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The Church in Antioch

Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2018 4:51 pm
by mattrose
A while back I did a study of every local church expression in the New Testament.

I suspected going into the study what my 'favorite' church would be, but the more I thought about it the more I realized just how much the Church in Antioch is my favorite church in the Bible.

They were the FIRST to aggressively witness to Gentiles
They were the FIRST to be called Christians
They were the FIRST to intentionally send out missionaries

In other words, they CONNECTED to people different from themselves; they GREW into a distinct demographic that looked like Christ to their neighbors; and they SERVED the world by giving and releasing their own resources for the good of the Kingdom and world.

I use this CONNECT, GROW, SERVE as a model for what I'd like to see happen in the churches I'm part of. But the Church in Antioch is the specific example I have in mind when I use those terms.

Re: The Church in Antioch

Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2018 7:18 pm
by steve
Good observations! Perfect for a three-point sermon (if you add a few jokes and video clips from a contemporary movie or two, you might actually amount to a decent preacher, Bro!). ;-)

Re: The Church in Antioch

Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2018 9:41 pm
by TK
The church we recently left had the motto “reach-teach-release.”

Of course they also followed every worldly marketing method imaginable which is why we ended up having to leave. It got to be a tad too much for me to stomach. It is a crying shame because the head pastor was truly gifted and didn’t need any of the glitz to grow the church, which is about 5 miles wide but one inch deep.

Re: The Church in Antioch

Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2018 10:44 pm
by mattrose
steve wrote:Good observations! Perfect for a three-point sermon (if you add a few jokes and video clips from a contemporary movie or two, you might actually amount to a decent preacher, Bro!). ;-)
Haha, yeah, I actually did share these thoughts in a sermon series... but I did each 'first' as a separate sermon :)

http://www.lockportwesleyan.com/sermon-audio

Re: The Church in Antioch

Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2018 10:45 pm
by mattrose
TK wrote:The church we recently left had the motto “reach-teach-release.”

Of course they also followed every worldly marketing method imaginable which is why we ended up having to leave. It got to be a tad too much for me to stomach. It is a crying shame because the head pastor was truly gifted and didn’t need any of the glitz to grow the church, which is about 5 miles wide but one inch deep.
Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of churches turning to worldly marketing methods as their means of growth. Personally, I don't even like all the 'mission statement' and 'vision statement' stuff too much. I think it's healthy for the leaders to focus and develop goals, but I think it's silly for churches to agonize over a statement that will change as soon as that senior pastor decides to leave

Re: The Church in Antioch

Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2018 11:10 pm
by Homer
Hey Matt,

100% agreed re mission statements. I think one was made for us, Matthew 28:19-20.