Prayers of Confession: 24 Corporate Confessions with Assurance of Pardon
A prayer of confession is the moment in worship when a congregation names its sin together and then hears the assurance of pardon — honesty followed immediately by grace.
Where it goes in the service
Early in the service, after the call to worship and opening songs and before the reading of scripture and the sermon — the movement is approach, confession, pardon, then Word. Some traditions place it just before communion instead.
What is a prayer of confession?
A prayer of confession is prayed by the whole congregation, usually in unison from a printed text, admitting sin before God. It is corporate rather than private: the "we" is the point. A church confesses as a body the things it has done together and left undone together.
It is almost never left standing alone. The confession is followed by an assurance of pardon — a scripture text declaring forgiveness in Christ. Without the assurance, the confession leaves a congregation under weight it was never meant to carry out the door. The pairing is the whole design: the church tells the truth about itself, and then hears the truth about God.
Many orders of worship place a silence between the two, so people can confess specifics that no printed text could anticipate.
24 prayers of confession you can use this Sunday
Free to copy, print, and project. Scripture is quoted from public-domain translations, so no permission is required.
A General Confession
All-purposeMerciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us, that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways, to the glory of your name. Amen.
— Original, in the classic form
Psalm 51 in Unison
All-purposeHave mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions. My sin is constantly before me. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me. Don't throw me from your presence, and don't take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Uphold me with a willing spirit.
— Psalm 51:1–3, 10–12 (WEB)
Confession of Hurry and Distraction
ContemporaryGod of stillness, we have been busy about many things and attentive to almost none of them. We have filled every silence you offered us. We have called our distraction "responsibility" and our exhaustion "faithfulness." Forgive us. Slow us. Gather us. And teach us again that we are not what we produce, but whom you love. Amen.
— Original
Confession for a Divided Church
UnityLord Jesus, who prayed that we would be one, we confess that we have been quick to draw lines and slow to cross them. We have mistaken our preferences for convictions and our convictions for your commands. We have loved being right more than we have loved each other. Forgive us, and make us one as you and the Father are one. Amen.
— Original
Lenten Confession
LentAlmighty God, you made us from dust and to dust we will return, and still we live as though we will not. We store up what we cannot keep. We defend what we cannot hold. We have feared death and so have not truly lived. In these forty days, turn us back to you, that we may lose our lives and find them. Amen.
— Original
Confession of Silence in the Face of Injustice
JusticeGod of the widow, the orphan, and the stranger, we confess that we have seen and looked away. We have had enough and have not shared it. We have had a voice and have not used it. We have prayed for the hungry and then eaten our fill. Forgive us, and do not let us rest until mercy is more than a word we say on Sundays. Amen.
— Original
Assurance of Pardon — Romans 8
Assurance of PardonThere is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Friends, believe the good news of the gospel: in Jesus Christ, you are forgiven.
— Romans 8:1 (WEB)
Assurance of Pardon — 1 John 1
Assurance of PardonIf we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Hear and believe: your sins are forgiven, in the name of Jesus Christ.
— 1 John 1:9 (WEB)
Assurance of Pardon — Psalm 103
Assurance of PardonFor as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. People of God, you are forgiven. Live like it.
— Psalm 103:11–12 (WEB)
Confession from Psalm 32
All-purposeI acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.
— Psalm 32:5 (KJV)
A Short Confession in Unison
All-purposeMerciful God, we have not been what you made us to be. Forgive what we have done, heal what we have broken, and lead us home. Amen.
— Original
A Responsive Confession
All-purposeLeader: We have loved you with part of our hearts. People: Lord, have mercy. Leader: We have loved our neighbors when it was convenient. People: Christ, have mercy. Leader: We have known the good we ought to do, and not done it. People: Lord, have mercy. All: Forgive us, and make us new. Amen.
— Original
Confession of the Tongue
All-purposeGod of truth, we have said things this week we would not want repeated, and we have said them about people you love. We have called cruelty honesty. We have been silent when a word would have cost us something. Forgive our speech, and put a guard on our mouths until what we say sounds like you. Amen.
— Original
Confession of Prayerlessness
ContemporaryFather, we have talked about prayer more than we have prayed. We have promised to pray for people and forgotten by the afternoon. We have treated you as a last option and called that self-reliance. Forgive us. Teach us to pray badly and often rather than beautifully and never. Amen.
— Original
Confession of Fear
ContemporaryLord, we have been afraid, and we have let fear do our thinking. We have made decisions to protect ourselves and called them wisdom. We have withheld love because loving is a risk. Forgive us, and cast out what we cannot cast out ourselves, until perfect love has driven out our fear. Amen.
— Original
Confession of Our Idols
ContemporaryGod who alone is God, we have handed our lives to things that cannot hold them: to work that will replace us, to approval that will move on, to money that will not be there at the end. We have not been irreligious. We have been devout about the wrong things. Forgive us, and take back what belongs to you. Amen.
— Original
Confession of Gossip
UnityLord Jesus, we have talked about each other instead of to each other. We have shared what was not ours to share and called it concern. We have enjoyed the failures of people we say we love. Forgive us, and make this church a place where a person's name is safe when they are not in the room. Amen.
