Commissioning and Sending Prayers

Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

Isaiah 6:8 (KJV)

Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

John 20:21 (KJV)

The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.

Matthew 9:37-38 (KJV)

The Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

Acts 13:2-3 (KJV)

Minister: [Names] are leaving us. They are going to [place] to [work], and they are going because we are sending them, not because they are leaving us behind. [Names], will you go where you are sent, learn before you teach, and stay long enough to be useful? Answer: We will, with God's help. Minister: Church, will you pray for them by name, write to them when they are forgotten, give so they can stay, and receive them without judgment if they come home early? Congregation: We will, with God's help. Let us pray. God of every nation, go ahead of them. Give them language, patience, and thick skin. Give them one friend in the first month. Keep them from the loneliness that ends good work, and keep us from forgetting them by Easter. Amen.

Original

God, this team leaves on [day]. Keep them safe, and keep them humble, which is harder and matters more. Let them work under the people who live there rather than around them. Let them build something that is still standing when nobody is filming. And bring them home changed in a way that lasts past September. Amen.

Original

Minister: These are the people who will teach our children this year. [Teachers], will you prepare, show up, and tell them the truth about God at the level they can hear it? Answer: We will, with God's help. Minister: Church, will you back them, thank them, and take a turn? Congregation: We will, with God's help. Lord, give them patience on the fourth Sunday in a row, and let something they say this year still be in a child's head at forty. Amen.

Original

Minister: These men and women have been chosen to serve this church as [elders/deacons]. Will you serve without needing to be thanked, tell us hard things kindly, and carry what you learn in confidence to your grave? Answer: We will, with God's help. Minister: Church, will you follow their leadership, tell them the truth to their faces rather than in the parking lot, and pray for them? Congregation: We will, with God's help. [Hands are laid on them.] God, give them wisdom, thick skin, and soft hearts, and do not let this work cost them their families. Amen.

Original

Lord, we have called [Name] to this work, and today we are handing it over. Give [him/her] your words on the weeks there are none. Guard [him/her] from the loneliness of this job. Give [him/her] friends here who are not also a problem to be managed. And make this congregation easy to serve and hard to disappoint in the right ways. Amen.

Original

Minister: These are our graduates. In three months they will be somewhere else. [Graduates], you are not leaving the church. You are being sent by it. God, go with them into dorm rooms and job sites and cities where nobody knows their last name. Give them a church within the first month, and the nerve to walk into it. Give them friends who are good for them. And when they are far from everything familiar, remind them that they were sent, not released. Amen.

Original

Minister: We are sending [number] of our own to [place] to start a church. This is a loss to us and it is supposed to be. God, go with them. Give them a room, and then people to put in it. Give them years of patience, because the work they are starting will not look like anything for a long time. And let us be glad about this rather than counting what we lost. Amen.

Original

[Name], the church of Jesus Christ, gathered here, sends you. What we are laying on you is not our approval. It is our weight: our prayers, our money, our attention, and our expectation that you will do this work. Go. You are not going alone, and you are not going on your own authority.

Original

Leader: This service is over. Your work is not. People: We are sent. Leader: To desks, to job sites, to classrooms, to houses full of small children. People: We are sent. Leader: Not to be religious there, but to be Christ's there. All: Send us. We are going. Amen.

Original

Go, and go sent. May the God who called you go before you. May Christ, who promised to be with you to the end of the age, keep pace. May the Spirit give you words when you have none and hold your tongue when you have too many. And may the work of your hands outlast you. Amen.

Original

What is a commissioning prayer?

A prayer said over a person or group who are being sent to do a specific task, usually with the congregation present and hands laid on them. It names the work, asks God to go with them, and is normally paired with promises from both the person being sent and the church sending them. Three to five minutes, placed just before the benediction.

How do you commission missionaries?

Bring them forward near the end of the service and say plainly where they are going and what they will do. Ask them to promise to go, to learn before they teach, and to stay long enough to be useful. Then ask the congregation to promise something concrete in return: to pray by name, to write, to give, and to receive them without judgment if they come home early. Lay hands on them, pray, and go straight into the benediction. Then put the follow-through on a calendar, because the promise a church makes on a Sunday morning is usually forgotten by spring.

What is a sending prayer?

A short prayer at the close of a service that sends the whole congregation into the week, rather than one person into a task. It is corporate and repeated where a commissioning is specific and occasional. A sending prayer often takes responsive form, so the congregation says "we are sent" out loud before they walk out the door.

Is commissioning the same as ordination?

No. Ordination sets a person apart to an office in the church, usually permanently, and requires examination and the authority of a presbytery, bishop, or congregation depending on polity. A commissioning names a particular task for a particular season and confers no office. Traditions with a formal doctrine of ordination are careful about the distinction, and it is worth stating the difference out loud during the service so nobody misunderstands what has happened.

Should you lay hands on someone being commissioned?

Where your tradition permits it, yes. It follows the pattern of Acts 13:3, and it is the detail the commissioned person remembers years later. Ask permission first, keep the group small enough that the person is not overwhelmed, and agree beforehand on who speaks and what they will say.

Where does a commissioning go in the service?

Immediately before the benediction. The commissioning is a sending, and the benediction is a sending, so they belong together. Anything placed between them, including announcements and a closing song, dilutes both.

How long should a commissioning take?

Three to five minutes: one sentence naming the work, the two sets of promises, the laying on of hands, and a prayer of under a minute. If it needs a testimony or a video, put that earlier in the service and keep the commissioning itself tight.