God is always inclusive and expansive when it comes to caring for the lost. The heart of the city in New Testament times was the marketplace, and that is where Paul and his associates concentrated their efforts in order to touch the city and the surrounding region. The city was their primary objective. This is a very important point because it reveals a serious contemporary problem: We are planting churches to pastor saints rather than to pastor the city. Or, worse yet, we plant a "church” to fulfill our pastoral call, with no compelling regard for the lost.

Often, church planters scout a city and ascertain that though a number of good churches are there already, a new one would likely do well, so they go ahead and plant one for the sake of future members but seldom for the sake of the city. As if to emphasize the purity of their motivations, they state that they are not interested in quantity but only in quality, their main objective being to establish a testimony. This was not Paul's strategy. He could have planted thousands of new congregations between Jerusalem and Illyricum, but he chose not to. Why? Because his primary objective was to reach cities, not to plant churches where “Christ was already named” (Rom. 15:20) as we do today.

This is not to say that planting churches was not important to Paul. It was. However, he saw the Church the way a farmer sees the barns as a servant to the harvest and never as a substitute for it. Beginning with Acts 1:8, the thrust was always for reaching cities and regions, and churches were planted as a result.

More and more pastors are beginning to see the city with its many clusters of lost people—schools, bars, hospitals, city hall, jails, parks—as their parish. They understand that everyone in town is a member of the flock entrusted to them, even though most of the flock is not in the fold. Furthermore, these pastors are seeing with increased clarity that, like the shepherd in the parable of the lost sheep, they need to prioritize the lost over the found (without neglecting the latter).

Cacho Castels, a pastor in San Nicolas, Argentina, was asked how large his congregation was. He replied, "We pastor 130,000 people. Some of them are prostitutes, others homosexuals. Most of them lie and cheat, bur they are all under our care.” He was referring, of course, to the population of the whole city that he and his fellow pastors have come to see as their flock. When they realized this for the first time, the pastors of San Nicolas fell on their faces before God and renounced the spiritual myopia and self-centeredness that had caused them to neglect the most needy members of the flock entrusted to them by Jesus. They then went to seven leading city officials to ask forgiveness for having neglected them. They visited the mayor, the chief of police, the Catholic bishop, the editor of the town newspaper, the director of public health, and both owners of the local radio and TV stations.

What was the reaction of these leaders to the pastors' claim of spiritual jurisdiction over them? The mayor asked them to pray for him regularly. The chief of police requested permission to send police officers to be prayed for. The newspaper editor printed, at cost, the literature needed to visit every house in town with an invitation to the prayer fair. The owners of the radio and TV stations invited the pastors as guests on live programs to pray for the people in the city. The director of public health appointed two pastors to the board of health to pray for the doctors and for the sick when the doctors were unable to help them. The most dramatic response of all came from the Catholic bishop, who humbly asked the pastors to pray for him to preach the Word of God every time he spoke to the pilgrims (close to one million a year) who visit the shrine.

Best of all, thousands of people attended the prayer fair held on Saturday of that history-making week. Most of them were prayed for personally, and several hundred received the Lord. Difficult to believe? Perhaps, but absolutely real. Jesus knew best when He told us to take care of His hungry lambs.

Understanding that our primary focus should be the city with its multitudes of lost people has two powerful, healthy effects. The first is a stronger impetus toward unity. When pastors realize they are called to shepherd the entire city instead of just one congregation, the question they ask right away is, “Who else is on board?” Triggered by the realization that they cannot pastor the Lord's flock by themselves, the need for unity in the Church becomes compelling and unavoidable!

The second effect is a healthier understanding of pastoral jurisdiction. When it comes to pastoring the Church, we know that God has given leaders the authority and the resources necessary to carry out the assignments entrusted to them. Unfortunately, if pastors fail to understand that their jurisdiction extends beyond the congregation to the city, they end up seeing the city as beyond their reach, and a feeling of spiritual impotence sets in, making them easy prey for discouragement and even depression.

This happened to Elijah immediately after his tremendous victory over the prophets of Baal (see 1 Kings 18:24-38). He fled in panic from a woman, Jezebel, and he remained discouraged, even though he was being fed by angels (see 1 Kings 19:4-8)! Elijah was so depressed that he hid in a cave and failed to comprehend the lesson God was teaching him through a dramatic display of the forces of nature. Why? Because he wrongly concluded that he was the only prophet left.

God had two lessons for Elijah: First, he was not alone; there were 7,000 other men he had failed to notice. Second, God's lordship extends to everybody, even to those outside the circle of believers. To drive this point home, God commanded Elijah to anoint three leaders—Hazael, as king of Aram; Jehu, as king of Israel; and Elisha, as his replacement as national prophet. God assured Elijah that these three men would finish the job that had so overwhelmed him. I find it fascinating that two of the three to be anointed were evil people!

The moment Elijah realized he had the jurisdiction, he understood that he also had the tools—authority and anointing—to handle the situation at hand. When pastors understand that the city falls under their jurisdiction, they are able to view the city positively and confidently.

Prayer Evangelism written by Ed Silvoso. Copyright 2000 Gospel Light/Regal Books, Ventura, CA 93003.  Used by permission.  Content distributed by HisChurchatWork.org > used for non-profit teaching purposes only.