— Original
Confession of Comfort and Plenty
JusticeGod of the poor, we are comfortable, and our comfort has made us slow. We have called our excess normal. We have looked at need and calculated what we could spare rather than what was needed. Forgive us for the ease with which we live beside people who cannot. Unsettle us, and keep us unsettled. Amen.
— Original
Confession of Partiality
JusticeLord, you show no favoritism, and we show a great deal. We have judged people by their clothes, their accent, their address, their usefulness to us. We have made room for some and not for others and told ourselves it was about fit. Forgive us, and tear down what we keep rebuilding. Amen.
— Original
Advent Confession
AdventGod of the promise, we say we are waiting for you, but we have filled the waiting with noise. We have wanted a savior who would arrive on our terms, and you came small, and poor, and late by our reckoning. Forgive our impatience and our small expectations. Make us people who can keep watch. Amen.
— Original
Ash Wednesday Confession
LentAlmighty God, we are dust, and we have spent the year avoiding the thought. We have hidden our mortality behind our schedules. We have built lives that require us never to stop. Mark us today with the truth, and let the truth be a mercy: that we are dust, and that you love dust, and that you have never once been ashamed of what you made. Amen.
— Original
Confession Before Communion
CommunionLord Jesus, we come to your table with hands that are not clean and hearts that are not whole. We have not loved each other well enough to eat together lightly. Forgive us before we come. Reconcile us to you, and to the person in the next row, and then feed us. Amen.
— Original
Assurance of Pardon — Isaiah 1
Assurance of PardonCome now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Hear it and rest in it: you are forgiven.
— Isaiah 1:18 (KJV)
Assurance of Pardon — Micah 7
Assurance of PardonWho is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Your sins are in the deep water, and God is not going back for them. You are forgiven.
— Micah 7:18–19 (KJV)
How to write your own
- 1Write in the first person plural throughout. "We confess," not "they" and not "I." A corporate confession that points at somebody else has stopped being a confession.
- 2Name something specific enough to sting and general enough to be true of the room. "We have not loved our neighbors" is safe; "we have been generous in public and stingy in private" lands.
- 3Do not confess on behalf of people who are not present. Confessing the sins of another group is a sermon move, not a confession move, and it lets the congregation off the hook.
- 4Leave a silence. Print "Silent confession" in the bulletin and actually hold it for fifteen to twenty seconds — longer than feels comfortable from the front.
- 5Always pair it with an assurance of pardon drawn from scripture, and say the words "you are forgiven" out loud. Implied grace is not heard as grace.
- 6Keep the confession under 120 words if it is read in unison. Congregations lose the thread — and the rhythm — beyond that.
How different traditions handle it
Presbyterian, Reformed, Anglican, Lutheran, and Methodist services almost always include a printed corporate confession with an assurance of pardon. Baptist and non-denominational services more often fold confession into a pastoral prayer or a song, without a unison text. Roman Catholic Mass includes the Penitential Act near the beginning. In Reformed practice the assurance is a declaration of the gospel rather than an absolution pronounced by the minister — the words are usually "in Jesus Christ, you are forgiven" rather than "I absolve you."
Frequently asked questions
Why confess sin together when sin is personal?
Because scripture treats the people of God as a body, and some sins are genuinely corporate — what a church tolerates, ignores, or excludes. Corporate confession also protects individuals: nobody has to volunteer their private failures to participate honestly.
What is an assurance of pardon?
A scripture text read immediately after the confession that declares forgiveness in Christ — commonly Romans 8:1, 1 John 1:9, or Psalm 103:11–12. It is the answer to the confession, and confession should never be left without one.
How long should the silence be?
Fifteen to twenty seconds. It will feel far longer from the front than it does in the pews. Tell the congregation what the silence is for the first several weeks you use it.
Where does confession go in the service?
Most commonly after the call to worship and opening praise, before the scripture reading and sermon — you approach God, tell the truth, hear grace, and then hear the Word. Some traditions instead place it immediately before communion.
Keep a record of what was actually said
The prayer of confession you wrote is in your notes. The sermon that went with it usually isn't. Transcribe every service and build a searchable archive your congregation can go back to — the Church Plan is $19/month for as many sermons as you preach.
Related parts of the service
Calls to Worship
A call to worship is the opening words of a service — a summons, usually from the Psalms, that tells a gathered crowd it has become a worshiping congregation.
Pastoral Prayers
A pastoral prayer is the long prayer of the service, in which one voice carries the whole congregation's thanksgiving, grief, and intercession to God.
Communion Meditations
A communion meditation is the brief reflection given before the bread and cup, focusing a congregation on what it is about to do.
Affirmations of Faith
An affirmation of faith is the moment a congregation says aloud, together, what it believes — usually a historic creed.
Everything else in the service
Planning the rest of the service
- Sermon resources for all 66 books — themes, famous chapters, and preaching notes to pair with the readings.
- Sermon length calculator — check the service fits the time you actually have.
- Sermon outline generator — turn a text and a big idea into a preaching outline.
- Sermon series ideas — plan a season, then build the liturgy around it.