Prayer is Relational. So is Ministry.

Scripture — Matthew 6:7-11 (NRSV)

When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard because of their many words.  Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Pray, then, in this way:
Our Father in heaven,
may your name be revered as holy.
May your kingdom come.
May your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.

Devotion

In 1991, author and philosopher Peter Kreeft published a book with the compelling title _Prayer: The Great Conversation. _Having read and enjoyed several of Kreeft’s earlier books, I read this too. Thirty-five years later I have forgotten many details (other than that I recommended it to a number of younger believers as a helpful guide to prayer), but the title has stuck with me. Indeed, it contains perhaps the most important point of the book: we are invited into conversation with God. Prayer is that conversation.

Ponder that for a moment. As I noted in yesterday’s devotion, another way of stating the point is that prayer is relational. God, the Creator of the universe, the holy, omnipotent, omniscient, eternal, self-existent Being, is also personal. We are invited to relate to and with the persons of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That, indeed, is a truly “great conversation.” It should cause us to pause in both awe and wonder. It would be preposterously presumptuous to assume the right and privilege to boldly address the Creator—and to do so at any moment of any day—had not God initiated that relationship and conversation and repeatedly invited us into it. But because of God’s wonderful invitation, it is presumptuous _not _to converse with God.

For some time now in these devotions, I have been working through Jesus’s “Sermon on the Mount” found in Matthew 5-7. In my devotion of October, 2025, I pointed out how personal and relational this sermon is. Although I used to imagine the setting as something like a big rally where Jesus addressed thousands of people in a booming voice, Matthew describes it more like an intimate discourse, with Jesus sitting on the ground speaking with a group of his close disciples (probably also seated on the ground), while most of the crowds remain farther down the mountain. This is just one example of something we see throughout Jesus’ ministry: _Jesus leads relationally.  _

That is to say, Jesus leads through relationships. Indeed, relations were not merely the means of Jesus’ work; they were central to the purpose of his work. We might say that Jesus not only led through relationships, but toward relationships. It would have been very easy for a human leader to focus on some big, grand agenda, especially given the crowds there and all the opportunities they provided to expand a ministry, or to gain momentum, power, and influence. Yet Jesus spends a quiet moment building relationships with a few close followers.

And when, partway through this sermon, Jesus teaches his disciples to pray, he invites them to begin the prayer in the most relational way possible, addressing God as “Our Father.”  The opening word of the prayer is a plural pronoun: not merely “My Father” but “Our Father.”  This suggests something relational among the disciples. That alone could be the subject of countless devotions. Christians have often referred to the relationship we have with God as “personal.”  That understanding conveys some of the truth and can certainly be helpful. But the relationship is not _merely _personal. Disciples of Christ are not invited to be loners; we are called to be a part of a church which New Testament metaphors alternately connect with being members of a body, a building, and a family. It is deeply relational, ideally reflecting the relationship of the Trinity.

But more to the point of today’s devotion is that we are invited to refer to our eternal creator as “Father,” a deeply relational term with familial associations. Yesterday, I considered the conversational aspect of prayer, and the fact that Jesus often asked questions of his followers. Today I consider this relational aspect in light of what it means to lead well for the good of others.

And that leads me to my central reflection for the day: I think if we are to imitate Jesus, an important part of our leadership must also be relational. That doesn’t mean that the incarnate Jesus who chose to take on the human limitations of finitude in his life on earth had close relationships with everybody. But he did engage in meaningful relationships with his close leadership team, as well as with many others. He knew his team and cared about them. He led for the good of others. This meant he spent time with them, related to them, listened to them, and—notably—he invited them into conversation.

For those whose leadership roles fall within an explicit ministry context such as a church, I believe this is particularly important. It is easy to let programs and personal agendas take precedent over relationships. This approach to leadership, I believe—though it may seem easy to justify when we believe our personal vision is important—seems never to work for the good of others. When we lead in the way of Jesus, we lead through and into relationships.

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the High Calling archive, hosted by the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: Lord, Teach Us to Pray.