Criswell Theological Review 5.1 (1990)
57-68.
Copyright © 1990 by The
CHURCH GROWTH AND
EVANGELISM IN THE
BOOK OF ACTS
THOM
S. RAINER
Wth the exception of M. Green's Evangelism in the Early Church,l
the subjects of evangelism and church growth in the
Book of Acts have
been unaccountably neglected in recent years. Church
growth writers
refer to Acts rather consistently to support their
theology and practice,
but no detailed work has come from the movement.2
Most evangelistic
works approach Acts from a theological perspective,
building a bibli-
cal apologia for the mandate of evangelism:
"Evangelism. . . must
find [its] orientation in the Bible. A return to the
principles and prac-
tices unfolded in the Book of
Acts is the only reliable answer."3
It would appear that evangelism in
Acts has been viewed as one of
several facets to be studied. In other words,
evangelism and church
growth are only two out of many areas which comprise
the sum total of
the book. Such a perspective, however, seems to
ignore the primary
motivation for the writing of the book. Luke the
theologian is first Luke
the evangelist.
1 See M. Green, Evangelism in the Early Church (Grand
Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970).
This
book covers the period from the ascension of Christ to the middle of the 3rd
century. Its focus on the early church in Acts
in particular is exhaustive. Green's use of
both primary and secondary sources makes this book
must reading for any scholar of
evangelism.
2 It cannot be denied
that church growth writers focus on Acts more than any other
book of the Bible. To my knowledge, however, no
church growth book with a complete
focus on Acts has been written. For an example of one
church growth writer's use of
Acts, see C. P. Wagner, Strategies for Church Growth (Ventura, CA: Regal, 1987) 47-49.
3 G. W. Peters, A Theology of Church Growth (Grand
Rapids: Zondervan, 1981)
25.
Peters focuses on Acts as much as any church growth writers although he does
not
identify himself with the "Fuller"
Church Growth Movement.
58
CRISWELL THEOLOGICAL
REVIEW
The value of redaction criticism is
that it presents Luke as an
author who intentionally arranged his material in a
precise order to
communicate a specific message, i.e., the evangelistic
mandate. Ger-
man scholars such as M. Debelius,
H. Conzelmann, and E. Haenchen
first applied redaction criticism to Acts in the
1950s. These men, un-
fortunately, approached the Bible with a skepticism
that doubted the
accuracy of parts of Luke's historical narrative.
The author, they say
sacrificed historical truthfulness for the sake of
theological intent. We
must not, however, set accuracy in opposition to
intent:
Luke is both historian and
theologian. . . . The best term to describe him is
"evangelist,"
a term which, we believe, includes both of the others. . . . As
a
theologian Luke was concerned that his message about Jesus and the
early
church should be based upon reliable history. . . . 4
Luke is first concerned to
communicate the message of salvation.
Evangelism
and the resulting church growth are a priori concerns.
Salvation
can be found in no one other than Jesus (4:12); salvation is
offered to everyone--the Spirit of God is poured
out on pa?sa
s<arc,
"all
Hesh" (2:17); and salvation requires a response
to Christ of repen-
tance/faith (Acts 2:38). Whereas
the OT depicts "evangelism" as people
coming to God, the Lucan
perspective demonstrates that God's people
(and indeed God himself) will seek and will go to the people.
J. Blauw's
central thesis in The Missionary Nature of the Church is that "a cen-
tripetal missionary
consciousness" becomes in Acts a "centrifugal mis-
sionary activity. . . the great
turning point is the Resurrection, after
which Jesus gives his people a universal commission
to go and disciple
the nations."5
Indeed Luke begins his narrative
with an early mention of the
ascension. The apostles are found gazing skyward
by two angels (lit.
"two
men dressed in white," 9:11) who rebuke the men from
for focusing their attention on the empty skies
that moments earlier
had framed the ascending Christ. Now, the angels
imply, the apostle's
mission is "earthward," to proclaim
this Savior to the world, to go to
the world rather than to expect the world to come
to them. Such is the
essence of the entire book: outward-moving
evangelism that results in
the growth of the church.
4 See
(Tyndale New Testament Commentaries; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1980) 18-19.
