Some people think that you are either a missionary or you don’t have a part to play in reaching the nations. The Bible teaches that missions is for everyone. Everyone in the church will not be a missionary but everyone should be a Global Christian. Being a Global Christian is a lifestyle of striving to see God glorified among the nations wherever you live. Everybody has a part to play in reaching the nations! There are five ways to engage in reaching the nations.
We see how those in the church in Antioch were engaged in these five ways of reaching the nations by welcoming, praying, going, sending and mobilizing.
Welcomers in Antioch
The first church was birthed in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. The church in Jerusalem grew rapidly but this growth was in one city and among one primary ethnicity and there was a strong Jewish prejudice that existed (see Acts 10:28,10:45, 11:1-3). By the end of Acts chapter 6 the church was still in Jerusalem. Perhaps the cultural divide caused by their prejudices was too wide for these Palestinian Jews to bridge in taking the gospel to the nations.
In their reluctance to obey their global mandate, God pushed them into going through persecution. Scattered by the persecution that broke out after Stephen was martyred in Acts 7, these believers went to Judea and Samaria and eventually to Antioch. “Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went” (Acts 8:4). In Antioch, some shared the message of the gospel but “only to Jews” (Acts 11:19). Some however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, began to share the gospel with “Greeks also” (meaning all non-Jews). In Antioch, the Lord’s hand was with them and a great number of people, both Jews and Gentiles, believed and turned to the Lord (Acts 11:20-21).
Antioch was a mix of religions, ethnicities, and cultures. These unnamed men of the dispersion shared the gospel with people not like them across ethnic, religious, and cultural barriers in the city of Antioch, and the result was the founding of the first ever multi-ethnic church. This church would change the world by becoming the first church to intentionally send missionaries.
One way the believers in the Antioch church were engaged in reaching the nations was to cross the existing ethnic, religious and cultural barriers in order to share the gospel with the nations locally. One way you can also reach the nations is by welcoming the nations who have come to your city and share Christ with them.
Praying for the World
The greatest missionary breakthrough in history happened in Antioch as its leaders were unified in a time of prayer and fasting recorded in Acts 13:2-3. “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” After they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. Their “fasting” means it was probably not just a casual one-time prayer meeting but a focused period of intense prayer. We are not told what they prayed for but judging by the answer they received to their prayers, it is safe to assume they were praying for clear direction on what to do next as a church.
The clear direction they received from the Holy Spirit was to set apart Paul and Barnabas and send them out. Paul and Barnabas would launch the Christian movement into Asia minor, and then Paul would carry it on into Europe. Eventually Christianity would become the dominant religion of the Roman Empire. John Piper wrote, “it would not be an exaggeration to say you and I are worshiping God in our churches today because of this prayer meeting.”
One way the believers in the Antioch church were engaged in reaching the nations was to stand in the gap through prayer for a lost world. One way you can also reach the nations is to stand in the gap for unreached peoples through prayer.
Going to the Nations
In the Antioch church, those who went to the nations were already serving. Paul and Barnabas were leaders in the Antioch church before being set apart from their local ministry and being sent out (Acts 13:1).
Missionaries don’t just go, they are sent by their local church. From the moment of Paul’s conversion, he knew that he had been set apart to preach the gospel to the nations (Acts 9:15, Galatians 1:15-16). Yet what is often missed is that before Paul went to the nations, God brought him to the local church in Antioch to be sent (Acts 13:1-3).
Acts 14:21-28 summarizes the work Barnabas and Paul did and forms the basis for our understanding of what the work of missions is. Paul and Barnabas “preached the good news,” (evangelism) they “strengthened and encouraged the disciples to remain true to the faith” (discipleship), and they “appointed elders in each church” (church-planting). The goal of missions is to win people to Christ, disciple these new believers and incorporate them into a healthy local church.
Missionaries stay accountable to their local church to complete the task they were sent to accomplish. After Barnabas and Paul’s first missionary journey, they returned home to Antioch and stayed a long time with the church (Acts 14:26-28). All of Paul’s missionary journeys originated from his home church in Antioch (Acts 13:1-3, 15:35-40, 18:18-23).
One way the believers in the Antioch church were engaged in reaching the nations was by two of their own, Paul and Barnabas, crossing geographic, cultural and linguistic barriers to establish healthy churches where the church did not yet exist. One way you can also reach the nations is to be sent by your church as a goer to establish healthy churches among every people group with a priority on the least reached.
Sent by the Church
The church of Antioch played a vital role as a sending partner with Paul and his missionary companions in preparing them and then sending them to take the gospel to the world. Their actions provide an example for how the task is to be carried out by the church today.
