There are no shortages of church
models to follow: Purpose Driven…Seeker
Sensitive…Emergent. And yet among the great churches
in history, one church stands out with distinction
in Scripture—the Church of Antioch. Scripture’s
mention of this church is brief, but one can argue
that this one church was more responsible for the
advance of the gospel than any single church in
history.
Following the persecution of
believers after the death of Stephen, many followers
of Christ left Jerusalem and began to preach the
gospel to Jewish communities wherever they went. In
Antioch, the believers took a radical step—they
preached the gospel to Gentiles. As in the early
days of the Jerusalem Church “a great number
responded” and when word reached the apostles,
Barnabas was sent to investigate. When he saw what
was happening “he rejoiced” and began ministering in
the church. As this ministry grew, Barnabas sought
out Saul from Tarsus and the two of them conducted
joint ministry in Antioch for a year. New leaders
were raised up and when commanded by the Holy
Spirit, the Antioch Church commissioned Barnabas and
Saul to serve as missionaries for Christ.
Antioch was a church living the
grace of God in a mighty way. There are no recorded
miracles or healings, but the fire of the Holy
Spirit was working in this church through the power
of God saving people that turned to Him.
But what was it about this church
that made it so dynamic? More importantly, what
lessons can we learn from Antioch in order to
develop the kinds of churches that God uses to
impact the world for Christ?
Passion for Evangelism
One of the obvious hallmarks of the
Antioch Church was its evangelistic passion. The
church was born out of an evangelistic outreach. The
Book of Acts records that “a great number” of new
believers were added in that first evangelistic
effort.
Whatever the number, it made enough
noise to catch the attention of the apostles in
Jerusalem. After Barnabas began ministering, Acts
records again that “a great number of people were
brought to the Lord.” This was clearly an
evangelistic church.
I can imagine what the Antioch
Church was like because I was born as a Christian in
an evangelistic church. I came to know the Lord at
the Pueblo Libre Church in Lima, Peru—one of the
first churches in the Encounter with God Movement. I
was a new believer surrounded by new believers. It
was common to see three hundred new believers result
from just one week of an evangelistic campaign.
Later on, when I was called to teach new believers,
my classes were filled with around one hundred new
students each month.
The kind of church that the Lord
uses is first and foremost an evangelistic church.
Like Antioch, God uses churches with a passion for
souls.
Commitment to Prayer
More than just reaching new people
with the gospel, the Antioch Church sought spiritual
direction from the Lord. Though they worked hard
serving new believers, they weren’t too busy to
pray, worship and fast (Acts 13:1-3). They prepared
themselves to listen to the Holy Spirit.
And the Holy Spirit “spoke.” The
Holy Spirit still speaks, but often churches are too
busy in their activities to hear what He is saying.
Spiritual vision is necessary to
enable the church to move toward its goal. The
Antioch Church sought the Lord and in doing so
received a call to touch the whole world with its
ministry.
Diverse Team Based Ministry
The spiritual growth of the church
did not rest upon one person. We see early on in the
story of the Antioch Church that unknown people from
Cyprus and Cyrene began to preach the gospel to the
Gentiles in Antioch.
Later, they received the ministry of
Barnabas. He was a counselor, a pastor, a teacher,
and a disciple maker. The very specific gifts that
the church in Antioch needed in order to grow.
Still later, as church growth
surpassed Barnabas’ capacity, he invited Saul to the
team. The church needed the spiritual gifts that
Saul was given and Saul needed a very dynamic church
in which to minister with his gifts. Both Barnabas
and Saul trained the new believers and matured them
to become leaders.
Finally, a pastoral team emerged in
the church. Simeon, Lucius and Manaen were among
those equipped by the Holy Spirit to minister to the
church.
Strategically Located
It wasn’t an accident that the Holy
Spirit chose Antioch to be the mission center to the
world.
Antioch was a big and wealthy
city—the capital city of the Roman province of Syria
and the third largest city of the Empire. It was
located on a very important trading route between
Asia and Europe. A cosmopolitan city, it was chosen
by the Holy Spirit to be the center of spiritual
life for the world of those days.
The Holy Spirit does the same today.
Strategy is not a lack of spirituality; on the
contrary, strategy is part of our spiritual work.
The Holy Spirit uses strategy to do the work of the
church.
That’s why the Encounter Movement
works in the capital city of each country as a first
step. My city, Lima—the capital of Peru, is home to
one third of the entire population of my country! In
many ways, Lima is Peru. All the financial,
political and government power is concentrated in
Lima. For many decades evangelical missions worked
in the outlying areas of our country but not in the
capital city. When the Encounter Movement focused on
Lima in 1973 it made a great difference.
Thirty three years later we now have
a strong network of more than 70 churches in Lima
and several more in secondary cities throughout the
country as a result of this strategy of reaching the
city at the crossroads of society.
Leadership Development
The Holy Spirit guides us to
concentrate and develop ministries in a church until
the church can explode to bless the world. Saul was
added to the pastoral team in Antioch. Later on,
Simeon, Lucius of Cyrene and Manaen would be added
as well. So, the result of concentrating ministry in
the one church was that other pastoral ministers
were discipled and raised up in the church. When the
Holy Spirit called Saul and Barnabas for work as
missionaries, the Antioch Church was equipped with a
solid base of leaders to fill their shoes.
Joyful Stewardship
We do not know specifics about
Antioch’s financial capacity. However, we do know
that the city was an important one and that at least
one of the leaders, Manaen, came from a high social
background and was possibly the foster-brother of
Herod the Tetrarch. We also know that the church was
able to support the ministries that the Holy Spirit
raised up. They sent financial help to the Church in
Jerusalem (Acts 11:29-30). Furthermore, when the
Holy Spirit called Barnabas and Saul, the church was
immediately ready to send them out. This would
certainly have necessitated provision for their
travel expenses and financial help for their
ministry for years to come.
A church that God uses is one that
is ready to carry the costs for evangelism with joy
and gratitude. Antioch was a church that not only
listened to the word of the Lord, but made financial
provision to fulfill His command.
Missionary Vision
The Antioch Church responded and
obeyed God’s missionary calling to the world of its
day. When that call came they set aside their fears,
their feelings and simply obeyed by commissioning
two of their own—Saul and Barnabas—to the work of
missionaries throughout the Roman Empire. As a
result, this church became the catalyst for the
expansion of the gospel to the whole world.
Recognizing its missions mandate,
they invested their prayers, resources and people in
answering God’s missionary call. And Antioch did not
just send anyone. They sent their spiritual mentors!
Antioch recognized that the church’s
influence is not only for its community, but beyond
its frontiers. The call for the church is to bless
the entire country, continent and world.
As such, one church effectively
fulfilling God’s missionary mandate can impact the
entire world with the gospel.
Focused and Available
The strategy that the Holy Spirit
uses to reach the world is the local church. Even
with all its flaws and weaknesses, the church is the
one institution instituted by Christ and revealed in
Scripture as the vehicle the Holy Spirit uses to
carry the gospel to the world.
The Antioch Church is a powerful
example of the impact that one church can have when
it is focused on God and available to His calling.
If God can do that with one church, imagine what he
can do with 10, or 100 or even 1,000. The same call
to Antioch exists for us today. In emulating this
church, we can be a people that the Holy Spirit uses
to build the Lord’s Kingdom and realize the
discipleship of nations.
