Nothing in Graveyard Keeper 2 makes 
Faith except a sermon. No recipe produces it, no vendor sells it, no corpse carries it and no quest hands it over. Fifty-eight sermons pay it and everything else in the game spends it.
Thirty-eight studies cost Faith on top of their Science, every zombie collar costs three, five or ten, and a Story costs three. That Story is the thing every prayer and every Techbook is written on, so a church you never preach in is a technology tree you cannot finish.
The system has two halves that the game never shows you together. You write a prayer at a desk, and you preach it at a pulpit, and the quality of the writing decides how big the sermon can be.
Writing a prayer
Everything starts at the 
Writing Desk, which costs four 
Wooden Plank, six 
Bronze Nails and one 
Polished Bronze. It is unlocked by Writing Basic at five red and five green, a root node on the theology tab with no prerequisite at all.
Which prayer you can write is decided at that bench rather than at the pulpit. Every recipe on the Writing Desk carries its own Book writing requirement, they run from one up to sixteen, and talent points alone stop at five.
Every prayer is one Story, one 
Ink and some paper. The Story is itself three Faith, two 
Clean Paper and an Ink at the same desk, which is the loop worth understanding early: you spend faith to write the thing that earns faith back.
Paper is what sorts the roster into tiers. The Basic, Faith and Money prayers take three Clean Paper, most of the rest take a Blank Softcover Notebook, and only Prayer for Likes, the Hypno Prayer and Prayer for Old God want a Blank Hardcover Notebook.
The paper chain runs off corpses rather than trees. One 
Leather Scroll becomes six Clean Paper, a Softcover Notebook is one more scroll plus four Clean Paper for two notebooks, and a Hardcover is two Softcovers and a Golden ingot at the printing press. Ink is one 
Ash, one 
Water and one 
Melted Fat for four.
Write it better and it becomes a bigger sermon
Prayers come out of the desk with a star rating, and the stars are not decoration. A one-star Combat Prayer needs fifteen parishioners and grants God’s fury for forty-five minutes. The three-star version of the same prayer needs eighty and grants it for a hundred.
That pattern holds across the roster. Prayer for Purity climbs from twenty parishioners to a hundred, Prayer for Likes from forty to a hundred and forty, and the payout climbs with it. Writing the same prayer well is how you reach the bigger blessing, rather than finding a different prayer.
Prayer for Storms, Prayer for Speed, Prayer for Music and Prayer for Old God come out of the desk at one fixed grade. They are the same sermon however well you write them, so there is no reason to save them for a good day at the desk.
Voice of Faith is the talent that raises the grade, worth four when writing sermons, and it sits behind Sermon writer in the book writing track. Both cost one talent point and no spheres.
The two numbers on every prayer
Hover any written prayer and the game gives you both figures it cares about. Need to start is the smallest congregation that will let you preach at all, and Guaranteed success is the crowd at which the sermon cannot fail. Between the two it is a chance, and the Pray window prints it as a percentage before you commit.
A Basic Prayer is four and eight, which is why it is the one you learn on. Prayer for Obedience at three stars is a hundred and sixty against two hundred and twenty, the steepest guaranteed success in the game.
The rewards are per attendee rather than per sermon, which is the detail that changes how you play. A Basic Prayer pays 0.25 faith and five coins a head, so preaching it to ten people is 3 faith and 50 coins and preaching it to forty is four times that for the same prayer and the same minute of your time.
Success pays a second time. The Prayer Report adds a preaching bonus on top of the per-head figures, and the donation box takes a further payment that scales with your graveyard rather than your congregation. A Basic Prayer written to three stars pays twenty there against ten at one star.
Getting a congregation
Two things decide how many people turn up, and the Pray window shows you both: the church’s own score and the town’s happiness. Raise either and the crowd grows, and because every reward is per head, the crowd is the whole economy.
Church Cleaning costs nothing at all, no red, green or blue, and it unlocks both Improve the Church I and the first bench. Improving the church is eight 
Board and six 
Piece of stone, which is an afternoon’s work for a permanent lift.
Benches are the cheap repeatable part. An Interior Bench I is two Wooden Plank and six Bronze Nails and adds three to the church score on its own. The second tier wants four 
Oiled Plank and six 
Bronze Detail, and the third four 
Wooden beam, six 
Iron Nails and four 
Fabric.
