Worship for the week beginning 19th June 2022

Time to Reflect

The church at Antioch led the mission to other parts of the world beyond Judea. Practically every Christian today, and indeed all Gentile Christians, have spiritual foundations in this church in Syria. If the church at Antioch did not undertake this mission, the church could have been stillborn in the first century.

It has to be stressed that the Antioch church’s mission began as an accident. Once it started, though, the church became intentional about carrying out the task further.

Some of the first followers of Jesus were ready to wait for God’s Reign in Jerusalem—until Saul of Tarsus began persecuting the church there (Acts 8:3). Then the believers from there were scattered (8:4), and the Greek-speaking, immigrant Jewish believers in Jerusalem, spread to other places where they could speak Greek. Although rural Syria spoke Aramaic, the dominant language in cosmopolitan Antioch was Greek.

Eager to share their experience with others, these scattered, bicultural believers became unintentional missionaries (11:19-20)  —Christians scattered due to persecution but shared Christ where they travelled. They started the first house churches in Antioch (Acts 11:19). These first Antioch Christians, living and working among Gentiles as well as Jews, began sharing the gospel with Gentiles (Acts 11:20). Thus it was not surprising that they would eventually consider evangelising Gentiles elsewhere. In fact, they embraced among them a former leader of the persecution that scattered them, to begin with: Saul of Tarsus (Paul), who now had a call to evangelise the Gentiles (Acts 11:26). Ministering to such a wide range of immigrants, the leaders of the Antioch church reflected similar diversity among themselves.

The leaders of the church were prophets and teachers (Acts 13:1). Some of these leaders presumably came from Jerusalem (11:27), including Barnabas (11:22). Most, however, at least had significant cross-cultural backgrounds. For example, Barnabas, though from Jerusalem most recently, was originally from Cyprus (4:36); he probably had ties with some of the Cypriotes who helped evangelise Antioch initially (11:20).

Besides Barnabas, the leadership team included Simeon called “Niger” (13:1). In this case, it would be meant descriptively: “Simeon the Dark” or “Simeon the Black,” observing his dark complexion, perhaps from northern Africa. Less debatably, Lucius was explicitly from Cyrene in North Africa (13:1) and thus was perhaps one of the original founders of the Antioch church (11:20). Cyrene was in an area earlier settled by Phoenicians, with indigenous North African inhabitants and many Greek and Jewish settlers (sometimes estimated at one-third each). Between Lucius from North Africa and Simeon, the Dark one may find significant African representation in leadership in this Greco-Asian church. 

Perhaps of particular interest to people like me with slave ancestry, the list may also include those descended from enslaved people. That Manaen was “brought up with” Herod Antipas could mean that he was a playmate from another noble family, but it could also suggest that he was a family servant. In Manaen’s case, this is merely a possibility. In Saul’s (Paul’s) case, however, it is likely. A majority of Jews who were Roman citizens were so because their ancestors had once been slaves in Rome. (In the first century BCE, Rome enslaved many Judeans and brought them to Rome.) Once a Roman citizen freed an enslaved person under certain conditions, that enslaved person became a Roman citizen, as did the enslaved people’s descendants. Saul of Tarsus was probably one of the Cilicians who belonged to the synagogue of Freedpersons in Acts 6:9. The term translated Freedpersons there designates those freed by Romans, hence signifying this synagogue as a prestigious institution in Jerusalem—a congregation started by Jewish Roman citizens. Acts 6:9 notes that this synagogue of Freedpersons included Jewish people from various locations (including Cilicia, where Tarsus was, and where Saul’s ancestors may have migrated from Rome). It thus seems likely that Paul was a Roman citizen (16:37) because, several generations earlier, his ancestors were slaves in Rome.

In any case, this list of leaders shows a great diversity of backgrounds. What matters more than all the differences, though, is what binds them together. These leaders worship God, praying and fasting, and are ready to hear His call when He speaks (Acts 13:2).
This diverse, cosmopolitan church, with its diverse leadership team, birthed a vision that Jesus had already imparted in Acts 1:8. Empowered by the Spirit, two emissaries from this church were preparing to reach the world!

How can you help your local church to be more intentional about being a multi-ethnic church?

Amen.