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According to the apostle Paul, rulers are to have a place in our prayers. Writing to Timothy he says "I urge… that prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone - for kings and all those in authority" (1 Timothy 2:2).
One can appreciate that the early Christians might have felt diffident about doing that. Their kings and rulers were not Christians, and in many cases, were downright hostile toward those who followed the new faith. Nero, the emperor of Rome at the time, was well known for what John Stott describes as his "vanity, cruelty and hostility toward the Christian faith" (p. 62). Understandably, the early church might have been apprehensive about including its rulers in its prayers.
Yet it was to do so. And it was to do so especially for two reasons. The first was that the Christian community might "live peaceful and quiet lives" (v. 2). In other words, the church was to pray that rulers might perform their work well and bring the blessing of peace (freedom from war and civil strife) and order that is associated with good government. Secondly, they were to pray for their rulers so that that within the context of peace and quietness, they - the Christian community - might live "in all godliness and holiness" (v. 2). That is to say, so that they might be able to practice their religious worship unhindered, and live the kind of lives demanded by the gospel.
Perhaps there is a third reason implied by the wider context of what Paul writes, namely, that the gospel might spread. A church that is free to worship and live in an openly godly way is a church able to witness to the gospel. John Stott summarizes the goal of Christian prayer for rulers in the following way: "The ultimate object of our prayers for national leaders, then, is that in the context of the peace they preserve, religion and morality can flourish, and evangelism go forward without interruption" (p. 63).
He then goes on to make these helpful comments regarding the relationship between the church and the state. "Here is important apostolic teaching about church and state, and about the proper relations between them, even when the state is not Christian. It is the duty of the state to keep the peace, to protects its citizens from whatever would disturb it, to preserve law and order… and to punish evil and promote good… so that within such a stable society the church may be free to worship God, obey his laws, and spread his gospel. Conversely, it is the duty of the church to pray for the state, so that its leaders may administer justice and pursue peace, and to add to its intercession thanksgiving, especially for the blessings of good government as a gift of God's common grace. Thus church and state have reciprocal duties, the church to pray for the state (and be its conscience), the state to protect the church (so that it may go free to perform its duties). Each should acknowledge that the other also has a divine origin and purpose. Each should help the other to fulfil its God-given role" (p. 63).
In saying this, Stott is not implying that the only responsibility the church has for the state is to pray for it. On the contrary, he mentions that it is to act as its "conscience" as well, suggesting that it has the task of reminding the state of its God-given duty and of God's revealed laws. What he is saying clearly and convincingly is that it is important for the church to pray for its national (and world) leaders. When they - through God's goodness - do their task well, it is not only society as a whole that prospers, but the church and the cause of the gospel as well.