Reflection - The First Multi-National Church in Antioch

by Rev Wayne McHugh

The book of Acts has been my favourite read in the Bible as far back as I can remember.  I was raised on the Bible stories, but usually to the exclusion of that book of Acts.  It always seemed to me that what happened next was very, very important, and every time I read it there was always something I’d missed.

A few years back at Northside Mackay we did an almost week-by-week study of the Book of Acts on Sunday mornings, and it was a fascinating journey taking that much time over it.

Of course it began with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, in chapter 2; for us it can seem like the culmination of the gospel story,  but for them it was more like the start.  What fascinated me this time around was the realisation that all those visitors who turned to Jesus that day went home and took the gospel with them.

It isn’t recorded in Acts, because Acts follows a fairly tight storyline, but out of necessity there would have been immediate activity between the church in Jerusalem and all those places to which new believers returned.  And if the Holy Spirit continued being poured out, as often happens in revivals even today, the number of believers likely grew rapidly, desperately needing instruction.

But the real stopper for me this last time through was in Acts 11:20-26:

Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. (NIV)

Without authorisation, some from Cyprus and Cyrene just happened to go to Syrian Antioch (check a map) and started preaching the gospel to Gentiles.  Even that is astonishing on its own.  But the work flourished to the extent that they sent word to Jerusalem who sent Barbabas, and it continued to flourish to the extent that they went and got Saul/Paul.  What happened at this church in Syrian Antioch was history defining, and I’d barely heard of it!  Just check that team again – history makers from Cyprus and Cyrene, Barbabas and later John Mark from Jerusalem, and Paul from Tarsus – this first Gentile Church is a truly multinational venture before there is even a second Gentile church (at least within the Acts storyline).

As we reflect on many voices, we have the Day of Pentecost where people spoke in many languages to people of many languages, and then Syrian Antioch where people of many places and languages join together to preach the gospel in new places.  All of this truly was the work of the one Holy Spirit.  It blows my mind to think that Acts presents only one thread of the vast reality of the early spread of the Gospel of Jesus.  I wish I knew the rest!

What we have today in Australia is many nations all in together.  People won’t return home as they did at Pentecost, and we don’t need to travel to other countries as they did in Acts 11 and beyond.  We are all here together.  But right from the beginning, people from many nations worked together to spread the gospel, to bring people the good news of new life in Jesus.

It should not be a chore for us, and nor should we see it as hard work; it is an absolute privilege to work and walk in the steps of those humble heroes and share the good news of Jesus across racial and cultural boundaries.  What others find difficult we should love!

I really do love the book of Acts, because I see it still being lived out today – the Acts of the Holy Spirit still being lived out among the followers of Jesus.