“[Paul and Barnabas] preached the gospel
in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra,
Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain
true to the faith.” (Acts 14:21-22 NIV)
Paul, the sometime tent maker and
sometime fully supported missionary, established local churches wherever he
went. Yet it is perhaps misleading to think his church planting as a strategy. Paul didn’t establish these
communities merely as a means to an end, as though evangelism was more
important than community, or as though he measured the success of the kingdom in terms of numbers rather than the quality
of life which people experienced in these churches. Instead, these communities
were the natural outcome of preaching Christ. They are also God’s appointed way
of experiencing and demonstrating the Gospel’s power to transform people’s
lives.
-- Mark Strom in “The Symphony of Scripture: Making Sense of the
Bible’s Many Themes”
#4757
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