The Apostle Paul had wanted to visit the church in Rome for a long time.  The city was the centre of the Roman Empire and the international hub of communications.  Apart from Paul's personal links with those he already knew, he wanted to help them to fully appreciate the doctrine of grace and how Jesus Christ was the fulfilment of every Jewish dream and Gentile longing.

Nevertheless, he had not made the journey because of his higher priority of proclaiming the gospel where Christ was not known.  The church in Rome was well established but in many other places a local church had yet to be planted.  Illyricum was the present-day Albania and Croatia, later known as Dalmatia – where Titus also went.  We do not have any other record of Paul going so far north, but the 1,000 miles range from Jerusalem covered all his missionary journeys.  

Paul therefore prioritised gospel proclamation over fellowship and pastoral encouragement.  That did not mean that he considered pastoral teaching, discipleship and fellowship to be unimportant; rather that the task of evangelism, to which he had been called, was critical to the future growth of the church world-wide.  Quoting from Isaiah 52:15, Paul said that the prophecy that many nations would understand about Jesus, was fulfilled in his ministry.  As for Paul, so it is for us: we cannot proclaim Jesus except by the power of God (1 Corinthians 2:1-5), but if we desire Him to work through us, He will be glorified (Romans 15:17).

Today, many churches put most of their resources into the people who are already in the church.  And, of course, it is not wrong to care for fellow believers - it is very important.  But how will those with no knowledge of Christ come into His kingdom (Romans 10:14-15)?  It will require a new priority of Holy Spirit-motivated spiritual ambitions.  Evangelistic priorities are always sacrificial: they always take us out of our comfort zone and always generate plenty of reasons why it would be better to look after the people who are already in the church. That is why evangelism needs to be made a priority for prayer and action where we live and work.