First, the church is where we find missionaries. We see that sending began in the Antioch church as they were making disciples locally through their local church. If the church does not have anyone making disciples locally they will not have anyone ready to send.
Second, the responsibility for missions belongs to the church. In Acts 13:2-3, the Holy Spirit did not speak to Paul and Barnabas directly about going, but rather to the leaders in Antioch about sending them.
Third, the church sends their best. Paul and Barnabas were leaders in the church who showed spiritual maturity (Acts 13:1). Even after hearing from the Holy Spirit, the leaders in Antioch spent more time in prayer and fasting before sending them off. Missionaries should be recognized and affirmed by their church leaders before being sent.
Fourth, the church is committed to seeing the work completed. The church in Antioch continued to support and sustain Paul to see the task of church-planting “completed” (Acts 14:26-27).
One way the believers in the Antioch church were engaged in reaching the nations was to partner in the gospel with missionaries by being senders. One way you can also reach the nations is to partner with missionaries in various ways.
A Mobilized Church
In his book Planting Missional Churches, Ed Stetzer wrote this about the church in Antioch, “The founding of the Antioch church may be the most important moment in church-planting history. Antioch would send missionaries throughout the world. Under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, the Antioch church became the first great missionary-sending church (Acts 13:3). On the other hand, the Jerusalem church turned increasingly inward and lost much of its vision, finally disappearing like the Judaizers of the early Christian movement. In contrast, the Antioch congregation reached the world by becoming the first church-planting church!”
The Antioch church mobilized their people to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. What gave the Antioch church such a missionary zeal? The simple answer is they knew the story they were a part of.
God’s Word
For a whole year Paul and Barnabas met with the Antioch church and “taught a great many people” (Acts 11:26). From Paul’s teaching elsewhere in the New Testament, we can be confident that extending God’s glory among all nations was a central theme in his teaching in Antioch. For a whole year, the Antioch church was taught how they were a part of the story of God’s plan to gather worshippers among all nations. Their understanding of the mission of God to reach the nations was rooted in the story that began in the Old Testament. There are several examples of how Paul rooted his passion to reach the nations in this story.
In Romans 15:8-13, Paul explained that Christ came to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs (Gen.12, 15, 18, 24, 26). Those promises were made so that the nations “may glorify God for His mercy.” He then quotes from the Law of Moses (Deut. 32), the prophets (Isaiah 11) and the Psalms (Ps. 117) to show that the mission came before the church and reaching the nations is a primary reason the church exists.
In Romans 15:15-16, Paul explained his motive for proclaiming the gospel to the nations. “He gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.” He called his missionary work a “priestly duty”. He understood the people of Abraham had been chosen out of all nations to be “kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:5-6).
The role of the priest in the Old Testament went in two directions. Priests were to bring God to the people by teaching the law and bring people to God through offering an acceptable sacrifice. Paul saw his identity and purpose as a child of Abraham to be a “priest,” responsible to bring God to the nations and the nations to God. Peter makes this identity and purpose clear for all believers when he wrote in 1 Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
In Romans 15:20, Paul said his ambition was to preach the gospel to those who have never heard. In the next verse, Paul explained that his ambition came from understanding the story in the Old Testament quoting from Isaiah, “As it is written: “Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.” His ambition wasn’t just a personal ambition but a biblical one.
God’s World
Antioch was the third largest city in the Roman empire with about a half a million people. It was a trade crossroads, which resulted in Antioch being very diverse; religiously, ethnically, and culturally. The Antioch believers experienced God’s world simply by living in the city of Antioch and being a part of a multi-ethnic church.
The Antioch church had a multi-ethnic leadership (Acts 13:1). They were black and white, North African and Middle Eastern. It was a very diverse group of leaders. They were a church from many nations. Many of their relatives were still beyond access to the gospel. How would they hear unless someone was sent to them? As a church from many nations, the Antioch church was mobilized to reach all nations.
God’s Work
We have seen that the Antioch church was actively engaged in God’s work to extend His glory among the nations. They were a mobilized church. Everyone in the Antioch church had a part to play in reaching the nations.
One way the believers in the Antioch church were engaged in reaching the nations was through mobilizing others in reaching the nations. One way you can also reach the nations is to mobilize by connecting God’s people to God’s purpose for the nations.
Following the example of the church in Antioch, there are five ways you can be engaged in reaching the nations. Everyone has a part to play!
You can play a part by welcoming the nations God has brought to your area.
You can play a part by praying for unreached peoples.
You can play a part by going to establish healthy churches among every people group with a priority on the least reached.
You can play a part by sending goers and partnering in various ways with them.
You can play a part by mobilizing God’s people to connect with God’s purpose for the nations.