Happiness is the other half, and one prayer pays it directly. Prayer for Likes hands over ten, twenty or thirty 
Town Gratitude by star grade, and each one is five happiness. Preaching it makes the next sermon bigger, which is the only loop in the church that compounds.
Every sermon in the game
Twenty-two prayers across fifty-eight sermons, counting each star grade separately because each one is a different congregation and a different payout. Faith and coins are per attendee; the donation box is paid once on success.
| Name | Written On | Need to Start | Guaranteed Success | Faith per Head | Coins per Head | Donation Box | Grants |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Basic Prayer I | Clean Paper | 4 | 8 | 0.25 | 5 | 10 | Faith and coins |
| Basic Prayer II | Clean Paper | 4 | 8 | 0.25 | 5 | 15 | Faith and coins |
| Basic Prayer III | Clean Paper | 4 | 8 | 0.25 | 5 | 20 | Faith and coins |
 Combat Prayer I | Softcover Notebook | 15 | 40 | 0.2 | 5 | 5 | God's fury |
| Combat Prayer II | Softcover Notebook | 40 | 80 | 0.3 | 5 | 10 | God's fury |
| Combat Prayer III | Softcover Notebook | 80 | 120 | 0.4 | 5 | 15 | God's fury |
 Combo Prayer I | Softcover Notebook | 30 | 60 | 0.4 | 10 | 20 | Faith and coins |
| Combo Prayer II | Softcover Notebook | 60 | 120 | 0.4 | 10 | 25 | Faith and coins |
| Combo Prayer III | Softcover Notebook | 120 | 160 | 0.4 | 10 | 30 | Faith and coins |
 Faith Prayer I | Clean Paper | 7 | 15 | 0.3 | 5 | 10 | Faith and coins |
| Faith Prayer II | Clean Paper | 20 | 40 | 0.4 | 5 | 10 | Faith and coins |
| Faith Prayer III | Clean Paper | 50 | 70 | 0.5 | 5 | 15 | Faith and coins |
 Harvest Prayer I | Softcover Notebook | 15 | 40 | 0.2 | 5 | 5 | God of nature |
| Harvest Prayer II | Softcover Notebook | 40 | 80 | 0.3 | 5 | 10 | God of nature |
| Harvest Prayer III | Softcover Notebook | 80 | 120 | 0.4 | 5 | 15 | God of nature |
 Hypno Prayer I | Hardcover Notebook | 60 | 120 | 0.3 | 10 | 10 | God of delusions |
| Hypno Prayer II | Hardcover Notebook | 120 | 160 | 0.3 | 10 | 10 | God of delusions |
| Hypno Prayer III | Hardcover Notebook | 160 | 220 | 0.3 | 10 | 10 | God of delusions |
 Money Prayer I | Clean Paper | 7 | 15 | 0.2 | 10 | 20 | Faith and coins |
| Money Prayer II | Clean Paper | 20 | 40 | 0.2 | 20 | 25 | Faith and coins |
| Money Prayer III | Clean Paper | 50 | 70 | 0.2 | 30 | 30 | Faith and coins |
 Prayer for Consumption I | Softcover Notebook | 20 | 50 | 0.3 | 20 | 30 | God of offer |
| Prayer for Consumption II | Softcover Notebook | 50 | 100 | 0.3 | 20 | 40 | God of offer |
| Prayer for Consumption III | Softcover Notebook | 100 | 150 | 0.3 | 20 | 50 | God of offer |
 Prayer for Demand I | Softcover Notebook | 40 | 90 | 0.3 | 20 | 30 | God of demand |
| Prayer for Demand II | Softcover Notebook | 90 | 140 | 0.3 | 20 | 40 | God of demand |
| Prayer for Demand III | Softcover Notebook | 140 | 200 | 0.3 | 20 | 50 | God of demand |
 Prayer for Excellence I | Softcover Notebook | 40 | 90 | 0.3 | 20 | 20 | God of craftsmen |
| Prayer for Excellence II | Softcover Notebook | 90 | 140 | 0.3 | 20 | 20 | God of craftsmen |
| Prayer for Excellence III | Softcover Notebook | 140 | 200 | 0.3 | 20 | 20 | God of craftsmen |
 Prayer for Imagination I | Softcover Notebook | 15 | 40 | 0.3 | 5 | 5 | Creative God |
| Prayer for Imagination II | Softcover Notebook | 40 | 80 | 0.4 | 5 | 10 | Creative God |
| Prayer for Imagination III | Softcover Notebook | 80 | 120 | 0.5 | 5 | 15 | Creative God |
