You Long for God to Work in Your Church. But When You Pray, You're Not Sure What to Ask.
Every Christian who loves their church wants to pray for it. You long to see God at work — in the preaching, in the relationships, in the growth of new believers, in the witness your congregation has to the surrounding community. You know you are meant to pray. And yet, when you actually sit down to do it, the same vague requests come out again and again. Or the words simply don't come at all.
Most of us find ourselves stuck — not because we don't care, but because we don't quite know what to ask for. Our prayers for our church can feel shallow, repetitive, and disconnected from what God himself has said about what his church should be and do.
5 Things to Pray for Your Church is designed to change that. Rachel Jones has created a warm, practical, and Scripture-grounded prayer guide that takes you through the full range of church life — from Sunday gatherings and small groups to pastoral leadership and evangelism — suggesting five specific, biblically rooted prayers for each aspect. Because the most powerful prayers for your church are not the most eloquent or the most urgent — they are the ones most aligned with what God has already said in his Word.
When we pray in line with God's priorities, our prayers are powerful and effective (James 5:16). And praying for your church with that kind of confidence is, as Rachel Jones puts it, a truly thrilling prospect.
What This Book Covers
Rachel Jones works through the full breadth of church life, equipping readers to pray for each aspect with biblical specificity and genuine faith:
- Sunday gatherings — Prayers for the preaching, worship, and fellowship that take place when the church comes together
- Church leadership — How to intercede for pastors, elders, and deacons — for their faithfulness, their wisdom, and their care for the flock
- Small groups and discipleship — Prayers for the relationships and conversations through which Christians grow and encourage one another
- Evangelism and outreach — How to pray for your church's witness to its local community and beyond
- New and growing believers — Prayers for those who are new to faith and taking their first steps in the Christian life
- Church unity and relationships — How to intercede for the bonds of love, forgiveness, and mutual care that hold a congregation together
- The wider mission of the church — Prayers for your church's engagement with the world — locally, nationally, and globally
- Scripture as the foundation — Each spread draws from a specific passage of God's Word to anchor every prayer in his own priorities and promises
What Readers Will Learn
- How to move beyond vague, repetitive prayers for their church toward specific, Scripture-rooted intercession
- What God's Word says about the church — its purpose, its health, its witness, and its relationships — and how to pray those priorities back to him
- How to pray meaningfully for every aspect of church life, from the Sunday sermon to the pastoral team to the newest believer
- Why prayers grounded in Scripture are more powerful and effective than prayers based merely on our own concerns and preferences
- How to use this book in personal quiet times, church prayer meetings, and small group settings
- What it means to be a genuinely praying member of a local church — and how this book can help make that a consistent, joyful reality
- How to pray for your church with the kind of biblical confidence that expects God to work — because he has promised to answer prayers aligned with his Word
How to Use This Book
5 Things to Pray for Your Church is flexible, accessible, and immediately usable:
- Personal quiet times — Work through it as part of your daily or weekly prayer time, taking one spread per session
- Church prayer meetings — Use it to guide corporate intercession for specific aspects of your congregation's life with biblical depth and fresh focus
- Small group prayer — A natural resource for groups wanting to pray together for their church with greater intentionality and Scripture-groundedness
- New members preparation — A warm, practical way to help new members begin praying meaningfully for the church they are joining
- Pastoral gift — A book church leaders can give to any member wanting to grow in how they pray for their church family
- Individual intercession — Pick it up whenever someone in your church is in particular need of prayer and you want to intercede with biblical precision and genuine faith
Who Should Read This Book
This book is for you if you are:
- A church member who loves your church and wants to pray for it more meaningfully, consistently, and biblically
- A new Christian who wants to understand what to pray for your church and how to do it with genuine faith
- A pastor or church leader looking for a practical, Scripture-grounded resource to give to your congregation and fuel their prayers for the church they belong to
- A prayer meeting leader wanting fresh, biblically rooted material to guide corporate intercession for specific aspects of church life
- Anyone who has ever wanted to pray powerfully for their church — but found themselves stuck, shallow, or simply unsure where to begin
About the Author
Rachel Jones is an author and editor at The Good Book Company and a member of Grace Church, Cambridge. She is the author of several books in the 5 Things to Pray series, known for her warm, accessible, and practically grounded approach to helping Christians pray with greater biblical depth and confidence. Rachel writes with a genuine passion for prayer and a gift for making Scripture feel immediately applicable to the real situations Christians encounter — both in their own lives and in the life of their local church. Her books have helped thousands of Christians and churches develop a richer, more biblically rooted prayer life.
Also available: 5 Things to Pray for Your World — equipping you to pray powerfully for local, national, and global needs.
