THE
PRIORITY OF STRATEGIC CITIES
We have already seen that when the early church set out to
obey the Great Commission they began planting churches. Where did they plant
churches? Paul planted them in important cities; he
prioritized important cities. Here are some of the
places Paul ministered:
Syrian Antioch: population of approximately 500,000;
capital of Syria
Salamis: chief city of Cyprus
Paphos: capital of Cyprus
Pisidian Antioch: capital of South Galatia
Iconium: located on the main trade route from Ephesus to
Asia Minor
Derbe: a "customs station" on the main trade route
Perga: the religious capital of Pamphilia
Philippi: "a leading city of Macedonia" (Acts 16:12)
Thessalonica: "a city of first-rate importance" (Unger)
Athens: seat of Greek culture and the world’s key
university city
Corinth: capital of Achaia
Ephesus: the most important city in the Roman province of
Asia
Rome: population over 1,000,000Because he prioritized
key cities, he could claim that he had "fully preached the
gospel" from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum (above
modern Italy) (Rom. 15:19). Of course he had not really
preached the gospel to every town in that area, much less
every person. However, because he had reached the key
cities, he knew that from those cities the gospel would
spread throughout the regions. He told the Thessalonians
that their faith had "sounded out" into Macedonia and
Achaia (I Thes. 1:7-8). He told the Romans that their
faith was "spoken of throughout the whole world" (Rom.
1:8). Luke records that from Pisidian Antioch "the word of
the Lord was published throughout all the region" (Acts
13:49).
The New Testament model challenges us to
prioritize reaching the influential cities.
Now onto the next priority:
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