There are some conservative Presbyterian churches that currently practice – with pleasing edification – ruling elder-led corporate prayer. In one such church, a ruling elder writes: “Prayer with and for the congregation is foundational for ministry, and corporate prayer led by the Ruling Elders who have come from among the congregation can help teach the people how to pray themselves in a biblical, mature, and thoughtful way.” Another ruling elder adds: “Since the congregation is shepherded by a team of elders, RE-led corporate prayer allows the congregation [to] hear the heart of each shepherd and thereby fosters trust in the team as a whole.”

Two years ago, while working in another state, I worshiped in a local PCA church. While the sermon was weak as dishwater, I walked out of that sanctuary thankful to God that I had heard a biblical, earnest, compassionate, well-delivered congregational prayer. That was the best part of the service. The prayer was delivered by a ruling elder.
Perhaps that’s a shocker to some. If so, why?
In 2021, one of the PCA’s highly regarded pastors wrote that ruling elders “by gifts and calling are not theologically, biblically, or rhetorically equipped for the task” of public prayer. It wasn’t clear to me if he intended to argue that no ruling elders should pray in public, but the door was opened for such an interpretation.
I respectfully disagree.
The reason this piece is bylined by a nom de guerre is not to avoid disagreeing with a leading pastor in my denomination – whom I respect, of whose ministry I think highly – but to protect the identity of those churches and individuals referenced here.
I’m not saying all or even most ruling elders ought to be delivering prayers in corporate worship. But some REs are capable of public prayer, either through gifting, studied practice over years of service – or both. Probably others are doing their best to improve their skills in this area. They ought to be encouraged.
Here are four points to consider regarding the public prayers of those whom a Presbyterian pastor, James E. Blythe (1765-1842), considered to be “the sheet-anchor of the church’s safety” – the eldership:

Most important, if a ruling elder is “not theologically” equipped to pray publicly (as the article asserted), how then is he theologically equipped to teach God’s Word, as I Timothy 3 requires of an elder? Perhaps part of the apparent disparity between the teaching and the praying of REs has more to do with one’s specific preparation than overall theological equipping. If a ruling elder approaches his scheduled opportunity to lead in corporate prayer with the same attitude he most likely adopts toward teaching a Sunday School class – in other words, this is something that deserves my serious preparation, rather than doing it off-the-cuff – his prayer should be more focused, scriptural, earnest, and edifying. For most elders, this probably includes the use of some form of notes to aid in the moment of delivery.
Having ruling elders prepared to pray publicly is of service to the church should a pastor suddenly become unavailable. Not long ago, the elders of a church I know were faced with an urgent text message (during Sunday School) from the expected visiting pastor who reported he was stuck in traffic. (Thankfully, he made it with a few minutes to spare.) Perhaps just as likely in this era, however, what will a church do if its pastor is arrested for his faithful preaching – such as from Romans 1 or I Corinthians 6? The ruling elders should be prepared to step up, to lead and pray. Such a scenario was unthinkable in America a decade ago – but no longer. Think about it. Should churches be forced into homes or underground at some point, REs will have to share the burden of leadership, to include leading in prayer.
Related to this, could it be any clearer to informed Christians in the pew that the America in which anyone older than 40-ish grew up, is gone? Some have observed the country is experiencing the worst leadership in its history in multiple arenas – politics, education, academia, business, and all too often the church. Almost the only place where legitimate, honorable, godly, and – increasingly – courageous leadership may be found is within those true churches that hold faithfully to the Scriptures and inculcate in her members the fear of the LORD, not of men. Encouraging the lay leaders – ruling elders in the case of Presbyterian churches – to prepare themselves to participate in public prayer is one important way in which leadership is promoted within the flock of God, with potential spillover influence beyond. It ain’t happening elsewhere, so it must happen in the church.
Finally, there are some conservative Presbyterian churches that currently practice – with pleasing edification – ruling elder-led corporate prayer. In one such church, a ruling elder writes: “Prayer with and for the congregation is foundational for ministry, and corporate prayer led by the Ruling Elders who have come from among the congregation can help teach the people how to pray themselves in a biblical, mature, and thoughtful way.” Another ruling elder adds: “Since the congregation is shepherded by a team of elders, RE-led corporate prayer allows the congregation [to] hear the heart of each shepherd and thereby fosters trust in the team as a whole.” Churches hearing their own shepherds pray, doesn’t that seem valuable? If some churches are doing this well, why not others?

