10 Random thoughts on Church Planting from Acts

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Jul 2, 2010 by Randy Chestnut | 0 Comments

You can’t call the church at Jerusalem  (Acts 1-2) a “church plant”.  The church was born there.

We don’t need another Pentecost anymore than we need another Bethlehem or another Calvary.  What we do need is to appropriate the power of the first Pentecost.  But we can learn some important lessons from Pentecost…

God will create the opportunities

God has provided the power, but

We can’t stay in the upper room.

The first “church plants” in the Book of Acts in Samaria (see Acts 8:12ff) and then Antioch (see Acts 11:19) and the first church planter was a deacon, Phillip (Acts 8:5).

In the cases, of Samaria and Antioch, the church at Jerusalem was just trying to catch up with what God was already doing and blessing (8:14-15; 11:21-22)!

Church planting in the early chapters of Acts was not a response to an organized strategy, but a result of everyday folks "preaching Jesus" wherever they went. 

Church planting in the Book of Acts was the by-product of aggressive and intentional proclamation of the Gospel.

The word “fellowship” is mentioned once in the book of Acts (2:42).

The word “preach” (10:42; 14:15; 15:21; 16:6; 16:10; 17:3), “preached” (3:20; 4:2; 8:5; 8:12; 8:25; 8:35; 8:40; 9:20; 9:27; 10:37; 13:5; 13:24; 13:38; 13:42; 14:21; 14:25; 15:36; 17:13; 17:18;  and “preaching” (5:42; 8:5; 8:25; 10:36; 11:19; 11:20; 14:7; 15:35; 20:25; 28:31) 35 times in the Book of Acts.

“Fellowship” in the New Testament was the sense of community that existed among the believers that were On Mission together in proclaiming the Gospel.  Fellowship was not the ROOT of the Gospel; Fellowship was the FRUIT of the Gospel.

The Book of Acts does not teach an evangelism strategy that does not include disciple-making.