Page 59 - LD215 History of the Church in Africa A4 final

The Gospel Comes to Africa

Table of contents. The second part of Acts 1:8 serves as an outline—
or a sort of table of contents—for the book. Jesus said that His
followers would be His witnesses “in Jerusalem, and in all Judea
and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”… The second part of
Acts 1:8 also reveals the book’s missionary orientation. Luke wrote
Acts to record the missionary advance of the church to the ends of
the earth. (2007, 12–13)

A careful reading of Acts chapter 1 reveals that the disciples expected
Jesus to lead them in overthrowing the Romans and establishing a
political kingdom. Thus, we read: “So when they met together, they
asked him, ‘Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to
Israel?’”(1:6). Remember that Jesus had just spent forty days teaching
about the kingdom of God (1:3).

Jesus also told the disciples they were not to speculate about the
future; instead, they were to evangelize the world in the power of the
Holy Spirit. They were to “be His witnesses” by their words, deeds, and
manner of living in the Christian community.

The mission of the church was to be multidirectional. The disciples
were to be His witnesses “in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth” (1:8) simultaneously. The mission of the
Pentecostal church is the same today.

The Church Is Born

Acts chapter 2 gives the account of the birth of the church, which
occurred during the Jewish Feast of Pentecost. Thus Luke stresses the
importance of the role of the Holy Spirit in the beginning of the church.
The Jewish people were instructed to celebrate three festivals. First, they
celebrated the Passover in mid-April. Second, they celebrated Pentecost,
which means “fifty” because it was 50 days after Passover. (It was also
called the Feast of Weeks.) It was celebrated about the beginning of
June. Traveling conditions were good in June, and often many visitors
came to Jerusalem during the Feast of Pentecost. Earlier, we noted that
visitors were present from Africa and many other nations. Third, they
celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles near the end of September or the
beginning of October.

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