How do you measure the success of your church? 

Does the success of your church depend on how many people are seated in your pews each Sabbath?  Does it rise when you get a dedicated youth pastor to focus on building up your youth group?  Does it fall when a number of families in your church accept job offers interstate or transfer their membership to a larger church in the Greater Sydney Conference?  What is your measure of success?

 I can tell you how the church in Antioch gauged their success.  They measured their success on how effectively they were making disciples of Jesus Christ and whether they were observing all that Jesus has commanded us.  We can tell this in a number of ways.  

 Firstly, the disciples there were labelled as Christians because they talked so much about Jesus:  “It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians. The name was given them because Christ was the main theme of their preaching, their teaching, and their conversation.” AA p157

 Secondly, we can see it in how generous the church in Antioch was when the disciples in Judea experienced a severe famine.  They reflected the same generosity that the early church in Jerusalem exhibited after Pentecost.

 Thirdly, the disciples in Antioch were using their spiritual gifts to bless the church.  The Bible tells how they had prophets and teachers in their midst, and how the church acknowledged the value of these spiritual gifts.

 However, one of most significant demonstrations of discipleship success that the church in Antioch followed was in their sending capacity.  The Bible indicates that they had a strong, international leadership team of 5 people.  Three of them we never really hear about in the rest of the Bible, but there were two who we are very familiar with—Barnabas and Paul.  These are two of the leadership heroes of the early Christian church.

 While the church in Antioch was spending time in prayer and fasting, the Holy Spirit gave them a challenging message:  “Dedicate your two best leaders, Barnabas and Saul, to becoming missionaries and church planters and then send them on their way.”

 From a human point of view, it was a foolish thing to do.  Send your two best leaders away?  What about all of your young people?  What would happen to them?  What about your evangelistic contacts?  Who would teach the Sabbath School lesson or chair the board meeting?  It just did not make sense.

 The church in Antioch had learned to obey the Holy Spirit, though, and so they did exactly what the Holy Spirit directed them to do.  They sent Barnabas and Paul, the leaders who would go on to carve out the rest of the entire book of Acts, leaving three unknown leaders to lead a fledgling church into an unknown future, with the very real possibility that the church would dwindle away to nothing.  The church in Antioch understood, though, that their success was not just their seating capacity but their sending capacity.  They sent their best leaders.

 What happened to the church in Antioch?  While the church in Jerusalem seemed to focus on retaining its members and leaders and only reluctantly released disciples under the pressure of persecution, the church in Antioch developed a sending, missionary culture.  The church in Jerusalem no longer existed after 70 AD.  In contrast the church in Antioch became one of the powerful leadership centres of Christianity for at least the next 200 years and a significant base from which church planting teams were trained and sent out.

 Of course, it was not an easy missionary road for Barnabas and Saul.  They had to face the disappointment that John Mark abandoned their missionary team in Perga.  They faced opposition from an evil magician Elymas in Cyprus.  When they preached at Antioch in Pisidia, many Gentiles accepted the gospel, but the Jewish leaders made it very difficult for them.  They had to wipe the dust of their feet and move on from rejection, just as Jesus had directed them to.

 Because of the willingness of the church in Antioch to focus not just on seating capacity but on sending capacity, churches were planted around the Mediterranean and the church in Antioch continue to flourish.  

 Is sending capacity still an important measure of discipleship success for our churches?  

 “Nothing will so arouse a self-sacrificing zeal and broaden and strengthen the character as to engage in work for others. Many professed Christians, in seeking church relationship, think only of themselves. They wish to enjoy church fellowship and pastoral care. They become members of large and prosperous churches, and are content to do little for others. In this way they are robbing themselves of the most precious blessings. Many would be greatly benefited by sacrificing their pleasant, ease-conducing associations. They need to go where their energies will be called out in Christian work and they can learn to bear responsibilities.

 “Trees that are crowded closely together do not grow healthfully and sturdily. The gardener transplants them that they may have room to develop. A similar work would benefit many of the members of large churches. They need to be placed where their energies will be called forth in active Christian effort. They are losing their spiritual life, becoming dwarfed and inefficient, for want of self-sacrificing labor for others. Transplanted to some missionary field, they would grow strong and vigorous.” MH pp151,152.

 Growing sending capacity is also benefiting churches today.  Check out what Ed Stetzer and J. D. Greears have to say about this important focus on the sending capacity of your church:

 6 Reasons Why Established Churches Should Plant Churches
Sending Capacity not Seating Capacity: Why a Church Gains the Most When It Sends Its Best

 What is the focus of your local church?  Growing the kingdom of your local congregation?  Or growing the kingdom of God?  When Jesus said, “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you,” He was not just talking about your family’s finances.  He was also speaking to your church leadership team regarding your focus and measure of success.

 What is your sending capacity?

The book of Acts is drenched with the Holy Spirit.  Reading it is like taking time to play out in the tropical rain!  Read the full stories for today in:

Acts 13 NKJV
Acts of the Apostles “The Gospel Message in Antioch”
Acts of the Apostles “Heralds of the Gospel”

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