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Summary
- The fullest traditional prayer for a church and its people is the Book of Common Prayer’s prayer “for the whole state of Christ’s Church,” which prays for the universal church, rulers, clergy, “this congregation here present” and all in trouble.
- Shorter traditional prayers come from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer (“Where it is corrupt, purify it”), the 1888 Catholic Manual of Prayers (a prayer it attributes to Archbishop Carroll) and the Orthodox Great Litany (“For this holy Temple, and for those who with faith, devoutness, and in the fear of God have entered therein”).
- Jesus prayed for all future believers “That they all may be one” (John 17:20–21), and Paul’s letters include prayers for the churches at Ephesus and Philippi.
- Traditional and short prayers cover church members, the sick and grieving, unity in a divided congregation, pastors, the church’s neighborhood and the next generation.
- Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List reports more than 388 million Christians facing high levels of persecution and discrimination, about one in seven; Hebrews 13:3 and Acts 4:29 shape prayer for them.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (1611), text of Project Gutenberg eBook no. 10 (Psalm 145:4; Matthew 5:16; 16:18; 24:14; Mark 10:43–44; John 17:20–21; Acts 4:29; 12:5; Ephesians 3:14, 16–17; 4:3–4; Philippians 1:9; 1 Timothy 2:1–2; Hebrews 13:3; James 5:16). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10
- The Book of Common Prayer (Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.A.), Standard Book of 1928. Morning Prayer, “A Prayer for the Clergy and People,” p. 18; Prayers and Thanksgivings, “For the Church,” “For the Unity of God’s People” and “For Missions,” pp. 37–38; Saint Stephen, Deacon and Martyr, the Collect, pp. 99–100; Good Friday, second collect, pp. 156–157; The Twenty-second Sunday after Trinity, the Collect, p. 220; Holy Communion, prayer “for the whole state of Christ’s Church,” pp. 74–75. PDF facsimile: https://www.artisticdailyprayers.org/uploads/3/0/1/6/30164961/bcp1928std.pdf
- A Manual of Prayers for the Use of the Catholic Laity, prepared and published by order of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore. New York: Catholic Publication Society, 1888. “A Prayer for the Church, the Civil Authorities, etc.,” pp. 56–57; “For Bishops, and the People committed to them,” p. 165. https://archive.org/details/AManualOfPrayers1888
- Hapgood, Isabel Florence, trans. Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic (Greco-Russian) Church. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, 1906. Great Vespers, the Great Litany, p. 5. https://www.ponomar.net/data/hapgood.pdf
- Open Doors International. “World Watch List 2026.” https://www.opendoors.org/persecution/countries
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