{"id":360,"date":"2013-08-19T08:00:15","date_gmt":"2013-08-19T12:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/missions\/?p=360"},"modified":"2014-07-22T11:18:22","modified_gmt":"2014-07-22T15:18:22","slug":"biblical-roles-in-missions-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/missions\/biblical-roles-in-missions-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Biblical Roles in Missions, Part 2 – Foundation of the Call"},"content":{"rendered":"

If we want answers to questions regarding the calling of God to missionary service and the role of the local church, we should look to God\u2019s word for the answers.\u00a0 Since the book of Acts is a historical record of the inception and early development of the church and presents the ministry of the Holy Spirit, we will look to Luke\u2019s record of the early church and the ministry of the Holy Spirit for answers to these questions.\u00a0 In the historical account of the development of the church we find the question of mission \u201cdominates the book of Acts (Senior and Stuhlmueller<\/span><\/a> 1983, 271).\u201d\u00a0 It reveals how the gospels\u2019 mandated mission of taking the message of Christ and His salvation to the world is to be accomplished.\u00a0 The rest of the New Testament fills in details of how the believers are<\/span>
\n to function in the world and the church.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Bible does not give us precise rules and procedures for the selecting and sending of missionaries, nor does it tell us precisely what comprises missionary work.\u00a0 The term missionary does not even appear in the Scriptures.\u00a0 Furthermore, there is no clearly established normative practice of the church in the New Testament regarding missionary<\/span>
\n work.\u00a0 However, we find a concise, clear example in Acts 13:1-4<\/span><\/a> of the calling and sending of men in a role that today we call \u201cmissionary.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Since this is the only example of its kind in the New Testament, let\u2019s glean what we can from the narrative.\u00a0 Lacking specific commands and directions in the Scriptures, I believe it is valid to extrapolate the principles in this example to the church today.<\/span><\/p>\n

This passage accounts the Holy Spirit\u2019s calling of Barnabas and Saul to ministry and<\/span>
\n it reveals the role of the one calling (the Holy Spirit), the role of the ones being called (Barnabas and Saul) and the role of the local church in the call to ministry.\u00a0 Luke has recorded here for us the calling and commissioning of people to go out as missionaries from the local church at Antioch.\u00a0 There is no indication that the church in Antioch consulted with any other churches or church leaders from other locations, even the church at Jerusalem, regarding the commissioning of Saul and Barnabas for missionary service.\u00a0 It appears from the passage that this was a decision that took place at a local level from beginning to end.\u00a0 Since this was apparently a local process and decision, it might be helpful to consider some of the background details of the city and church.<\/span><\/p>\n

Antioch<\/span><\/a> Background<\/span><\/h3>\n

Antioch<\/span><\/a> was the third largest city in the Roman Empire behind Rome and Alexandria with a population estimated as high as 600,000 people.\u00a0 It was a multi-ethnic culture with people from many parts of the Empire, each bringing their own cultural influences to the society of Antioch.\u00a0 The local church was well established and representative of the ethnic diversity of the city (Acts 11:19-20<\/span><\/a>). \u00a0The growth and ministry of the Antioch church was significant enough that it received the attention of the church in Jerusalem some 300 miles away and Barnabas\u2019 ministry there resulted in significant numerical growth (Acts 11:21-24<\/span><\/a>). \u00a0The church in Antioch was probably 8-10 years old in Acts 13.\u00a0 (Schnabel 2004<\/span><\/a>, 781-797)<\/span><\/p>\n

The ethnic and cultural diversity of the society and the church was represented even among the church leadership (Acts 13:1<\/span><\/a>).\u00a0 As these diverse leaders were ministering to the Lord, He called Saul and Barnabas to serve Him as missionaries.\u00a0 Luke, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, gives us an example of God\u2019s call to missionary work, in Acts 13:1-4<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 In this passage he tells us who does the calling, something of the candidates\u2019 qualifications and who does the sending.<\/span><\/p>\n

Next time we will look at the calling of God in this marvelous passage.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If we want answers to questions regarding the calling of God to missionary service and the role of the local church, we should look to God\u2019s word for the answers.\u00a0 Since the book of Acts is a historical record of the inception and early development of the church and presents the ministry of the Holy… read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[198,4977,13257,8657],"tags":[8255,5253,58],"yoast_head":"\nBiblical Roles in Missions, Part 2 - Foundation of the Call - Faith Global Missions Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/missions\/biblical-roles-in-missions-part-3\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Biblical Roles in Missions, Part 2 - Foundation of the Call - Faith Global Missions Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If we want answers to questions regarding the calling of God to missionary service and the role of the local church, we should look to God\u2019s word for the answers.\u00a0 Since the book of Acts is a historical record of the inception and early development of the church and presents the ministry of the Holy... read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/missions\/biblical-roles-in-missions-part-3\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Faith Global Missions Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"-0001-11-30T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-07-22T15:18:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Selvey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@DRSelvey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Selvey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/missions\/biblical-roles-in-missions-part-3\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/missions\/biblical-roles-in-missions-part-3\/\",\"name\":\"Biblical Roles in Missions, Part 2 - 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