Commissioning Prayer
3-Minute Local Ordination & Commissioning Ceremony
Nursing Home and Assisted Living Chaplain — Laying on of Hands
(Leader note: Read straight through. Where you see brackets, fill in the details. Choose ONE optional insert—A, B, C, or D—and delete the others.)
1) Opening & Introduction (30 seconds)
Leader:
Today, we gather here as a local expression of Christ’s Church at [Name of place—church / home / community setting / Soul Center] in [City, State].
We are here because ordination is always local. It is lived out in real places, among real people, with prayer and witnesses. A study-based ordination pathway has been completed, and this local and public commissioning completes the biblical pattern through prayer and the laying on of hands.
The Church is not only a building. The Church is God’s people gathered in Jesus’ name—sent into the world to bring presence, prayer, and hope.
Optional insert — choose one:
A — Local Church Partnership
In partnership with [Name of Church], we commission [Name] to serve as a Nursing Home and Assisted Living Chaplain—bringing pastoral care, Scripture, prayer, and compassionate presence to residents, families, and staff, especially in times of loneliness, transition, grief, and spiritual need.
B — Care Facility Context
In connection with [Name of Facility/Community] in [City/Region], we recognize [Name] as a chaplain who will walk alongside residents, families, and caregivers—bringing Christ-centered care into moments of aging, illness, memory loss, decline, grief, and end-of-life transition.
C — Soul Center / Community Chaplaincy
As a Soul Center in [City/Region], we commission [Name] to serve as a Nursing Home and Assisted Living Chaplain—offering presence, prayer, encouragement, worship leadership, and spiritual care to older adults and their families with wisdom, patience, and steady compassion.
D — Senior Care and Family Support Focus
In this community of [City/Region], we recognize [Name] as a Nursing Home and Assisted Living Chaplain with a heart for strengthening older adults, caregivers, and families—walking with them through loneliness, loss, confusion, transition, and sacred seasons of aging with the hope of Jesus Christ.
Leader (continue):
Today, we publicly commission [Name] for ministry as a Nursing Home and Assisted Living Chaplain, affirming their training, character, and calling to serve with pastoral presence, prayer, and Christ-centered care—under facility policies and wise boundaries.
2) Scripture (15–20 seconds)
Leader:
Hear the Word of God:
“Even when my father and my mother forsake me, then Yahweh will take me up.”
(Psalm 27:10, WEB)
3) Recognition of Preparation (15 seconds)
Leader:
[Name] has completed chaplaincy preparation and has been recognized through a study-based ordination pathway. Now, as a local Christian community, we complete this process by commissioning [Name] publicly in prayer.
4) Charge (20 seconds)
Leader (to Candidate):
[Name], as a Nursing Home and Assisted Living Chaplain, you are entrusted with bringing Christ’s presence into places where many carry loneliness, grief, frailty, memory loss, fear, family burdens, and deep spiritual need.
Serve with humility and patience. Listen gently. Speak tenderly. Pray faithfully.
Be a steady presence in weakness, a comfort in sorrow, and a clear witness to the hope of Jesus Christ—without rushing, controlling, grandstanding, or drifting beyond your role.
5) Questions (20–30 seconds)
Leader:
Do you believe that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior and affirm the Bible as the Word of God?
Candidate: I do, God helping me.
Do you believe God has called you to serve as a Nursing Home and Assisted Living Chaplain?
Candidate: I do, God helping me.
Do you commit to serve residents, families, staff, and the wider care community with compassion, dignity, confidentiality, and integrity?
Candidate: I do, God helping me.
Do you agree to walk in accountability—and if you stray from the Christian walk, will you notify appropriate leaders and vacate this ordination?
Candidate: I do, God helping me.
6) Laying on of Hands & Prayer (45 seconds)
(Leader and/or elders place hands gently on the candidate.)
Leader:
Let us pray.
Heavenly Father,
we thank You for [Name] and for the calling You have placed upon their life.
As we lay hands upon them today, we recognize and bless what You have already begun.
Guide them by Your Word. Fill them with Your Spirit. Guard their life and witness.
Grant them wisdom in tender moments,
discernment in spiritual conversations,
and compassion for those carrying loneliness, confusion, grief, weakness, and fear.
Help them serve with steady boundaries, integrity, and courage—
bringing peace in anxious moments, comfort in sorrow, and truth with grace.
Bless residents who long to be remembered and loved.
Strengthen families walking through difficult transitions and decisions.
Encourage staff and caregivers who serve with daily sacrifice.
And use this ministry to bring light, dignity, and hope into senior care settings through Jesus Christ.
We commission and send [Name] now,
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
7) Final Declaration & Blessing (10–15 seconds)
Leader:
By prayer and the laying on of hands, we publicly commission you, [Name], as a Nursing Home and Assisted Living Chaplain—locally affirmed and prayerfully sent to serve Christ among older adults, families, staff, and the wider care community.
Go in the strength, peace, and protection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.