So, while disagreeing with the 2021 article in one respect, I wholeheartedly agree on the need for “thematic order,” employing “scriptural language,” and, “urgency and earnestness” in public prayer. Let our churches – led by pastors who model such prayers – encourage their elders to equip themselves for this shared ministry task, thereby to bless Christ’s flock and honor the One who alone draws near to “all who call upon Him in truth” (Psalm 145:18).
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Pastor 1 has rightly been defrocked. Even apart from the relationship, I think it’s hard to square his other behaviors with the requirements for pastors given in Scripture. We need to become far more serious than we have been about corruption, starting with the actual real enforcement of all the Pauline and Petrine demands for pastoral qualification. My point is not to minimize the evils of corruption, then, but rather to note that even if it sometimes seems as if corruption is the norm, there still remain many faithful pastors. 

I’m thinking a lot about three pastors this week.
Pastor 1 is in his early 70s and recently was removed from ministry due to a five-year long relationship with a woman in her 20s that was not sexual in nature, but was still a violation of the pastor’s wedding vows.
Prior to being defrocked he worked for a nonprofit that he ran and that paid him $150,000 annually with an additional $100,000 paid “by the organization or other related organizations,” according to tax filings while claiming he worked for them 40 hours a week. We can’t view his church’s financials, obviously, but one imagines the church paid him a wage and also expected that he worked 40 hours a week there—which raises the question of how a man in his 70s is logging 80 hour weeks.
It would also mean that the man was making, at minimum, $250,000 annually from ministry, if the $100,000 supplemental income on the tax form is from the church. Or it might also mean that he made $250,000 from the non-profit, with the church salary (and book royalties and speaking gigs) layered on top of that.
This, incidentally, is what Carl Trueman had in mind when he coined the term “big eva.” Trueman specifically had in view pastors who become internet brands, become largely divorced from the work of shepherding in local churches, and who become surrogate pastors for Christians who spend too much time online and too little in their local church. (This old piece from the Baylys, by the way, is helpful for learning a bit about how ministry finances often work in the evangelical world.)
Even before the inappropriate relationship was known, this first pastor had a reputation for being a rather expensive and “high-maintenance” speaker with “very, very unusual food requirements,” as one acquaintance of his put it on social media. He reportedly would demand to be taken to stores that sell thousand dollar pens on certain trips, and also had highly specific requirements regarding wardrobe, including what brands of suit he wears and even specific ties he would wear.
You know pastor 1’s name, which is why I’m not bothering to say it here. What’s worse, you probably know a number of other pastors that fit this profile. I certainly do. But if that’s all you know about American church life, you know something true, but you also know too little.
Pastor 2 is in his early to mid 60s. He recently decided to step down from his senior pastor role in a church of 250 after nearly 35 years in the church and around 30 years as the senior pastor, faithfully and quietly shepherding a congregation, preaching the Word, and administering the sacraments. In that time, he’s helped plant two churches and launch an RUF. Now one of the churches he helped plant is planting and there may be a further plant happening in the medium-term future.
During his career he has pastored his congregation through two building fires and a move after the first fire destroyed their building. He has dealt with many complicated shepherding cases in his own congregation and in the presbytery.
He has sent dozens of people to seminary over the years and is known and respected amongst staff at the seminary where he graduated and where he has sent many people as students.
He has also been instrumental in helping the presbytery become a far healthier place. He has sought to create an atmosphere of care and trust amongst the presbytery’s teaching elders and has been remarkably successful in that, insuring that the men called to ministry there all recognize one another as brothers, are all praying for each other, and trust the basic virtue, theological soundness, and good will of their fellow pastors. That sounds like it should be the norm, but in too many places it isn’t.
He has done all of this without any notable scandal in his household and while faithfully caring for his family.
He’s stepping down so that he’s able to care better for his in-laws and mother, all of whom are in their 80s or 90s and in poor health. But he’s still staying active in ministry, just in a less senior role.
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As part of the Wyoming Rescue Mission v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission settlement, the Department and the EEOC agreed to pay the rescue mission’s attorneys’ fees. In addition, the court dismissed EEOC from the case and signed a consent decree settling it with the state.

A lawsuit filed two months ago against government officials threatening to punish the Wyoming Rescue Mission for exclusively hiring like-minded Christian employees has settled.
The Mission sought help from Alliance Defending Freedom after the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services (Department) launched a 16-month-long investigation to determine whether the non-profit engaged in religious discrimination prohibited by law.
The investigation began after the Mission chose not to hire a “self-proclaimed ‘non-Christian’” for one of their thrift store associate positions, according to the suit. As a result, the applicant filed a religious discrimination charge, and government officials began investigating the Mission.
The faith-based Mission assists Casper residents through a homeless shelter, recovery programs, and a clothing voucher service. The Mission also owns two Rescued Treasures thrift stores that “make clear that they are a ministry of Wyoming Rescue Mission,” the suit states.
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