Revisiting the Church at Antioch

When we read the Book of Acts we often miss the great value it can bring particularly to our understanding of the development and growth in the early church. It was at a place called Antioch that people were first called Christian. Antioch(Antakya) is located on the southeastern border of modern day Turkey. When you read Acts you will notice the spontaneity by which the early church grew. The church was perpetuated because of a movement deep within the heart of the people. The body at Antioch grew much the same way our physical bodies grow from childhood. Childbirth creates family and families by their very nature cause unity and responsibility one to another. The Christians at Antioch were a combination of three types. There were many persecuted Christians that landed in Antioch after the persecution and death of Stephen. They were on a mission to spread the good news of Jesus Christ every where they traveled. There were the new born babes in Christ and there were the prophets and teachers of that particular locality who were considered the prominent local ministers.

If we could go back in time to observe and participate in the growth of the church at Antioch then we would be able to see upon our return the tremendous of amount of rubble that has been thrust upon us over that 2000 year span. The beauty of having a locality and its true believers create the identity of local church is so much healthier than dividing up communities with those that followed Luther, Wesley, or Calvin. We have divided the Body of Christ and broken the bonds of unity that God planned for us from the very beginning. We have broken up the family and so we wander around like orphans. We don't even know each other that well. Our adopted parents from our institutional style church have very often been good to us but that was not God's best for us.

Some believers today have had an Antioch type experience with a number of new births in Christ with friends and neighbors only to see them lose their unity because these small groups when birthed do not recognize the Body of Christ and end up attending the system that exists today. Their passion soon dwindles as they become a part of organized religion.

The church at Antioch can happen today if we would recognize the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is obviously not an organization. It is a living vibrant moving being under the headship of Christ that covers the whole earth. Things that are alive have spontaneity. Life is spontaneous and so is the Church. You can't organize life or spontaneity. Spontaneity makes life exciting and worth living. God knows that. We shouldn't be messin' with His plan. We should return to it.