THE ANTIOCH EKKLESIA: AN IDEAL MODEL

Christians invariably go back in history beyond the church fathers looking for texts to support their traditions. They rarely go to the golden age of the Apostles. But God says:

“Stand and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it. Then you will find rest for your souls.” But they say, “We will not walk in it” (Jer. 6:16).

“Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. He who goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing shall doubtless come with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with Him” (Psa. 126: 5-6).

“Then the King will say, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world”” (Matt. 25:34).

“Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32).

Antioch was a large, beautiful city in Ancient Syria, now Turkey, known as the Queen of the East. Its chief god was called Charon who was believed to carry dead spirits to the underworld. They also worshipped Apollo and Daphne. Immorality flourished there. 

Meanwhile, in Jewish Jerusalem, within a few years, the saturation Ekklesia-planting program was accomplished. When thousands of Christians fled the city due to persecution, many were planting Ekklesias in other places. The Judean model was a clone of Jerusalem model, but the apostles, the superstars, were not there, having stayed behind in Jerusalem, even though they would go visit from time to time.

The second phase of the expansion of the kingdom began when the baptism of the Holy Spirit came to the Godfearer Cornelius, a Gentile, which proved a cataclysmic event for the Jews. It was, in fact, the fulfillment of promise for all nations, a kind of Gentile Pentecost. 

Antioch, lying about 300 miles from Jerusalem, became the first fully-Gentile Ekklesia plant (Acts 11:19-20). The apostles immediately sent Barnabas, a senior leader who was a known encourager. When he realized that the Gentile Ekklesia needed a deeper knowledge of the Scriptures, he went to Tarsus and persuaded Paul to come to Antioch. Both Barnabas and Paul had grown up in the Gentile world, speaking Aramaic at home and Greek in the marketplace, knowing Greco-Roman culture well. A Hebrew superstar, from Jerusalem would be no good in Antioch, because of the language and cultural barriers (Acts 13:13).

Together, they exhorted the Ekklesia for a whole year. As a result, this Ekklesia had mature prophets and gifted teachers. The administrative structure of this Ekklesia was so flat, that it did not even have elders. These disciples were the first to be called Christians (Acts 11:19-26; 13:1-3). One day, during a period of fasting and prayer, they heard the voice of the Holy Spirit telling them to lay their hands on their senior leaders, Paul and Barnabas, sending them out as self-supporting missionaries.

The Judean champions of circumcision and of Sabbath laws, called Judaizers, came to enforce Jewish ceremonial customs as a prerequisite to become Christians. Even as the apostles Peter and Barnabas succumbed to their pressure, Paul boldly resisted them because Yeshua, being the only perfect Jew, had fulfilled all the 613 Laws of Torah (Matt. 5:17-19). Eventually, the Jerusalem council then gave the Magna Carta of liberty to the Gentiles, freeing them from the legalistic Jewish traditions (Acts 15:1,5; Gal. 2:11-14). 

The gospel then spread to regions beyond (Acts 13:48-49).

THE EKKLESIA OF ANTIOCH PROVED TO BE A “MODEL EKKLESIA

1. It was planted by ordinary believers (Acts 11:19-21).
2. Paul and Barnabas equipped a gifted multinational congregation.
3. The Ekklesia was not dominated by a leader but had a horizontal, multi-gifted guides including teachers, prophets, and brethren.
4. The leaders were sensitive and responsive towards revelations from the Holy Spirit. These fasted, prayed and laid their hands on their senior leaders, sending them out as missionaries.
5. Even in its early days, the Ekklesia sent monetary help to those stricken by a severe famine in Jerusalem (Acts 11:20-30).
6. It superseded Jerusalem as the epicenter of missions, becoming a launching pad for reaching into the Gentile world, eventually reaching across China and into the Indus Valley.
7. Paul and Barnabas were accountable to this Ekklesia, periodically coming back to give progress reports. They would then go to Jerusalem the head quarter and gather the Ekklesia and make a report, even though they gave them no financial support (Acts 14:26-27; 15:4).

The Antioch model contains many important lessons for us. The first is that missionaries can be sent by a young Ekklesia. Secondly, the founding missionaries should leave the Ekklesia in the hands of the local people. There is no record of the Ekklesia giving any financial support to Paul and Barnabas who paid their own way, sending an important signal to modern-day missionaries (Phil 4:14-19). If they had stayed back, then they would have lost their apostleship, becoming local pastors exercising control over the Ekklesia. Thirdly, we should never be so busy with our programs that we miss hearing the gentle voice of the Holy Spirit. This Ekklesia changed the evangelical topography of the world.

ADDITION VS MULTIPLICATION AN INDIAN MODEL

A young Pastor asked the author if he could help him add to the membership of his church which had gotten stuck at seventy.  The author told him that he is not a Church Addition man but a Church Multiplication man so he cannot help him grow his membership but can help him plant seventy churches. The astonished young man said how is it possible to have seventy churches when he cannot increase even by a few more members? The next Sunday the author taught the Great Commission and related issues to his church. He then divided them into groups according to the locations they had come from and told them to come up with a strategy to implement what they had just learnt. 

The Pastor was told not to give any more sermons on Sundays but to hear progress reports and come up with solutions for any problems arising after discussing it with everyone present. At the end of the year the Pastor had seventy house churches up and running. His own church closed down. He did not have to pay rent or give sermons. He had empowered seventy local leaders. All the money raised locally went into training of new leaders and holistic ministry. Three years later, the 70 churches had multiplied into 3000 churches. It has become an unstoppable movement. The Pastor is now with another movement. 

GEMS:

• The Great Commission is the baby that the church threw out with the bath water.
• Yeshua constantly itinerated, demonstrating the kingdom in the harvest field.
• Any Christian staying on as a member of the same church for years remains a milk-drinking baby, because by now he should have been a teacher (Heb. 5:12-13).
• You are called to change the course of history by altering the spiritual, religious landscape. You were never called just to decorate a pew.
• If not watchful, the enemy will enter your churches, sow tares while you sleep. This will result in false prophets, nominal Christianity, broken families, unmarried mothers, gay marriages, pedophilia, gender dysphoria, abortions, strife, poverty and social ostracization (Matt. 13:25-40).

 Copyright © 2023 Victor Choudhrie

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