The Acts of the Missionaries

This is a little paper I put together for my Portland Bible College class on the Book of Acts. I thought it would be appropriate to share here and hope it’s an encouragement to other current and future missionaries.

Key Missionary Principles in the Book of Acts

The New Testament, and particularly the Book of Acts, sets forth the original mission of the Church and the pattern for its fulfillment both in the first century and in the twenty-first century. Jason Mandryk tells us in his epic global prayer guide, “Jesus founded a missionary team — the apostles — and called others to assist in the mission. The Church was the result, through which He calls others to continue the task. Therefore, the Church is, in essence, a missionary agency in its origin, life, and continued growth and not a static institution in society” (Operation World, p.19). The principles that these early “sent ones” adhered to in their supernatural ministry to the then known world have a challenging practical application to today’s modern believers.

Principle number one: We must have the right mission.

After His resurrection and just before returning to the throne of heaven, Jesus spoke to His faithful followers that He had personally trained in three years of hands-on ministry to the Jewish people. His instruction was to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit, and once empowered, to make disciples of all the nations, beginning from their current residence of Jerusalem, and circling out to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:4-8). Although this Commission was clearly spelled out at least four times in the Gospel narratives and implied throughout the New Testament, many modern churches have lost sight of the mission of the Church to reach the unreached with the transforming message of the Cross. “The actual mission of many churches is Pay the Bills….let’s be honest, most local churches don’t feel any urgency about anything until the money starts running out. Then suddenly they are concerned about ‘reaching people’ (Andy Stanley, Deep & Wide, Ch 13).

It is imperative that we go back to the command of Jesus and the obedience of the original Apostles as our blueprint for finishing the task set before us. Any other cause in the local church is secondary to this great assignment of converting lost peoples into disciples. It’s amazing that in the midst of wild success in performing the miraculous, the Early Church never fixated on any one primary aspect of the Holy Spirit’s work (such as healing, deliverance, or even spiritual gifts), but simply dealt in power with the people’s oppression in the midst of the work of preaching the Gospel, making disciples, & building the church (Acts 16:16-18).

Principle number two: We must be filled with the Holy Spirit.

It is evident in the historical accounts of the acts of the apostles that they did not act on their own, but were compelled and quickened by the Spirit of God upon them. They waited on His continual filling for power, for direction, for prophetic insight. They cried out for His boldness, for His Words to be spoken through them, for His mighty works to be performed through their hands. And the results were miraculous: as the Holy Spirit created opportunities for His power to be displayed and the apostles opened their mouths and stretched out their faith, people were healed and delivered from demonic oppression. These acts of power resulted in hungry, convicted multitudes that were ready to receive the Gospel and surrender their lives to the Risen Christ. At other times the dead were raised, poisonous serpents failed to harm their victims, and even powerful witchdoctors were converted by the demonstration of the Spirit’s power. People tended to heed the message presented when they saw it followed up by miracles setting them free from their bondages.

In today’s Church, the people of God must be determined to wait upon the power of the Holy Ghost in order to reach a dying world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There must be a dissatisfaction with the lack of spiritual power present in the house of the Living God, and a readiness to not only pray and believe for miracles, but to preach with boldness and reap the harvest that follows. Even today, people of low and high authority will take note of our relationship to Jesus by our boldness and our notable miracles. (Acts 4:13-16).

Principle number three: We must carry the right message.

“In the beginning, the church was a gloriously messy movement with a laser-focused message and a global mission. It was led by men and women who were fueled not by what they believed, but by what they had seen….it wasn’t the teaching of Jesus that sent his followers to the streets. It was His resurrection” (Andy Stanley, Deep & Wide, Section 2 Intro). This simple, powerful message is the past and present missionary’s not-so-secret weapon: Jesus lived, died, and rose again. Our message proclaims in Jesus the resurrection of the dead, and commands sinners to repent, believe the Gospel, and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Apollos of Acts (Acts 18:24-26 ) and various denominations and church streams of today prove that it is very possible to spread a weak Gospel that omits the power of God. Multitudes have been baptized into a religious system that bears the name of Christ but is devoid of His living presence and transforming influence (2 Timothy 3:5). Our challenge today is to go forth with the Gospel of resurrection power and to establish the House of God built upon the proper foundation according to the Biblical pattern. The first century church demonstrated that the Message is relevant to all peoples and can begin from anywhere, but must lead to the same basic news (Acts 8:35). The Apostle Paul carefully crafted his sermons based on his target audience in order to relate to them and draw them to Christ (1 Corinthians 9:19-23; 10:33).

Principle number four: We must begin where we are.

In Jerusalem, the apostles were witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection and even pointed accusing fingers in the faces of those who murdered the Savior. Their bold preaching, teaching, and miracles grew the Church to tens of thousands in mere weeks after the Spirit was poured out, and Jerusalem was filled with the doctrine of Jesus’ Way (Acts 5:28). Then and now, living a missionary lifestyle at home prepares the way for international ministry in the future. Often modern Christians fail to be effective for the Gospel in their own spheres of influence and then seek to go overseas where they are unknown in order to have a measure of “success” in ministry. But the Church is not in the business of exporting goods that failed to work in the home country. Peter and John and Paul and Barnabas and Thomas and Thaddeus lived lifestyles worthy of the missionary call they had received and operated in the power of the Holy Spirit as they went about their hourly, daily, and weekly lives.

