Targeting cities with 'spiritual mapping,' prayer

"A lot of people in the conservative camp say Scripture is fairly unclear about how aggressive one is to be, particularly in praying directly against demons or territorial spirits," says Jonathan Graf, editor of Pray! magazine. "They say, 'Just pray to God.' But more charismatic believers say, 'Scripture says we have all authority in Christ and can come against principalities and spirits, and we need to do that.' "

Mapping is the research tool - "the discipline of diagnosing the obstacles to revival," and it answers the questions: "What is wrong with my community? Where did the problem come from? What can be done to change things?" says George Otis Jr. Mr. Otis, president of The Sentinel Group, in Seattle, produced the "Transformations" video and has written a handbook on mapping: "Informed Intercession: Transforming Your Community Through Spiritual Mapping and Strategic Prayer."

He has visited cities worldwide and offers pastors a road map, including questions on the spiritual history and dynamics of their cities. They should gather, for example, detailed information on the status of Christianity, prevailing "social bondages," historical events that caused trauma, predominant philosophies and religions, and human groups and demonic powers that pose spiritual opposition.

Otis points to vivid examples in the Americas:

*In Hemet, Calif., a new pastor began noting on a map sites where what he believed to be negative spiritual influences were located: controversial religious centers, cults, youth gangs, and the West Coast's largest methamphetamine manufacturing facilities.

After years of research and targeted prayer, participants say, drug production has been dramatically reduced and corrupt police have been fired, gang members have converted, the "power of a demonic strongman" was broken, cults left town or were burned out, and Christians are in key leadership positions.

*In Cali, Colombia, home of the infamous drug cartel, pastors carried out a spiritual mapping campaign "gathering intelligence on political, social, and spiritual strongholds" in each of the city's 22 administrative zones. They began holding all-night prayer vigils involving thousands in the soccer stadium.

When vigils were followed by periods without homicides and the arrests of major cartel leaders, "a new openness to the Gospel was felt at all levels of society," and churches began to see "explosive growth."

Larry Showalter, pastor of Ruggles Baptist Church in Boston, is now exploring mapping and spiritual warfare and says the ministers' group he prays with weekly considers the spiritual dynamics of the city, though they haven't yet done systematic research. What they've recognized, he says, includes a "rampant spirit of unbelief," which tends to be fostered in the area's universities.

"We would pray against that spirit, in the opposite way, for faith to rise up and to dominate," he says. They also consider the social and religious history of the city. He hopes to revitalize The Boston Prayer Foundation, a city-wide ministers group, which could pursue mapping and spiritual warfare more vigorously.

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