 Prayer for Insanity I | Softcover Notebook | 15 | 40 | 0.3 | 5 | 5 | God of insane |
| Prayer for Insanity II | Softcover Notebook | 40 | 80 | 0.4 | 5 | 10 | God of insane |
| Prayer for Insanity III | Softcover Notebook | 80 | 120 | 0.5 | 5 | 15 | God of insane |
 Prayer for Likes I | Hardcover Notebook | 40 | 90 | 0.3 | 20 | 40 | 10x Town Gratitude |
| Prayer for Likes II | Hardcover Notebook | 90 | 140 | 0.3 | 20 | 50 | 20x Town Gratitude |
| Prayer for Likes III | Hardcover Notebook | 140 | 200 | 0.3 | 20 | 60 | 30x Town Gratitude |
 Prayer for Music | Softcover Notebook | 80 | 80 | 0.5 | 50 | Faith and coins | |
 Prayer for Obedience I | Softcover Notebook | 60 | 120 | 0.3 | 15 | 15 | God of the zombies |
| Prayer for Obedience II | Softcover Notebook | 120 | 160 | 0.5 | 50 | 25 | God of the zombies |
| Prayer for Obedience III | Softcover Notebook | 160 | 220 | 0.5 | 50 | 30 | God of the zombies |
 Prayer for Old God | Hardcover Notebook | 180 | 180 | 1 | 50 | Faith and coins | |
 Prayer for Prosperity I | Softcover Notebook | 20 | 50 | 0.3 | 20 | 30 | 1x Prosperity reward |
| Prayer for Prosperity II | Softcover Notebook | 50 | 100 | 0.4 | 20 | 40 | 3x Prosperity reward |
| Prayer for Prosperity III | Softcover Notebook | 100 | 150 | 0.5 | 20 | 50 | 5x Prosperity reward |
 Prayer for Protection I | Softcover Notebook | 15 | 40 | 0.2 | 5 | 5 | God's protection |
| Prayer for Protection II | Softcover Notebook | 40 | 80 | 0.3 | 5 | 10 | God's protection |
| Prayer for Protection III | Softcover Notebook | 80 | 120 | 0.4 | 5 | 15 | God's protection |
 Prayer for Purity I | Softcover Notebook | 20 | 50 | 0.3 | 5 | 20 | God of sane |
| Prayer for Purity II | Softcover Notebook | 50 | 100 | 0.4 | 5 | 20 | God of sane |
| Prayer for Purity III | Softcover Notebook | 100 | 150 | 0.5 | 5 | 20 | God of sane |
 Prayer for Repose I | Softcover Notebook | 20 | 50 | 0.3 | 20 | 20 | God of dead |
| Prayer for Repose II | Softcover Notebook | 50 | 100 | 0.4 | 20 | 20 | God of dead |
| Prayer for Repose III | Softcover Notebook | 100 | 150 | 0.5 | 20 | 20 | God of dead |
 Prayer for Speed | Softcover Notebook | 30 | 60 | 0.3 | 10 | 10 | Running God |
 Prayer for Storms | Softcover Notebook | 20 | 40 | 0.4 | 20 | 30 | God of the storms |
Prayer for Old God is the outlier at both ends: a hundred and eighty parishioners for a full point of faith a head, four times what a Basic Prayer pays and the biggest room in the game to fill. Money Prayer at three stars is the practical answer at thirty coins a head for fifty listeners.
The fourteen blessings
Most prayers leave a buff behind, thirty or forty-five minutes at one star depending on the blessing, double that at two stars and a hundred minutes at three. They cover almost every system in the game, so the question is rarely which prayer is strongest and usually which one matches the afternoon you have planned.
For the workshop there is God of craftsmen from Prayer for Excellence, which pays bonus talents, and Creative God from Prayer for Imagination, which gives you a chance at stories while you work. God of nature from Harvest Prayer speeds the farms up, and Running God from Prayer for Speed moves you and your zombies faster.
For the graveyard, God of dead from Prayer for Repose gives you better corpses, and God of the storms from Prayer for Storms lets you resurrect zombies whenever you want rather than waiting. Prayer for Obedience grants God of the zombies, which both speeds your workers up and lets you use worse collars on them.
