A Prayer for Youth Workers in 2025
Father in Heaven, I’m coming to you at the beginning of a new year to ask for your outpouring upon my brothers and sisters who are ministering to the next generation. As I think about multiple conversations lately, I’m burdened by their burdens. Many are tired, others are discouraged, and some have been deeply wounded. Would you meet them in their exhaustion and disappointments and heartache? We know you understand what it means to be tired, discouraged, and betrayed. Remind them afresh about their own union with yourself. Be their strength and their strengthener.
Keep their eyes fixed on yourself. It’s so easy for them (and for me!) to shift their gaze from you towards truths about you, and to exchange fellowship with you for ministry in your name. Remind these youth workers that their first calling is to live as dearly loved sons and daughters of God, through the grace of Jesus Christ, by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Stir up within them a renewed love for their first love. Move them towards revived affection for your Word and to commune with you in prayer – not for the sake of ministry or teaching, but simply because they want to be with you.
Bless these youth workers’ families. For those who are not married, provide dear friends and deep fellowship. Protect them from thoughtless words by others who are well-intentioned, and protect them from the lies their own insecurities can tell them. Give them wisdom to establish healthy boundaries that prevent ministry from becoming all-consuming. For those who are married, show them how to love their spouse in a way that portrays Christ and the church to all who look on… but for this to be genuine, and not a performance. And for those with children, give them conviction to love and lead their children well and to guard against the temptation to neglect their own children as they minister to others’. Father, make their homes little churches that honor your Name, regardless of what that home looks like.
Bear fruit in and through their ministry. Use these men and women to sow the gospel seed, trusting that you will grow it in good soil as you see fit. We know students who seem hard-hearted and cold towards you, would you work in them to become receptive. Stoke within our students a holy curiosity and show them their need for you. Lift the blinders from their eyes that make them see you as little more than a cosmic therapist. May they be astounded by your holiness and love. Give them deep roots in the gospel that will bear godly fruit for decades to come, and help us to know how to disciple them today.
Renew our confidence in the Word of God and in the presence of your Holy Spirit to bear fruit in our ministry. Grow our ministries, not because we merely want higher attendance, but because we want to see teenagers come to saving faith and discover new life in you. Give us wisdom to know what to say, when it say it, and how to say it with clarity and pastoral love.
Father, I’m asking that this year would be fruitful. For youth workers’ own relationship with you, for their families, and in their ministry. Encourage those who are on the cusp of giving up. Strengthen those who are overwhelmed. Heal those who are wounded. Provide for those who are financially burdened. And make your presence obvious to those who feel all alone. I’m asking this so that we ourselves would endure by faith, for your glory and name.
Amen