5 J. Blauw,
The Missionary Nature of the Church, rev.
ed. (
mans, 1974) 34, 54, 66, 83-84.
Thom
S. Rainer: CHURCH GROWTH AND EVANGELISM IN ACTS 59
The Terms Defined
At this point it is necessary to
define the two words used to
describe the central activity of Acts: evangelism
and church growth.
Evangelism
in Acts is the communication of the good news of Jesus
Christ
through verbal proclamation and lifestyle witness, with the
intent of leading a person or group to salvation in
Christ. It is also
vitally interested in the postconversion
activity commonly known as
through evangelism. While church growth writers
of our era speak of
other kinds of growth (e.g., transfer growth and
biological growth),
Luke
is concerned with the growth of the church that comes from the
making of new disciples.7
The term "mission" is not
used here to describe the thesis of Acts
since the word often refers to any ministry done for
others in the name
of Christ. Evangelism and the resulting church
growth, in that sense,
would be a subactivity of
the total mission of the early church. It is
upon that arena of evangelism and church growth that
Luke would
have us focus.
The Normative Versus the Exception
Much debate has transpired in recent
years over certain events in
the Book of Acts. Is the tongues-speaking miracle
of Pentecost an event
for Christians to expect today? Should the
"signs and wonders" preva-
lent in Acts accompany our modern-day evangelistic
efforts? Is Chris-
tian initiation a two-stage
event, with conversion and water baptism
followed by the baptism of the Holy Spirit?8
Rather than elucidate the
arguments for and against such phenomena as being
normative for
today, it is of greater value to focus on the areas
of agreement which
were integral to the evangelism and church growth of
the early church.
These
principles are areas that virtually all evangelicals would agree
are normative for today. Indeed, contemporary
evangelism and church
6 See Wagner, Strategies for Church Growth, 49-55, for
a good discussion on
church growth and discipleship.
7 For a thorough
discussion of the definition of church growth and its relationship to
evangelism, see C. P. Wagner, "Evangelism and
the Church Growth Movement," Evan-
gelism in the Twenty-First Century (ed. by T. S. Rainer;
8 The best contemporary
commentary on Acts, John Stott, The Spirit, The Church
and the World (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity,
1990), addresses most of the issues on
the normative and non-normative events in Acts.
Stott's commentary is balanced yet
uncompromising in its faithfulness to
the text.
60
CRISWELL THEOLOGICAL
REVIEW
growth would be less than complete without these basic
precepts
established by the early church.
The Principle of
Prayer
Though church growth writers
undoubtedly recognize that prayer
is indispensable to the growth of the church, many
of the contemporary
writings fail to give prayer the prominent place
it deserves.9 Luke
would not have us miss the priority of prayer in the
growth and
expansion of the early church. J. Stott comments
that following Jesus'
ascension, the prayers of the disciples had two
characteristics which
"are two essentials of true prayer, namely that they
persevered, and
were of one mind."10
The principle of unified prayer, or
prayer with one mind and
purpose, is a thread that runs throughout Acts.
Luke's initial description
of the 120 (1:15) shows that they followed Christ's
command to wait
for the Holy Spirit by obediently praying as a
group with one mind.
The
power of "prayer in agreement" again is established when the
Sanhedrin
threatened the followers with punitive action if they con-
tinued to speak about the
"name" (4:18). The impulse to share was too
great, however, and a meeting of unified prayer sent
the early church if
to new levels of boldness (4:31). "Having
been bold in witness, they
were equally bold in prayer."11
Again, when Herod plots to destroy
the evangelistic impetus
through persecution, the church unites in prayer
(12:5):
Here then were two communities, the
world and the church, arranged
against one
another, each wielding an appropriate weapon. On the one
side was
the authority of Herod, the power of the sword and the security
of the
prison. On the other side, the church turned to prayer, which is the
only power
which the powerless possess.12
The prayers of the "powerless" defeat
all the weapons of the world.
Peter
is rescued from prison by an angel, and the gospel continues to
spread (11:11). Herod is struck down by the Lord and
dies a gruesome
death (11:23). The oppressing action against the
church is permitted;
only for a brief season. The gospel, because of the
power of prayer,
spreads unhindered.
