Pastor Ordination Prayers

Depending on specific church services, different ordination prayers are used to mark the special occasion. Disciples Home Missions put together a sample service which includes prayer order and service guidelines. According to DHM, here’s how the service would begin:

Call to Worship

Leader: Come, let us worship God. There are different gifts,
People: but it is the same Spirit who gives them.>
Leader: There are different ways of serving God,
People: but it is the same God who is served.
Leader: Each one is given a gift by the same Spirit,
People: to use for the common good.
Leader: Together we are the Body of Christ,
People: and individually members with one another.

Opening Prayer

Leader:

Holy God, you give the church varied gifts and ministries
and call forth men and women to receive and fulfill them.
Open us to the power of your Holy Spirit
as we gather to offer you our thankful praise.
Be present with us, we pray, as we ordain
our sister/brother to your service.
All these things we ask
in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen

After delivering information about the service, singing hymns and delivering the sermon, the ordination ceremony begins in earnest the presentation of the candidates and their responses. Then comes the Affirmation of Faith:

Regional Minister:

Together, let us renew our covenant with Christ.

People:

We confess that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of the Living God,
and proclaim him Lord and Savior of the world.
In Christ’s name and by his grace,
we accept our mission of witness
and service to all people.
We rejoice in God,
Maker of heaven and earth,
and in the covenant of love
which binds us to God and one another.
Through baptism into Christ
we enter into newness of life
and are made one with the whole people of God.
In the communion of the Holy Spirit
we are joined together in discipleship
and in obedience to Christ.
At the table of the Lord
we celebrate with thanksgiving
the saving acts and presence of Christ.
Within the universal Church
we receive the gift of ministry
and the light of Scripture.
In the bonds of Christian faith
we yield ourselves to God,
that we may serve the One
whose Kingdom has no end.
Blessing, glory and honor
be to God forever.
Amen. 

Hymns and blessings often follow and many churches will mark the occasion with Holy Communion. This is a traditional prayer that would follow the breaking of bread, according to Disciples Home Missions:

O God, we thank you
for uniting us by baptism
in the body of Christ
and by this meal filling us with joy and hope.
Grant that in the days ahead
our lips which have sung your praises
may speak the truth,
our eyes which have seen your love
may look with compassion
on the needs of the world;
our hands which have held
this loaf and this cup
may be servant hands for Jesus Christ;
in whose name we ask it all. Amen.

The service usually concludes with a final blessing. For more information on ordination services and for alternate ordination prayers, visit Disciples Home Missions.