Introduction

As we embark on the search for the next executive director of the Wycliffe Global Alliance, we recognise our deep need for divine guidance. To anchor our intercession, we are turning to the Scriptures. Dietrich Bonhoeffer reminds us that when we pray the words of the Bible—particularly the Psalms—we are joining in with the very prayers of Jesus Christ. Similarly, Martin Luther encouraged believers to take a passage of Scripture and use it as a ‘flint to kindle a flame in the heart’. In that spirit, this document uses the prayers of Jesus, Paul, David and early spiritual leaders as the flint to kindle our own prayers for this vital leadership transition.

I. Prayers for the Search Committee: Discernment and Guidance

A Posture of Humility and Dependence

We pray that you would show us your ways, Lord, and teach us your paths. We do not assume to know the perfect way forward, so we ask that you guide us in your truth and teach us through our interviews and deliberations, for you are God our Saviour, and our hope is in you all day long.

Show me your ways, Lord,
teach me your paths.
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Saviour,
and my hope is in you all day long. (Psalm 25:4-5, NIV)

A Request for Spiritual Insight

We pray that we may be able to discern what is best for the Alliance. Protect us from relying on our own biases, and instead fill us with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, so that our final decision brings glory and praise to God.

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9-11, NIV)

Trusting God’s Sovereign Choice

We pray, acknowledging that you, Lord, know everyone’s heart. Because you know the inner character and true capacities of everyone we consider, we ask that you clearly show us which of these candidates you have chosen to take over this ministry and leadership.

Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry…” (Acts 1:24-25, NIV)

II. Prayers for the Future Director: Character, Competence, and Calling

For a True Shepherd

We pray that the Lord, the God who gives breath to all living things, will appoint someone over this community to go out and come in before them. We ask for a leader who will lead the Alliance out into new frontiers and bring them in, so that the Lord has a shepherd to the organisations across this network.

Moses said to the Lord, “May the Lord, the God who gives breath to all living things, appoint someone over this community to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the Lord’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd.” (Numbers 27:15-17, NIV)

For Integrity and Skill

We pray that you will reveal the leader you have chosen and brought from the sheep pens of their current ministry to be the shepherd of this Alliance. We ask for a director who will shepherd us with integrity of heart, and who will lead this complex global network with skilful hands.

He chose David his servant
    and took him from the sheep pens;
from tending the sheep he brought him
    to be the shepherd of his people Jacob,
    of Israel his inheritance.
And David shepherded them with integrity of heart;
    with skilful hands he led them. (Psalm 78:70-72, NIV)

For Deep Humility and Wisdom

We pray that you would give our next director a discerning heart to distinguish between right and wrong. We recognise that no one on their own is able to ‘govern this global people of yours’, so we ask that you grant them the deep humility and wisdom to navigate the complex paths ahead.

“Now, Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?” (1 Kings 3:7-9, NIV)

For Spiritual Fruitfulness

We ask that you would fill our future director with the knowledge of your will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives. We pray that this person will live a life worthy of you and please you in every way, bearing fruit in every good work across global Bible translation movements, and growing in the knowledge of God.

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God. (Colossians 1:9-10, NIV)

III. Prayers for the Alliance: Unity, Truth and Justice

For Dedication to the Word and Global Unity

We pray that you would sanctify our new leader by the truth, for your word is truth. As we search for a director, we pray that all people in this global network may be one, Father, just as you are in Christ, so that this transition and our continued work will let the world know that you sent him and have loved them.

Sanctify them by[a] the truth; your word is truth. … that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. (John 17:17, 21-23, NIV)

For Advocacy and Compassion

We pray for a director endowed with God’s righteousness—a leader whose heart beats for the unreached and those marginalised by a lack of access to the Word in the language they know best. We ask for a leader who will govern the Alliance with fairness, ensuring that the global translation movement continues to prioritise the spiritual needs of the most vulnerable and overlooked communities.

Endow the king with your justice, O God,
    the royal son with your righteousness.
May he judge your people in righteousness,
    your afflicted ones with justice. (…)
For he will deliver the needy who cry out,
    the afflicted who have no one to help.
He will take pity on the weak and the needy
    and save the needy from death. (Psalm 72:1-2, 12-13, NIV).