9 Notable exceptions to
this statement must be recognized. For a concise summary
of the issue see E. C. Lyrene,
Jr., "Prayer and Evangelism," Evangelism
in the Twenty-
First Century (ed. by T. S. Rainer;
10
Stott, 52.
11 Ibid.,
99.
12
Ibid.
Thorn
S. Rainer: CHURCH GROWTH AND EVANGELISM IN ACTS 61
The Principle of Spiritual Warfare
Prayer was the primary weapon of the
early church because the
followers knew their battle was "not against
flesh and blood but. ..
against the spiritual forces of evil in the
heavenly realms."13 Luke
would have his readers open their spiritual eyes to
see the ongoing
conflicts between the Holy Spirit and Satan. One
such confrontation is
stated explicitly in 5:3 when Peter accuses Ananias: "Ananias, how is it
that Satan has so filled your heart that you have
lied to the Holy Spirit
and have kept for yourself some of the money you
received for the
land?" Stott finds the symbolism of the
dragon's three allies in Revela-
tion to correspond to
Satan's three weapons in the first chapters of Acts:
persecution, moral compromise, and distraction.14
Satan first attempts to destroy the
church with persecution by
means of the Sanhedrin when the apostles are
arrested, jailed, tried,
flogged, and forbidden to preach (4:1-22 and
5:17-42).15 The second
ploy of the devil is to ruin the Christian
fellowship with the moral
compromise of Ananias and
Sapphira. Satan is explicitly identified as
the source of the evil in this passage. The third
weapon of Satan in Acts
is the subtle ploy of distraction. He attempts to
divert the apostles from
their calling of prayer and preaching by creating a
problem of social
administration (6:1-7). At each point
when Satan attacks and the church
overcomes, a new wave of revival floods the
church: "So the word
of God spread. The number of disciples in
idly. . ." (6:7).
Why is Luke concerned with his
readers' understanding the prin-
ciples of spiritual warfare?
The evangelist would have us understand
that such battle is normative for today, and must be
fought and won in
order for God's word to spread and for disciples to
increase in number.
Stott
states the case well:
Now I claim no very close or
intimate familiarity with the devil. But I am
persuaded
that he exists, and that he is utterly unscrupulous. Something
else I have
learned about him is that he is peculiarly lacking in imagina-
tion. Over the years he has changed neither his
strategy, nor his tactics, nor
his
weapons: he is still in the same old rut. So a study of his campaign
against the
early church should alert us to his probable strategy today. If
we are
taken by surprise, we shall have no excuse.16
13 Eph 6:12.
14 See
Stott, 89-90, for a full discussion of this theme.
15 Ibid.,
89.
16 Ibid.,
105.
62
CRISWELL THEOLOGICAL
REVIEW
The Principle of God's Sovereignty
Despite the abundance of conflicts
and setbacks to the early
church, Luke communicates clearly that God is the
final victor. The
reader indeed anticipates each battle lost by the
early church even-
tually to be reversed by the
followers of the Way. God is in total
control.
The martyrdom of Stephen (7:54-60)
does not reduce the church
to a level of frightened ineffectiveness. To the
contrary, the persecution
that broke out against the disciples scattered the
church throughout
Judea and
church as the dispersion spread the gospel to new
areas. God in his
sovereignty turned defeat into a larger victory (8:4).
M. Green is correct in his
assessment that Stephen's death led to
the beginning of a massive lay movement which
spread the gospel.17
The
"amateur missionaries," those evicted from
Stephen's
martyrdom, eventually became the leaders who changed the
face of the movement by preaching to the Greeks and
initiating the
Gentile
mission at Antioch.18
If the murder of Stephen was an
external factor that led to the
growth of the church, Luke would have us note that
numerous internal
problems were also turned into divine victories.
One such example is
the Ananias and Sapphira incident of Acts 5. In his typical pattern of
conflict/surprise/victory, Luke relates what
seems to be an overwhelm-
ing internal problem:
deceit within the fellowship.19 The surprise factor;
is the death of the two perpetrators at the hands
of God. The victory is
noted in a rapid-fire sequence of events: all who
heard about the
incident were seized with fear (5:11); the
"outside world" highly re-
garded the church (5:11); and
"more and more men and women be-
lieved in the Lord and were
added to their number" (5:14).
