Doug Miller in Ordained to the Ministry of the Word emphasises the role of the ordained minister in caring for people by praying for them. Pastoral prayer is therefore a question of the ministers obedience. In sharing oversight of the congregation with the minister, Elders also have a significant responsibility for the grounding of pastoral care in the prayers of the church. While pastoral care is offered to specific persons in particular circumstances, so prayer is also specific and particular. Offering of names and situations in this context is not, however, the same as gossipping or revealing confidential details.
Pastoral prayer is of course empty without practical pastoral service.
To know and to experience silence is to enter the mystery of Gods absence from us. In freedom, God has chosen to be present to the world through the Cross of Jesus Christ. In his human experience of Gods absence, in his utter abandonment, Jesus Christ has identified himself with our own experience of Gods absence. In his human experience Christ has bound us to his own being in the world. Gods presence in the silence is the work of Christ in the world.