HOW PAUL PLANTED CHURCHES

How Paul Planted Churches

We use the Bible as a source for doctrine and subject matter for preaching and teaching. But so many times, we overlook the fact that the Bible contains examples of church practices for us to imitate.

Many of the modern strategies for church planting are different from the strategies we see in the book of Acts. Let’s consider a modern church planting strategy for reaching unreached areas: Send Indonesian young people who want to be preachers to Bible school. When they graduate, send them one by one or two by two to a village that does not have a church. During this time a church or yayasan contributes money to support the church planters. After a church planter has started a new church and the number of people has grown, the church then goes about raising funds to rent, buy, or build a new church building. The church planter stays at the church he has planted, serving as pastor. If he chooses to leave and plant more churches, or to return to the city and minister there, another Bible college graduate may be selected to take his place as pastor.

No doubt many new churches have been planted by this strategy. But how does this strategy compare with what we see in the scriptures? The strategies for planting churches found in the book of Acts are actually more efficient than this. Let us study the method of church planting used by Paul and Barnabas on what is known as their First Missionary Journey, recorded in the book of Acts.

The Background of Paul and Barnabas

Who were Paul and Barnabas?

Before Saul of Tarsus (also known as Paul) was a believer, as a young man, he was a persecutor of Christians. He had been trained in Jewish religious law by the famous Jewish scholar Gamaliel in Jerusalem. Saul was a Pharisee, and a Roman citizen, and probably one of the more privileged Jews of his day.

Saul was very zealous in his religion, and sought to persecute the church. He held the garments for those who stoned Stephen, consented to the death of other Christians who were prosecuted for their faith. Saul went around dragging Christians out of houses, to put them in prison. He got letters from the chief priests authorizing the arrest of Christians in Damascus. Together with a group of Jewish men, he set out on the road to Damascus. He then saw a light from heaven. Christ spoke to him, and he was blind. Then the Lord spoke to a believer in Damascus, Ananias, instructing him to baptize Saul. Saul then became a preacher of the Gospel, and came to be know as Paul.

Barnabas was a Levite from Cyprus in the Jerusalem church. His name was Joses, but the apostles called him ‘Barnabas.’ One might translate Barnabas as ‘son of prophecy.’ Luke explains that this name meant ‘son of encouragement.’ Barnabas was the one to introduce Saul of Tarsus (also known as Paul) to the apostles in Jerusalem.

When scattered believers went to Antioch and started a church, the Jerusalem church sent Barnabas to encourage them. Through Barnabas ministry, many came to the Lord. Barnabas then went to Tarsus, found Paul, and brought him to Antioch. Together, they taught the saints for two years. (Acts 11:19-26.)

Paul and Barnabas’ God-Approved Church Planting Methodology

Saul and Barnabas were sent out by the Spirit from Antioch. After this, they both were involved in itinerant church planting ministries. Let us look at the passage that tells how they were sent out.

Acts 13:1-4
1 Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

3 And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
4 So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus.

Something important to notice in this passage is that the Holy Spirit sent the apostles off on their journey to complete the work that He, the Spirit, had called them to do. The brethren only separated them to ministry by the laying on of hands. After this, the book of Acts refers to both men as ‘apostles’ (Acts 14:4, 14.)

Did Paul and Barnabas complete the work the Spirit gave them? Let us look at the following verse about Paul and Barnabas at the completion of their journey.

Acts 14:26 And thence sailed to Antioch, from whence they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled.

Here we see that Paul and Barnabas had fulfilled the work they were sent to complete. Who had designed for them the work to do? The Spirit.

Christians may debate whether people in the stories in the Bible did what was right or not. Some may say that David was wrong to fight with the Philistines. Some Christians think it was right for Paul to go to Jerusalem before his arrest. Others think he was wrong. But concerning Paul and Barnabas’ work here in Acts 13 through 14, we know that they did the work the Spirit gave them to do. Their methodology was God-approved. We know this because the Spirit had called them to a work and they completed that work (Acts 13:2, 14:26).

In these chapters, we see a God-ordained strategy for missions. Let us carefully examine these chapters to learn how these apostles planted churches.