Acts, in one perspective, is a
narrative of the sovereign work of
God
in the midst of external and internal forces that would thwart any
"normal" movement. Luke's message is clear. Though we
are the
vehicles to communicate the gospel, our strength
and power is from
God. Even in the throes of seemingly insurmountable
opposition, God's
work will not be deterred. The hero of the second
portion of Acts, the
17 See Green, 172-73.
Green contrasts the apostles as the "professional" ministers, to
the men evicted from
to our lay/clergy labeling of today.
18
Green, 173.
19 See Stott, 110,
especially for his comment that Peter here assumes the deity of the
Holy Spirit.
Thom
S. Rainer: CHURCH GROWTH AND EVANGELISM IN ACTS 63
apostle Paul, would relate that same message to
the church at
“And
we know that in all things God works for the good of those who
love him, who have been called according to his
purpose.”20
Principle of Strategy
While the sovereignty of God
provides us with the comfort that an
all-knowing, all-powerful God is in control, Luke
still emphasizes the
vital necessity of human cooperation. With specific
instructions from
the Savior, the apostles established a strategy of
evangelism to reach
gelistic strategy should not be
set in opposition to a sovereign God, but
seen as a mandated action to fulfill the perfect
purpose of God. An
evangelism that requires no work of the believers
usually results in few,
if any, new believers.
The ministry of Paul provides a
clear example of an evangelistic
strategy that he followed with only few
exceptions. In an urban area,
the apostle would typically go first to the
synagogue where he pro-
claimed the gospel to Jews and God-fearers.
After his time at the
synagogue, Paul would then take his message to
other Gentiles (i.e.,
other than the God-fearers), obediently following the
command to
take the gospel first to the Jews, then to the
Gentiles. Paul was not
haphazard in his strategy in proclaiming the
gospel. The reader can
often predict the next move of the apostle because he
remains so
deliberately faithful to his plans.
In
"reason" through the gospel (17:17).21 Though
the synagogue would be
his first stop, he would then go to the agora to proclaim the message
day by day to whomever "happened to be
there" (17:17). The agora
provided an area ripe for the gospel because it
was both the "market-
place and centre of public life."22
Finally, Paul debated with the
Epicurean and Stoic philosophers at the Areopagus. Thus the apostle
delivered the good news to the Jews, to the common
person "on the
streets," and to the intellectual powers of
the area. In each situation, he
strategically communicated the gospel
on a level that would be best
received by the hearers.23
20 Rom 8:28.
21 In Acts 17, the
"reasoning" takes place at the synagogue in Thessalonica as well as
in
22 See
Stott, 280-81, for a description of the agora.
23 Stott argues that a
different methodology must accompany each different target
group for evangelism. The message remains constant,
but the methodology adapts to the
situation. Ibid., 281.
64
CRISWELL THEOLOGICAL
REVIEW
More than one scholar has noted that
Paul had a specific strategy
for urban evangelism. Stott notes that the apostle
would move to a
neutral site after first proclaiming the gospel
in the Jewish synagogue.
Such
a strategy may often be normative for today. "If religious people
can be reached in religious buildings, secular
people have to be reached
in secular buildings."24
Paul's strategy not only included a
definitive place and plan, but
also an extended period for ministry. As a church
planter, the apostle's
tenure at each location was significant. The ministry
at
have lasted at least two years, while Paul's time at
three
leadership longevity, citing pastoral tenure as one
of the highest correla-
tive factors in growing
churches.26 If a church planter would stay two
or three years, how long then should pastoral
leaders commit them-
selves to a local church? The principles of leadership
longevity and
tenacity in Acts are certainly normative for our
churches today.
The
Principle of Indigenization
R. Allen wrote two books early in
this century that elucidated
principles of indigenization which are still
discussed today. His two
main books, Missionary
Methods:
taneous Expansion of the Church and the Causes Which Hinder It,
focused on the theme that Paul founded churches
rather than missions.