That said, the apostles fell short of Jesus’ command to go out from Jerusalem to a broader audience and it took a violent persecution to shake the Church out of the comfort of ministry success at home. Even then, the apostles continued to stay in Jerusalem (Acts 8:4)! While we begin at home, we shouldn’t balk due to comfort at home or fear of the field, but be willing and eagerly waiting for the opportunity to move to more distant lands with the transforming message of the cross.

Principle number five: We must be sent out by the Spirit.

Jesus told the disciples to pray for more laborers to be sent to the teeming masses of scattered people (Matthew 9:37) and throughout the Book of Acts, we see the Holy Spirit calling, choosing, and sending out workers for specific service (Acts 13:4). At times He spoke directly to people (Acts 8:26), at other times to a gathered assembly (Acts 13:1-3), and on one occasion, He physically transported His servant to the place where the Gospel needed to be preached (Acts 8:39-40). Those who are counted faithful and empowered and placed into ministry by the Spirit of God (1 Timothy 1:12) must remain sensitive to His guidance and direction on where to go & who to preach to (Acts 8:26; 16:9-10), and must be willing to break personal cultural barriers that hinder them from going to people that need Christ (See Acts 10).

Principle number six: We must be prepared to suffer.

As the apostles went out and preached, their confrontational message often stirred up riots among the people of various towns and villages, sometimes landing the preachers in jail and at other times causing them to be beaten, stoned, or otherwise persecuted. In his second letter to the Corinthian Church, Paul commended his ministry to the Church of Jesus by including two long lists of perils (2 Corinthians 6:4-10; 11:23-29). In their lives, in their teaching, and even in their violent deaths, the apostles showed that making disciples of the nations is not for those who seek physical comfort and material blessing. In order to reach the nations with the Gospel, God’s people today must be willing to suffer and risk their very lives for this worthy cause (Acts 15:26).  “The majority of the least reached are last to hear the gospel precisely because they are the most isolated from witnessing Christians and the most difficult to reach. This is due to a combination of geographic, linguistic, political, religious, social and spiritual barriers. In order to hear, they will generally need cross-cultural gospel input from workers called of God, at least until there is an established Church among their people” (Mandryk, 27). Unless those of us who have already received the Words of Life intentionally step into situations of suffering, the lost world will perish in sin and we will fail at the one Cause we’ve been commissioned to fulfill.

Though always willing to suffer, missionaries must also be wise as to when to flee persecution and when to stay and endure persecution for the Name (Acts 9:25, 30; 14:6). John G. Paton recounts the time when the cannibal population he had been ministering to turned against him and his fellow workers. One brother lagged behind, unsure as to the godly course of action. “We tried to show him the inconsistency of praying to God to protect us or grant us means of escape, and then refuse to accept a rescue sent to us in our last extremity. We argued that it was surely better to live and work for Jesus than to die as a self-made martyr, who, in God’s sight, was guilty of self-murder” (Paton, ch. 42). There are times to endure, and times to suffer, but we must be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit even in these matters.

Principle number seven: We must invest our lives into our disciples.

Considerable amounts of time must be invested in order to make disciples and establish the church in a given locale (Acts 11:22-26; 14:3, 28; 18:11, 18, 23; 19:10). At times God will reveal himself to non-believers in dreams/visions/angelic visitations (Acts 10), or may convert thousands in a single day (Acts 2:41; 4:4) but there is always a need for resident ministers to do the difficult work of discipleship. Modern believers tend towards an ultra productivity that ends up completely ineffective at making disciples. Without thriving local churches and faithful, godly, trained local ministers, all the costly efforts of mass evangelism and short-term missions will ultimately waste valuable kingdom resources.

On a leadership level, apostolic ministries that found churches in various places must continue as fathers, repeatedly go back to visit and check on their spiritual sons. (Acts 15:36). Because wolves (Acts 20:29) false teachers, and other traveling ministers continually attempt to disturb the churches (Acts 15:1), an invested fatherly figure is imperative for the continued health of the church.

Principle number eight: We must trust God to supply every need.

The generous sharing of the Jerusalem Church not only eradicated financial and material need among their membership but doubtless provided for those scattering to the nations to spread the Gospel. Barnabas was one of the most generous givers and was eventually sent out as a missionary. The church he helped to establish took on this same generosity and provided relief for the Judean churches during a time of need that came years later (Acts 11:29). While we believe God will provide for every physical need for life and ministry, every missionary must have an ability and willingness to work, refusing to be a burden on the people they minister to (Acts 20:34-35). Even the detailed reporting of events to the missionary senders, while important (Acts 21:19), should not be seen as the source of financial means and must be approached with a pure heart. God is the wellspring and the giver of abundant supply and can effectively communicate with His people to share generously in the work of the Gospel.

Conclusion

In the end, we will only be as successful in the mission of God as we are diligent to follow the principles He has graciously laid out for us in the Scriptures. The incredible stories the apostles walked out can also be our experience today as we simply operate in obedience to the Holy Spirit and do the things Jesus and His followers did. “There must be disciples made from every people on earth….This goal is the essence of the Great Commission and the crux of God’s purposes for humanity. It is also linked to the coming again of the Lord Jesus for His Church. Pray that the Church may passionately pursue this goal to conclusion and then be the generation that brings back the King! (Mandryk, 27).