An Overview of the First Missionary Journey

Saul and Barnabas set off with John Mark, Barnabas’ nephew, They traveled to Seleucia, and from there traveled to Cyprus, an island in the Mediterranean. In Cyprus, we are not sure how many cities Paul and Barnabas preached in. Acts chapter 13 does mention two cities where they ministered: Salamis and Paphos. Acts 13:6 mentions that Paul and Barnabas had ‘gone through the isle.” We do not know how many churches were started through the preaching of Paul and Barnabas. We do know that later, Barnabas returned to Cyprus when Paul suggested to him that they go visit the brethren in every city where they had preached the word of the Lord. (Acts 15:36.)

From Paphos, Paul and Barnabas sailed back to the mainland, to Asia Minor. There, Mark left them and returned home. Paul and Barnabas traveled from city to city. They would go into a synagogue, preach about Jesus, trying to win Jews, proselytes, and God-fearing Gentiles to the faith.

We know from Acts 13 and 14 that many churches were started through Paul and Barnabas’ ministry on the mainland in Asia. We see that people repented and believed in Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe. Then Paul and Barnabas returned back through areas where they had ministered, they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch. There they encouraged the saints and ordained elders in every church. (Acts 14:22-23.)

After this, Paul and Barnabas traveled to Perga, preached the word there, went to Attalia, and from there sailed back to Antioch. In Antioch, they reported the good things that God had done on their mission. (Acts 14:27.)

This journey is known as ‘The First Missionary Journey’ because it is the first of three journeys Paul took that are recorded in the book of Acts. It is estimated that this journey may have taken less than two years.

Paul and Barnabas’ strategy on the journey was to preach to the Jews, proselytes, and believing Gentiles in the synagogues in the cities they visited. Usually, some people from the synagogue would believe the Gospel. They would preach the Gospel to the Jews first, before turning to the Gentiles, and therefore preached in the synagogues first. (Acts 13:46-49.) Sometimes Jews who did not believe their message would stir up opposition to them, and Paul and Barnabas would flee in the midst of persecution and find another place to preach.

Principles from the First Missionary Journey

Since the missionary strategy that Paul and Barnabas followed in Acts 13 through 14 is endorsed by God, we would benefit from studying it in depth. Let us consider some key principles from the first missionary journey.

Paul and Barnabas were sent out by the Holy Spirit.
The apostles sent out planted many churches in a relatively short period of time.
Paul and Barnabas left churches behind, entrusting them to the Holy Spirit, instead of remaining at a few churches pastoring them for decades.
The apostles visited churches started through their ministry to strengthen them and to check up on them.
The churches planted by apostles were already ‘churches’ before elders were appointed in them.
The apostles appointed elders from within the churches started through their ministries.
.The apostles were commended to the grace of God by the Antioch brethren, not controlled by them.

Sent Out by the Holy Spirit

As believers in Christ interested in evangelizing Indonesia, we need to know the Holy Spirit’s plans for evangelization. That is why it is important to study his methods as revealed in Acts 13 through 14. But if we simply look at what Paul and Barnabas did, and try to repeat it using our own wisdom, we will still fall short of the example they left.

Paul and Barnabas were chosen specifically by the Holy Spirit for the mission they chose. The brethren in Antioch didn’t simply find a pattern of how the Spirit worked, and send out missionaries on their own. The Spirit had already called Saul and Barnabas to a work (Acts 13:2). The Spirit spoke to the prophets and teachers there, revealing this to them?

How did the Spirit speak to the church, to reveal His will regarding whom to send? We are not completely sure from the text. Prophets were present. It is conceivable that the Spirit spoke through prophets. Compare this to Timothy’s experience in recorded I Timothy 4:14.

Saul and Barnabas were already faithfully serving the brethren in Antioch. Then, God revealed to certain brethren the call that was on these men’s lives. These brethren laid hands on Saul and Barnabas and supported them by sending them out with prayer and fasting.

Something to notice about Saul and Barnabas is that the Spirit had called them to go out. They weren’t sent on a mission because they had completed Bible college and were looking for a job. They didn’t go out just because the church members thought it might be a good idea. The Lord directed the church.

What would happen if the Spirit spoke to your church about people among you who were called to go out, preach, and plant churches? How would your church respond? Would you support them with prayer and fasting.