In
little more than ten years
provinces of the Empire,
A.D.
47 there were no churches in these provinces; in A.D.
57
speak as if his work there was done.27
Allen's primary thesis, that Paul
founded churches, is well sup-
ported by Luke's record of the apostle's missionary
journeys in Acts.
He
did not, however, leave them without resources upon which they
could build their churches. When Barnabas and Paul
returned to Lystra,
Iconium, and
24 Ibid.,
312.
25 See ibid.,
313-14 for a discussion of Paul's tenure.
26 See J. N. Vaughan,
"Trends among the World's Twenty Largest Churches,"
Church Growth: State of
the Art
(ed. by C. P. Wagner;
especially 131, where
fastest-growing churches is 20 years,
and none of the pastorates have been less than ten
years.
27 R. Allen, Missionary Methods:
mans, 1962) 3.
Thorn
S. Rainer: CHURCH GROWTH AND EVANGELISM IN ACTS 65
remain true to the faith" (14:22). "The
faith" must have been some
basic apostolic doctrine that formed much of our NT.28
Paul and Barnabas also left the
indigenous churches with leader-
ship that would provide the direction after the
apostles departed.
Though
the forms of church government vary in the NT, at several of
the churches Paul and Barnabas appointed elders to
continue their
leadership roles. The elders were within the church
("in each church,"
14:23),
so the indigenization policy was complete.
While the evangelistic
"policy" of Paul included doctrinal teaching
and leadership appointment, the apostle ultimately
left the churches
under the divine care of the Holy Spirit. Seeking
God's direction, "with
prayer and fasting, [he] committed them to the Lord in
whom they had
put their trust" (14:23).
Such was the indigenization process
of the early church. Doctrinal
guidelines and local leadership were provided, but
the true step of
faith came when the church founders could walk away
and leave the
church in the care of God. From a human perspective
such a venture is
risky. It would seem that a new church left to fend
for itself would be
an easy prey for doctrinal aberration, church
schisms, outside heresies,
and moral failures. But God, throughout the history
of the church age,
has proved his faithfulness. R. Allen's thesis,
then, is largely true. Christ
was able, indeed desiring, to keep that which had
been committed
to him. The indigenous churches became the
growing, evangelistic
churches.
The Principle of the Open Gospel
The apostles most likely were
unaware of the radical implications
of Jesus' command to be witnesses "in
unhindered by the wiles of Satan, the obstacles of
geography, or the
prejudices against race. But the church would not
always accept the
unstoppable momentum of the gospel with ease.
Philip took the bold step of
preaching to the Samaritans. The
hostility between the Jews and Samaritans had
existed for hundreds of
years when the gospel came to
of this major turning point: Philip's first going
to
lizing the Ethiopian eunuch
(8:1-40). The gospel was breaking down
the barriers of both geography and race. The
kingdom was larger than
28 See Stott, 235-36.
66 CRISWELL THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
Gentiles began to be accepted and
welcomed into the church
following the conversion of Cornelius (10:1-46).
After initial objec-
tions, the Jewish church
"praised God, saying, 'So then, God has even
granted the Gentiles repentance unto life'"
(11:18). Then the Gentile
mission gathered momentum when the scattered
church began spread-
ing the gospel to Greeks
(11:20).
The tranquillity,
if not euphoria, of the church was greatly dis-
turbed by a new policy that
seemed to be developing among the
Gentile
converts. They were becoming believers without becoming
Jews. They became a part of the Messianic community
while retaining
their own cultural and national identity. Objections
were raised, par-
ticularly by the Judaizers: "Unless you are circumcised, according to
the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be
saved" (15:1).
