Church Planting in the Book of ActsNäide

Living Out Apostolic Values

It’s amazing to see the way the early Church advanced in its mission beyond Jerusalem and began to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth. Often the Holy Spirit was pushing these believers into places that they didn’t feel “ready” to go.

Church planting teams are designed to be intentional in their willingness to push beyond boundaries and into new territory. In fact, they take on the DNA of what would become the most prominent apostolic sending center in the early church era, the church in Antioch.

The church in Antioch was planted accidentally. When the Christians fleeing persecution in Jerusalem arrived in Syria, they initially shared the gospel only with Jews. But some broke the “rules” and preached to Greeks also. Huge numbers of Gentiles became Christ followers.

Initially, the leaders in the Jerusalem church weren't sure that the church in Antioch should even exist because of the Gentiles who were attending! But after this church was established, everyone could see the benefit this new work was to the Kingdom. So the leaders sent Barnabas to pastor the work and he led with such effectiveness that, eventually (Acts 13), the Antioch church sent out the very first church planting team!

Antioch became an intentionally multiplying church. They sent missionaries all over the world, and everywhere these missionaries went, they planted churches. Three new things were birthed when the Antioch church was established:

1. New territory was taken - Spiritually speaking, the church planted in Antioch was more than just a new church in a different city. They were reaching new people groups: Gentiles, Greeks, Syrians, Asians, and even Europeans became a part of the spiritual inheritance of this new work.
2. New leaders were raised up and released - It was in Antioch that the Apostle Paul got his start in ministry. Paul had been living in his hometown of Tarsus when Barnabas sought him out and “hired him on staff” as his assistant pastor (see Acts 11:25-26). Later on, Paul and Barnabas would launch out to plant churches all throughout the world.
3. New resources were released - Acts chapter eleven ends by describing how the Antioch church raised money to help the Jerusalem church as they were about to enter a famine. The daughter church (Antioch) helped fund the mother church (Jerusalem) at a difficult economic moment.

It’s interesting, isn’t it? The most prominent sending center, according to the book of Acts, wasn't the church in Jerusalem., It was the church at Antioch! The Jerusalem church became preoccupied in religious debate and lost sight of the primary mission of the Church. They were overly concerned with making sure everyone was properly qualified to lead and speak, and with who should even be included in the Kingdom of God. But Antioch was obsessed with the mission! This church took chances on new, young leaders. They were generous and inclusive. They carried an apostolic and multiplicational DNA.

Lord, give us more churches like Antioch!