What My Employer Gets Right: Pay to Pray

I have been in the habit of praying for organizations and leaders for quite some time. Because I’ve watched organizations struggle through really hard things, I’ve come to value prayer as an offensive move, instead of a desperate cry out when things are falling apart.

“You’re going to pay me to do what?”

When she first mentioned it to me, I was in disbelief. My new boss had asked me to schedule time on my calendar each week to pray for our organization and our clients. Had I heard her right?

Many organizations pay their people to volunteer at various times throughout the year. However, paying me to pray was something I hadn’t anticipated, even at a Christian organization.

I have been in the habit of praying for organizations and leaders for quite some time. Because I’ve watched organizations struggle through really hard things, I’ve come to value prayer as an offensive move, instead of a desperate cry out when things are falling apart. However, I had never before had a leader that valued prayer for the organization enough to tell me to schedule time specifically for it. Wow.

Over the years, as I’ve tried to be intentional about scheduling prayer time while working at ATLAS of Sioux Center, I have grown in both my desire and ability to pray for not only or ministry, but also those we serve.

Often I speak to others about praying throughout their workday. Even if you can’t block out a specific time to pray, you can utter up quick prayers throughout the entire day. Ensuring that the Omnipresent God is hearing your voice throughout the day is a critical part of our relationship with him, and our ability to hear from him.

Pray for your workplace

However, the message that was sent to me when she talked to me about scheduling prayer time was this. IT IS A PRIORITY to pray for our organization. It isn’t an afterthought, or something that you have to fit in, it is a priority. Isn’t that how prayer should be in every aspect of our life?

How does this concept work if you don’t happen to work for a ministry? Because honestly, it wasn’t until I worked for a ministry that I was able to “schedule” time to pray. Many organizations would frown highly upon this right?

It could look like taking your lunch hour and praying. It might mean that as you commute to work that you are praying for your workplace. Perhaps you could approach a leader that the Lord lays on your heart and simply ask them how you could pray for them.

Consider this, what if your company loses a major customer and has to do several layoffs? We are quick to react to this and to pray for ourselves, interceding so that we’re not laid off. It gets very personal with the weight of family and finances bearing down. But what if we were proactive and prayed that our company would remain profitable? What if we prayed that we would listen to and respond to customers in appropriate manners? Our leaders carry major responsibilities and they need prayer to make good decisions and maintain ethical standards.

Changing your outlook

I can promise that shifting our focus and outlook on prayer in this way changes how you view your workplace. It impacts how we view our leaders, and releases joy in our work and our everyday ordinary life.

How about you?

If you are a leader, how might you consider encouraging your people to pray at work? Is it possible to not only give permission to pray, but to pay them to pray? If not, how might you be able to change your own personal prayer time to include your work?

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This article first appeared at JenSandbulte.com and is used with permission.