The Jerusalem Council became a
pivotal point in the history of the
early church. The assembly concluded that the
Gentiles would be
accepted as bona fide members of the Christian
community. Neither
circumcision nor adaptation to the
Jewish community would be a
requisite. Green pleads that Christians today
discover that same atti-
tude toward the unbelieving
world. "Not to remove the scandal of the
gospel, but go to present their message in terms
acceptable to their
hearers, that the real scandal of the gospel
could be perceived and its
challenge faced."29
How many potential converts do we
lose today because we make
the gospel something in addition to the grace of
Jesus Christ? Is our
gospel open today, or does it carry the baggage of
cultural expecta-
tions, idolatry of tradition,
or denominational conversion? Green
catches the spirit of the post-Jerusalem Council
early church, a church
that overcame the barriers of cultural conversion:
"It would be good to
be able to feel confident that the churches of our
own day were. . . dis-
playing anything like the same courage,
singleness of aim, Christo-
centredness and adaptability as
those men and women of the first
Christian century."30
Conclusion
In a world that is becoming
increasingly more complex, secular-
minded, and technologically advanced, Christians of
our era should be
encouraged that many of the evangelistic principles
of the early church
in Acts are normative for our churches today. The
failure of many
churches to grow today is often a failure to
realize and to practice these
29
Green, 142.
30 Ibid.,
143.
Thom
S, Rainer: CHURCH GROWTH AND EVANGELISM IN ACTS 67
basic principles. A recent survey of several Southern
Baptist churches in-
dicated that none of the
churches had an established prayer ministry.31
In
response to the question, "Why not?" one pastor responded that
"We
don't have to have a prayer ministry to pray at our
church." By that
same logic Sunday school would not be necessary
since most church
members read the Bible.
Churches today must place a priority
on prayer which will be
evident in their programs, budget, and calendar.
The early church
viewed prayer as the very life source of everything
they did. Prayer
was not the leader in a series of programs; it was
the foundation upon
which all other ministry was built.
Prayer was vitally important because
the believers in Acts realized
that their battles were to be fought in the
spiritual realm. Time after
time the early disciples are caught in
"hopeless" situations. Luke would
have us see these dire situations so that the early
church victories would
be clearly deemed miraculous, beyond the
boundaries of the natural
realm.
We learn too from Acts that we can
pursue the evangelistic man-
date while resting in the assurance that a sovereign
God is in total
control. Hopelessness and helplessness are not
options for Christians
who serve a God who will work his purpose for his
glory. Yet the secure
reign of God should not be set in opposition to our
purposefully and
strategically working as his colaborers. Luke writes Acts in rapid-fire
sequences, demonstrating that believers were
persistently active in
prayer, evangelism, and service. The growth of the
early church was a
direct consequence of the obedient colaboring
of the Christians.
Finally, the history of the early
church demonstrates that the
gospel is a message for all the people, and that the
church is an
institution best left in the hands of its people. Colonialistic and paternal-
istic attitudes are contrary
to the spirit of Acts.
How then can the principles of
evangelism and church growth in
Acts
be applied to our churches today? Perhaps the points
below could
be a starting point for discussion.
1. Begin a prayer ministry which
demonstrates commitments of
time,
money, and people resources to the priority of prayer.
2. Lead the church to a commitment to
give evangelism priority.
Evangelism was a way of life for the
early Christian. Most Chris-
tians today have to refocus their efforts on
evangelism to demon-
strate that priority.
31 This survey was conducted by me at the
beginning of my ministry at Azalea
ministry for our church. Approximately 30
churches were included in the survey.
68
CRISWELL THEOLOGICAL
REVIEW
3. Plan the outreach and evangelism of
the church thoughtfully. The
churches
and evangelists in Acts had a well-planned evange-
listic and missionary strategy. We have no excuse
today to be
ill-equipped,
ill-informed, and unprepared in our evangelistic
endeavors.
4. Start new churches. The foundational
evangelistic strategy of the
early
church is still our best approach. And the mother church
should, as
soon as possible, leave the new church to the sole care
and
guidance of God.
In the churches in Acts, we see an
evangelistic zeal and endeavor
to bring the community outside the church to
salvation in Jesus Christ.
We
cannot help but discern that evangelism was the church's
highest
priority. Because evangelism was the final
command issued by the risen
Lord,
it became the very source of life for the churches in Acts.
Consequently,
"The Lord added to their number daily those who were
being saved." It could happen again today. Such
is the desire of our
Lord.
He waits for our response.
This material is cited with gracious
permission from:
The
www.criswell.edu
Please report any errors to Ted
Hildebrandt at: