Church Planting - Acts 11:19-30; 13:1-3; 14:21-28

“The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.” (Acts 11:26)
 
What a church!  The people of Antioch responded in “great numbers” to the message about Jesus, brought to them not by superstar apostles but by unnamed men and women, scattered out of persecution in Jerusalem, fleeing for their lives.  Barnabas went there and found such rich soil that he went and got the newly-converted Saul, basing him there for a whole year.  Can you imagine the scene when he arrived?  Barnabas would have introduced the fugitive faithful to their former enemy Saul, the very person who had overseen the murderous campaign they had run from.  What a reunion that must have been, what a reconciliation must have taken place.  It clearly had quite an impact on the whole town.  You didn’t need to be a believer to see that something remarkable was happening.  Onlookers started calling them “Christians”, literally “little Christs’” or “Jesus imitations”.
 
The church in Antioch went on to train up and send out many leaders and missionaries, serving as a base that Paul, Barnabas and many others travelled from and returned to.  It was a resource church to the entire region.  Out of persecution, disarray and enemies, LOVE founded a community that served as a base for evangelism, church planting and social transformation for the whole region.  It cost them dearly and they counted it as their privilege.  They had been founded out of persecution and so considered suffering as a natural part of their calling.  But they weren’t depressed nor dismayed – they were a constant source of encouragement, hope and practical help for others.
 
How desperately we need more churches like Antioch for the UK and Western Europe today.  Let’s pray that the church in Bournemouth, even our small part of it, might become like this.
 
“So after they had fasted and prayed, they paced their hands on them and sent them off.” (Acts 13:3)