Yayasan, Bible colleges and denominations sometimes send out preachers. But how often does a local church send out preachers to preach the Gospel? It does happen in Indonesia, but many local churches think it is the responsibility of evangelistic yayasan, Bible colleges, and denominations to send out such workers. Never in the Bible to we see workers being sent out by these three kinds of institutions. But we do see them being sent out by brethren that knew them from their own church. What if God is preparing men in your church to send out people from your church to go plant churches? Will your church be attentive to the Spirit and ready to hear His voice? Will your church commend such men to the Lord, and pray for them, or does your church expect only Bible colleges and yayasan to send out missionaries?

We need to pray for the Lord to send forth laborers into his harvest, as Jesus taught (Matthew 9:38.) We need to pray in faith, expecting God to prepare people from our churches to go preach the Gospel in the unreached areas,

Planting Many Churches in a Short Period of Time

Imagine the criticism that Paul and Barnabas might receive from modern church leaders.

“Paul and Barnabas, how could you leave those churches alone. You should have stayed there and pastored at the first church you started. How could you leave those churches so quickly?”

Paul and Barnabas’ method of leaving behind young churches and going off to start new ones resulted in many churches. We don’t know exactly how many cities Paul and Barnabas planted churches in on their journey together, but we do know that they preached in at least 7 cities. It is possible that they planted more than seven churches. If all this were completed in about two years, those results are phenomenal.

One of the problems with modern church planting methodologies is that they assume that God has one type of minister ministering the word. Apostles, evangelists, and local church overseers are put into the same category, ‘hamba Tuhan.’ It is common to hear preachers use verses about apostles, and apply them to local church pastors.

In order to better understand church planting in the Bible, we have to understand that there were many kinds of ministers. The Bible mentions apostles involved in the work of the ministry, elders, charged with shepherding local churches, and deacons, chosen to serve the needs of the church. Mixing the roles of the apostle and the elder in the Bible create confusion.

Today, one of the missions strategies is to train men in Bible college, ordain them as pendeta and then send these men out alone or in groups of two or more to start new churches. The idea seems to be that one of the Bible college graduates who plants a church will stay behind and pastor that church for an extended period of time.

Tying a church planter down with the responsibility of staying behind long-term, can actually limit his usefulness to the kingdom. Paul’s heart was to preach the Gospel to those who had never heard of Christ (Romans 5:12.) The call of God on His life was for him to travel from place to place Paul didn’t stay behind in a church he planted and be the ‘full-time pastor.’ If he had, how could he have accomplished so much in his ministry?

If God gifted men to travel and preach the Gospel among the unreached,, starting new churches, might He not do the same today? There is a lot more focus on apostles who ministered like this-- Paul, Barnabas, Timothy, Silas, and many others—in the New Testament than there is on local church ministers. We don’t even know the name of any local church elders who were not also apostles in the first century church.

If the Bible pays a lot of attention to traveling evangelistic church planters, then shouldn’t we consider this important to God? Why is it that many churches church planting programs assume that the church planter will settle down as a local pastor?

Visiting to Strengthen Churches

We see that on the first missionary journey, Paul and Barnabas returned to churches they had planted already.

Acts 14:21-23
21 And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch,
22 Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
23 And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.

Paul and Barnabas did not stay behind for years in any church they planted while on this first missionary journey. But they did go back and visit the churches. During this time, the churches apparently had no appointed pastor until Paul and Barnabas returned to appoint elders.

Later, on Paul’s Second missionary journey, we see that we would either return to churches he had planted, or else send trusted co-workers in the Lord. The epistles frequently mention Paul sending Timothy and other co-workers to churches that had been planted to help them. On the First Missionary Journey, human resources may have been scarce. Mark had left the group when they arrived on the mainland from Cyprus. But later, as more saints matured, Paul ha men he could send to new churches to strengthen them during their crucial years.

After the First Missionary Journey, Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch, took a trip to Jerusalem, and returned to Antioch. After some time in Antioch, they decided to visit the churches they planted again.

Acts 15:36 And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do.

We can see how important it was for these apostles to keep an eye on the new churches. On the one hand, they must have had incredible trust in the Holy Spirit to protect and guide these new churches. On the other, they were responsible for the work the Lord gave them. Being responsible did not mean staying behind as local pastors in any church they had started. The Lord had prepared men able to pastor the churches, as wee see in Acts 14:23, above. The Lord caused elders to mature to the point where they could be responsible for the household of faith.

Churches Already Churches Before Elders Are Appointed

Something to notice from the First Missionary Journey is that the churches Paul and Barnabas planted were churches even when there were no appointed leaders. Let us consider Acts 14:23 carefully:

“And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.”

