A prayer for Christian fundraisers in 2026
In Luke 10: 38 – 42 we read:
At the Home of Martha and Mary
38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one.[f] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Lord, we confess that we are more like Martha than Mary.
We, Christian leaders and fundraisers, are good at doing.
Creating strategies. Planning appeals. Hitting deadlines. Reaching goals.
Like Martha, our hands are busy, often too busy to come to You in worship.
Teach us, this year, to choose what is better.
To sit at Your feet daily before we rush to our tasks.
To ask You first, before we ask our supporters.
To draw our worth not from outcomes, but from how You see us.
May all we do to raise funds for our ministries flow from intimacy, not anxiety.
From our calling, not pressure.
From obedience, not just by our own efforts.
Lord, give us Mary’s heart and Martha’s hands, so that everything we do is
rooted in love and faith in You.
Amen.
(This prayer is inspired by Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World, a best-selling book by Joanna Weaver)
The featured image is Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, painted by Johannes Vermeer (also known as Jan Vermeer van Delft).