God of sane does not reduce insanity, it stops you gaining any at all, for thirty, sixty or a hundred minutes depending on the star grade. Nothing else comes close, and an autopsy session under it is free where it would otherwise cost you 18.6 insanity a body.
Prayer for Insanity is the deliberate opposite and grants God of insane, which gives you more. It exists because some recipes and perks want the meter high, so read the name as a description rather than a warning.
For the town, God of offer from Prayer for Consumption pays more happiness and silver on town orders, and God of demand from Prayer for Demand makes urgent orders less urgent. Combat Prayer and Prayer for Protection are the pair for a siege, one raising the damage your fighters deal and the other lowering what they take.
Zombies and the collection plate
The automation you built is quietly costing you money every Sunday. Keeping too many zombies applies a debuff the game calls Excessive zombies, and it is blunt about what it does.
You have too many zombies, and it’s creeping people out. Your sermons are less effective.
Excessive zombies
Thirty-two of the fifty-eight sermons carry the penalty, and it is heavier than the wording suggests. A Basic Prayer falls from five coins a head to two and its donation box from ten to four, while Prayer for Likes at three stars drops from sixty into the box to twenty-four.
One prayer answers it and nothing else in the game does. The Hypno Prayer grants God of delusions, which switches the penalty off entirely for the length of the buff, and its description says exactly that.
Your debuff for excessive zombies does not work anymore.
God of delusions
It is a Hardcover Notebook prayer wanting sixty parishioners at one star, so it arrives late. Until it does, the honest advice is to hold the zombie count below the threshold on the days you plan to preach, because the loss compounds across every sermon you give.
Priest, Cardinal and the book writing track
There is no church skill tree. The talents that make you better at sermons are yellow book writing nodes, and both of the ones that matter sit a single point behind Book writing mastery +1.
Priest raises the faith every ceremony pays and Cardinal raises the money, and the game describes the second one as learning to manage the church as a collection of buildings and properties rather than a triumph of the spirit.
Further up the same track, Sermon writer makes writing prayers easier and Voice of Faith adds four to the grade you write them at. Four talent points spread across one track covers the whole system, which makes book writing the cheapest mastery in the game to specialize in.
Graveyard Keeper 2 Prayers and Sermons FAQ
How do I get more parishioners in Graveyard Keeper 2?
Two levers, and the Pray window shows both. Raise the church’s own score by improving the building and filling it with benches, an Interior Bench I being two Wooden Plank and six Bronze Nails for three points, and raise town happiness. Prayer for Likes pays 10, 20 or 30 Town Gratitude at five happiness each, so it feeds the next sermon.
Why did my sermon fail?
Because the crowd fell between the prayer’s two numbers. Need to start is the smallest congregation that lets you preach and Guaranteed success is the crowd at which it cannot fail; anywhere in between is a dice roll, and the Pray window prints the odds before you commit.
Which prayer makes the most money?
Prayer for Old God at 50 coins a head, though it wants 180 parishioners and is the hardest room in the game to fill. The practical answer is a three star Money Prayer at 30 coins a head for a congregation of fifty, or Prayer for Likes if you would rather be paid in happiness that grows the next crowd.
Why are my sermons paying less than they used to?
You have too many zombies. The Excessive zombies debuff cuts the reward on 32 of the 58 sermons, dropping a Basic Prayer from five coins a head to two. The Hypno Prayer switches it off for the length of its buff and nothing else in the game removes it.
Where do I write prayers?
At the Writing Desk, which costs four Wooden Plank, six Bronze Nails and one Polished Bronze and is unlocked by Writing Basic for five red and five green. Every prayer is a Story, an Ink and some paper, and the Story is itself three Faith, two Clean Paper and an Ink at the same desk.
What are the stars on a prayer for?
They decide which sermon you can preach with it. A one star Combat Prayer wants fifteen parishioners and blesses you for forty-five minutes; the three star version wants eighty and lasts a hundred. Voice of Faith in the book writing track adds four to the grade you write at, and four prayers have no stars at all: Storms, Speed, Music and Old God.
What is Faith used for?
Thirty-eight studies cost Faith on top of Science, every zombie collar costs three, five or ten, and a Story costs three. Since sermons are the only thing in the game that produce Faith, the church is what pays for the technology tree rather than a side activity.