The passages shows us that Paul and Barnabas appointed elders in every church. The passage does not teach that the assemblies of believers became churches after the apostles appointed elders.

Somehow, the churches Paul and Barnabas left behind could still function without apostles or elders to lead the meetings. The saints could still meet, probably celebrating the Lord’s Supper, baptizing new believers, and functioning as churches in the absence of appointed leadership.

Many have the idea that a church is only a church if there is a professional pastor there, and that otherwise a church is not legitimate. But we can see in the First Missionary Journey, that this is not a scriptural concept.

Let us imagine an evangelist goes to an unreached village with the Gospel and that people repent as a result of his ministry. The believers there gather together to exhort one another. Some would view this group as a ‘fellowship’ [persekutuan] if they were not registered with a denomination as a ‘church.’ Is this idea scriptural?
Watchman Nee addressed the issue of the definition of ‘church’ in his book The Normal Christian Church Life.

...in the course of the apostles' first missionary tour, many people were saved in different places through the preaching of the Gospel. Nothing is mentioned about their being formed into churches, but in Acts 14:23 it is said of Paul and Barnabas that "they...appointed for them elders in every church." The groups of believers in these different places are called churches, without any explanation whatever as to how they came to be churches. They were groups of believers, so they simply were churches. Whenever a number of people in any place were saved, they spontaneously became the church in that place.

If in a given place anyone believes on the Lord, as a matter of course he is a constituent of the church in that place. No subsequent "joining" is required of him. Provided he belongs to the Lord, he already belongs to the church in that locality; and since he already belongs to the church, his belonging cannot be made subject to any condition.

We see that neither registering with a denomination nor having an appointed elder in a congregation are prerequisites to a group of believers having a church. As important as elders are to the church, there were very good reasons for the apostles allowing churches to grow and develop without appointed elders.

In I Timothy 3:6, Paul writes that an overseer is not to be a novice. Naturally, if the apostles did not want to appoint novices in the faith, they would need to wait for men to mature spiritually before they could be appointed as elders of the church.

A key factor that allowed Paul and Barnabas to appoint so many churches was that they were willing to leave infant churches in the care of the Holy Spirit. During the time without official, appointed elders, the Holy Spirit worked in the churches, and eventually the Lord prepared elders in the churches.

Elders Appointed From Within

Something very important to notice about Paul and Barnabas’ church-planting method is that the elders of the New Churches were appointed from within the congregation. We can also see from Paul’s letters to Timothy and Titus that it was the practice to appoint men from within churches as overseers. (I Timothy 3:1-7, Titus 1:5)

There is a lot of confusion about the word ‘elder.’ The Bible uses the term ‘overseer’ interchangeable with the word ‘elder.’ (Acts 20:28, Titus 1:5-7.) The elders of the church were men charged with pastoring the flock of God (Acts 20:28, I Peter 5:2). Today, terms like ‘pendeta’ or ‘gembala’ are used to refer to official, recognized local church leadership. The New Testament generally uses terms ‘elders’ or ‘overseers.’

A common church practice in Indonesia, and around the world, is for newly planted churches to hire professional pastors from some other area to come in and serve as pastor. In some cases, the pastor is sent in by a denomination. In others, he is hired or fired by the local congregation who hires him.

This is very different from the practice of the apostles, who appointed elders from within churches. There are many benefits to appointing elders from within a church which will be dealt with in later chapters of this book. But, in regard to church planting, one of the most obvious reasons is that appointing elders from within churches allows for faster church planting.

Imagine a mengkudu tree. A mengkudu tree can grow from a seed from a mengkudu fruit. Just plant the seed in the right kind of ground in the right conditions, and given time, it will grow into a full tree. All the genetic information to produce all the parts of that tree is included in that little seed. The roots, the wood, the bark, the leaves, the mengkudu fruit, the expensive juice inside the fruit, and even new seeds are all inside one small mengkudu seed.

Now, think about churches ‘planted’ by the preaching of the word of God. In the DNA of a New Testament church, are various parts of a whole ‘tree.’ Over and over, the apostles preached the word of God and new churches formed. As these churches formed, different parts of the ‘tree’ developed. A certain ‘part of the tree’ that developed was the elders of the church. If churches in the New Testament produced elders who were able to pastor the flock of God, shouldn’t we expect that New Testament style churches planted today will produce elders?

