Pastors and their personal prayer lives

One of our staff persons enjoyed a three month sabbatical this summer. His project was to study the devotional life of ministers. He sent surveys out to a number of clergy and conducted some individual interviews with several others. Out of a total of 55 ministers he contacted, 13 of them were bivocational. At our staff meeting this week he share his findings.

Each of the pastors claimed a time of devotions that includes prayer. Interestingly enough, only one admitted that part of his prayer time included confession of sin. Maybe these individuals are much more spiritual than I am, but that seems to be an important part of my prayer time each day. Another interesting finding was that only half reported that they turn to God in times of crisis. If the crisis was associated with their ministries, only four pastors said they turn to God for assistance. Ten reported they turn to a judicatory leader.

Much of his study was very encouraging, but these two aspects are not. Do these pastors who do not make confession of sin part of their regular prayer time believe they do not sin? Or do they believe they do not need forgiveness for their sins? The Bible is clear that all of us sin, and when we sin we have an advocate with God who will forgive us of our sins. I am certainly aware of my need to seek God's forgiveness daily, and I think that will be true of most ministers if they are honest with themselves.

I was also troubled that more pastors look to their judicatory leaders than to God during times of crisis. I am a judicatory leader, and the pastors I serve know that I am available to them at any time for any assistance I can provide, but I am not God. He must be our first contact when we encounter a crisis in our lives. It is often helpful to have judicatory leaders and other godly people walk with us through a crisis, but only God has the power to bring healing to the situation and the ability to provide the grace we need until that healing comes.

How is your prayer life? Do you have regular times each day set aside for prayer? What do you pray about? Is confession of sin a regular part of your prayer time? Who do call upon first when difficulties come into your life? I would be interested in hearing some of your responses.