PASTORS ARE THE KEY TO GROWING A LOVING CITY-CHURCH CAPABLE OF TRANSFORMING A CITY.
Pastors collectively make up the highest spiritual authority–the GateKeepers--for any community or city - what they permit will be permitted and what they forbid will be forbidden.
God seems to be showing His Church worldwide that in any community, pastors collectively make up the highest spiritual authority for any community or city. They serve as the “elders of the city” sitting in its gates of authority as in Old Testament times. They have the most influence and authority over the most Christians in each congregation. God has entrusted them with most of the spiritual and material resources to transform people and cities. Collectively, they can lead, teach and mobilize the Body of Christ in a city better than anyone for Kingdom purposes.
Government: The exercise of delegated authority by a council of pastors in relationship with one another within a city functionally and organically represents citywide government.
Pastors are called to Pastor the City, not just the Church.
The flock and the fold are not one and the same. The flock is made up of the population of the city, the majority of whom are lost and spiritually hungry. The fold, much small-er, is occupied by those who are saved. When Jesus instructed Peter to feed His lambs, He was speaking primarily of those outside the fold, because they are the ones in greater need of feeding.
God is always inclusive and expansive when it comes to caring for the lost. The heart of the city in the New Testament times was the marketplace (more about that later), and that is where Paul and his associates concentrated their efforts in order to touch the city and the surrounding region.
Pastors can, by teaching and example, train the Body of Christ to love one an-other.
People imitate their pastors and generally follow their counsel. Pastors have more authority and opportunity to break down racial, cultural, denominational, sexist and generational barriers than anyone else in the city-church.
Pastors are the key to creating a city-church that loves other Christians within and among all the congregations. God will not use disobedient Christians to transform a city. They must love one another.
Relationships among pastors are the main key to transforming a city!
As every pastor knows, relationships among leaders are crucial to the spiritual vitality of any local congregation. God honors authority. If the leaders are living godly lives per-sonally and corporately, blessings accrue to that fellowship. If the leaders have sinful relationships among themselves, the Spirit of God is grieved and hindered in blessing that congregation, as He wants to. Every pastor knows this by painful experience!
This is exactly the case in the “city-church” of every city in the world, including The Church in City. Pastors here, as everywhere else, generally have relationships that are far from the biblical standard of agape love: preferring one another in honor, giving mutual service and encouragement to one another and bearing one another’s bur-dens. God commands those things for all Christians, especially for those commanded to be examples to the flock.
In almost every city on earth, most pastors relate to one another in a spirit of competition, selfish ambition, jealousy and pride. These pastors are generally very good Christians who want to obey God in every way but feel helpless to love other pastors as they know they should. This pattern is so strong that it can only be adequately described as a global spiritual stronghold of immense proportion among pastors. These dysfunctional, sinful relationships among pastors may constitute the single greatest obstacle to the health and growth of the Church worldwide. It is impossible for such pastors to ade-quately train their flocks to love one another when the pastor cannot love other pastors as God intends. This is the main obstacle to city transformation worldwide. Once pastors begin to love, serve, encourage and bear one another’s burdens, all heaven will break out and the city will be radically transformed! It is happening in cities around the world now! (See the video Transformations by George Otis for actual footage of this in four cities). Revival is coming to America. The intensity and duration of revival in any city depends more on the relationship of pastors than any other single factor.
Praying for pastors is the single greatest strategy to transform a city
As our city-church leaders, they must be spiritually healthy and obedient to God in order for them to effectively serve the Body of Christ in transforming the city.
As church leaders, they receive more attacks and temptations from the devil who loves to strike down the shepherds so that the sheep will be scattered. Pastors are falling in rec-ord numbers to sin and burnout already. Some Satanists actually pray and fast regularly against the marriages of pastors. The devil fears nothing more than a city-church united in prayer love and service to the city. That kind of Church is God’s ultimate plan to transform people. Pastors are the key to that kind of city-wide church.
Such prayer for pastors must be intense, massive, persistent and specific
Only God can build holy, obedient pastors. Only God can break this stronghold on the relationships among pastors. Only intercessory prayer will break this stranglehold on the Church in a city so that pastors can repent to God and each other for the lack of bibli-cal relationships among them.
In light of this a strategic partnership must be developed between the Pastors (GateKeepers - 2 Chron.23:19) and the Intercessors (Watchmen - Isaiah 62:6-7). In the past this relationship has been characterized by suspicion and mistrust. This must be replaced with genuine respect and appreciation.
Prayer Categories
God wants to mobilize thousands of Christians here and worldwide to pray for the pastors of The Church in the City. Here are the three main prayer categories to focus on as we pray for our pastors:
That they would be Personally Refreshed in their relationship with the Lord.
That they would be Corporately Reconciled with other pastors.
That they would be Visibly Reunited in small and large groups praying together for one another on a regular basis.
Prayer Strategies
Prayer Partners from the pastor’s own congregation
This involves helping a congregation commit to systematic and specific prayer for their pastor and his/her family. This is a movement rapidly spreading across America.
Pastor Prayer Fellowships
Pastors are forming small groups of pastors to pray together regularly for personal and professional needs. The trust and affection and mutual support that develops in these groups is the second most important foundation to building a healthy city-church. Out of such relationships, joint ministry to the city and the world can easily result, with magnified
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