Why then are so many church systems set up to hire pastors from outside the church, rather than to teach and train potential elders from within the church? Why is so much money spent on sending people to Bible college, instead of bringing ‘Bible college’ into the local church community?

Confusion of Apostle and Local Church Overseer Roles

Many of the offices in modern churches and denominations often do not exactly correspond with the offices found in the New Testament. Isn’t it time that we returned to the New Testament? If we believe that leaders in the church are empowered to do their work through gifts of the Holy Spirit, then shouldn’t we expect that the gifts that God gives today are the same types of gifts named in the New Testament.

If the New Testament does not mention pendeta, why should we assume that God gives out a pendeta gift? The Bible does mention gifts in regard to pastors, teachers, evangelists, prophets, and apostles. Why should we expect God to gifts that correspond with modern denominational positions? Shouldn’t we rather expect him to give gifts described in the Holy Scriptures?

The word pendeta is not found in the Bible. It actually comes from an Indian word used for Hindu scholars. The concept of the Christian pendeta is a mixture of the Biblical roles of apostle, elder, deacon, gift of helps, and various other extra-Biblical ideas. A pendeta may be sent out from a Bible college or denomination to a new area. The New Testament apostles were sent out to new areas. The local church elders mentioned in the Bible developed and matured to the point of being suitable for leadership while within existing congregations.

A pendeta may function as a local church overseer, tending to the needs of a local flock, praying for the sick, ministering the word locally. In this sense he functions somewhat like a local church overseer.

A pendeta is expected to be able to handle minute details of church administration and services, duties that may have been performed by early believers in the role of deacon, or with the gift of helps.

And, of course, pendeta, are often expected to perform many extra-scriptural functions, such as govern a church alone without fellow overseers, marry the young, and bury the dead.

Many denominations expect pendeta to perform the work that, Biblically, should be done by an entire local body. This makes for a very difficult job. No wonder so many pendeta are overworked.

Biblically, is there any reason to expect that all of the elders of early churches would have been gifted to plant new churches? Some elders might be gifted in this sense, but others may not. Then why do we expect such things of modern men ordained as pendeta.

In the Bible, we see that apostles generally were the ones to plant new churches, and elders generally pastored local works. Yet, today, many denominational policies combine the duties of apostles and elders into the role of the pendeta—which creates confusion.

If someone were gifted to travel and plant new churches, he might be able to receive recognition as an ‘evangelist’ in some denominations. In some denominations, however, an evangelist is not allowed to baptize, or else not allowed to sign a legal baptism certificate. Evangelists far out on the frontiers of the Gospel may be left with the decision to follow the Biblical practice of baptizing new believers, and trying to find someone to sign a certificate later, or else not baptizing new believers themselves.

In the Bible, traveling preachers like Paul and Barnabas baptized. Why shouldn’t traveling preachers now baptize? Why do some denominations only have pendeta baptize?

Pendeta is a word from a pagan religion. So let us abandon the word pendeta and the unscriptural concepts associated with it, and return to scriptural terminology and concepts in regard to church leadership. Let us not only use the Bible as a source for teaching material, but let us also use it as a guidebook for church structure and evangelism strategy.

Conclusion

Paul and Barnabas’s strategy for planting churches, recorded in Acts 13-14, came from the Holy Ghost. It was a very successful strategy, producing many New Testament churches in a relatively short period of time.

The apostles, Paul and Barnabas, were sent to preach the Gospel. Their calling made it necessary for them to leave newly planted churches behind. But that was okay, because the Lord took care of these churches. Though the apostles left these churches without elders, the Lord was able to raise up elders from within the congregations themselves. The apostles didn’t send Bible college students to fill pastoral positions in these new churches. God raised up the men themselves, from within the churches.

If God sent forth men to travel from place to place preaching and starting new churches, shouldn’t we expect Him to do the same today? If God could take care of churches left behind by the apostles for many months at a time back then, can’t we believe Him to do the same today? If God could raise up local leadership from within new church plants, couldn’t he do the same today? The Bible is not only a book of sermon-material, but also a guidebook for how the body of Christ should operate. It shows us how God operates. Let us believe God to expand the church in Indonesia as He expanded the church in the Bible. Let us pray and believe God to do this.

© Paul L. Hudson, Jr. 2003