Church Planting in Acts

We have been studying the books of Acts with our church Sunday after Sunday for more than a year now. For the past two months we have been preaching through chapters 13 and 14 where Paul and Barnabus were sent off by the Holy Spirit and the Antioch church to preach the Gospel, make disciples, and plant churches and that is exactly what they did! The journey was long, the sacrifice was great, but the results of God’s saving work through them was greater! As Paul and Barnabus traveled from town to town, from city to city, they preached the Gospel, made disciples, appointed elders, and planted churches (Acts 14:21-23). They did not do it of their own efforts, strategies, planning, nor communication skills, but were used by the Spirit to accomplish the work of God which is building up churches.

We see Church planting take place throughout the book of Acts. Some church planters even outline the whole book of Acts in church planting terms. For example, Ed Stetzer and Daniel Im in their book “Planting Missional Churches” present the following outline of Acts:

1. Church Planting in Jerusalem (Acts 1-7)
2. Church Planting in Judea and Samaria (Acts 8-12)
3. Church Planting in the World (Acts 11-28)

While we do not have a direct Biblical command to go and plant churches, we see it modeled in the book of Acts and is a result of Holy Spirit’s saving work. What Paul, Barnabus, and later, their ministry partners have been tasked with was to preach the Gospel, make disciples, and as a result believers were gathered and formed into local churches (Acts 14:21-23). While this is not the only way and pattern for church planting, it is a Biblical one! Preaching the Gospel (Acts 1:8) and making disciples of all nations (Matt. 28:18-19) makes up the Great Commission! When the Gospel is preached and disciples are made – churches are planted.

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"And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."
For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.
For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
For what can a man give in return for his soul?
For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."
Mark 8:34-38