agree that the senior or lead pastor is the main worship leader of the church.

I really do appreciate and respect many missions committees in local churches. We had one of the best in the world at The Chapel in Akron, and they helped us grow missions giving and interest in good ways.

But they thought “salt-water missions” more than we should have; in other words, local missions was rather secondary. And after coaching more than 150 churches, I think that is a normalcy. People who care about world evangelism often do not worry so much about the people across the street from the church building, or the local rescue mission, or the pregnancy services that try to share the gospel and save lives.

So — duh! — we created a local evangelism and missions team of four or five to work with the pastor who had evangelism in his folder and to work to improve the budget for needs down the street from the church building.

Because people will mark offerings for missions, but not much for local evangelism, we decided to keep the heading “missions” as one of the three or four headings on the offering envelopes and budget, and to designate that something like 18 or 20% of the missions giving would go to local. It worked well.

And now I advocate this all the time, albeit without a lot of success. But I still think for sure it is best.

I know that “Bloom where you are planted” does not come from the Bible, but I get the idea. We owe a lot of care to the town or village or city where we are located. And people there are just as lost spiritually as some in the lands across the salt water.

One thing that helped people give to and pray for missions was the short “living church” moment that was a part of almost every worship service. The schedule we formed: first Sunday, communion….second Sunday, groups (Sunday and home) … third Sunday, missions, local or overseas…. fourth Sunday of the month, finances. As a part of the worship set, there would be only two-three minutes for an update, often an interview with someone possessing a bias of joy for that area. The staff member holds the microphone because he or she is responsible for the time.

(If you ever allowed the mic to be taken our of your hand, you owed the staff a pizza at the next Tuesday staff meeting. Talk about serious crimes! )

All this in response to the question about how to increase missions giving

            With the clarity of hindsight, abiding feelings

I never looked in the mirror and felt, Hot dogs, we’ve got us a leader. But I did lead when needed, seeking to be guided by our church’s five values, which first captured my own heart. I never gave myself a 10 on about 4000 sermons, but I kept trying. And I was glad when the five values showed up in the exposition of Scripture.

I never liked everyone I loved as pastor, but I worked to shepherd them with daily commitment to these five goals of a church or a person.

I think they are what give worth to 43 years of pastoring and then these last six of teaching and coaching other pastors.

What a profound satisfaction to pastor in His church, and now to try to nudge other church leaders to The Five.

After the ever-present temptations of anger, pride, and lust these powerful triplets chase us all, and are magnified by the reverend title – I was probably challenged most by cynicism. Still am. You know what I mean – we all have been lied to many times; and we have exaggerated even in sermons. We all
have said the right answer when we knew it came from our sense of duty rather than our heart. We all have watched the preacher on TV give promises of success and happiness and wonder, Who is he kidding?

But even cynical tendencies are rebooted by these five values. See if they are yours:

1. Grace: It all starts there. We love because He went first. We serve because He is the King of kindness. And a church can be characterized by God’s kind of grace, not pride in our size or stature. And I can try to be that way today.

2. Worship: Here the arrow points up, in deliberate acts of praise and obedience, so this includes our weekend services but also personal obedience. When I have served and led to glorify the Lord Christ, instead
of to look good or allow show biz, it has felt good.

3. Community: I use that word so the church and you think of Sunday and home ABFs or groups, but also so we consider how we receive and seek to build others, care for the hurting, elevate the little people, and model the washing of feet.

4. Mission: Including personal and local and global evangelism and action love, but also meaning who we are as a church and as a person. Are we here to be the hot church in town, or to go with the latest best-seller’s new way to say it, or to be the body of Christ wherever we are?

5. Integrity: It is about finances and morality and honesty, but also about its literal meaning, “oneness” — that what we say is one with what is really the way life is.

When I stand in front of Christ the Judge – I know that is ahead – I have nothing to say about my own righteousness except, I am with you!

And when I give account of my ministry — I know most of my stumbling and failures — I believe I will be graded on grace, worship, community which includes unity, mission, with integrity.

These five feel good.

Otherwise, it’s just a job.

A ministry of the pastor to help influence believers considering full-time church and missions ministries for their lives.

Informal meetings: once a month, led by the pastor

Target: any age men and women interested in church or missions vocations as a way of life!

Purpose: encouragement, prayers, guidance, information; fulfilling one of the important pastoral responsibilities, to raise up future leader-servants.

It has to be one of the purposes of church leaders/pastors to help to raise up more of the same. It is not an easy matter, But surely one help is to pursue some people who ought to pursue full-time ministry assignments, and to encourage them.
And why not all at once, and not just individually?

A TYPICAL HOUR TOGETHER

* Greetings and opening and prayer

* Updates and personal events from participant, helping all feel at home

* One presents, “The Ten Biggest Events or Decisions of My life” — a planned
presentation that helps the presenter and the group understand what influenced them and why they are the way they are. Must be presented in seven minutes! (A great way to really know someone, and in this case to help to understand what inclined them toward ministry as a vocation.)

* Pastor: “Another reason why I love my job!” — a regular feature of the informal meeting of a few or a dozen! (If the pastor does not love his job he will not be searching for and convening this group in the first place!)

* Discussion and updates and questions and encouragement and prayers for each other! This normally includes thoughts about schools, internships, obstacles, goals!