Page 63 - LD215 History of the Church in Africa A4 final

The Gospel Comes to Africa

its progress. Here, Luke, the skilled wordsmith, guided by the Holy
Spirit, describes Saul’s dramatic conversion. By the grace of God, Paul
was changed from a violent persecutor to a powerful persuader. Luke
indicates the importance of this conversion by recording it in detail
three times. After his conversion and preparation by the Holy Spirit (see
Galatians 1:11–24), Paul became the apostle to the Gentiles and is the
central figure in Acts 13–28.

We may safely state that Paul became the greatest missionary of all
time. Not only did he proclaim Christ throughout Asia Minor and into
Europe but also wrote nearly half of the New Testament. He preached
Christ, taught doctrine, and implemented strategy that set a pattern for
the ages. As Smeeton observes:

Paul always presented the kerygma, which is the “apostolic
proclamation of salvation through Jesus Christ.”… It included John the
Baptist’s ministry, the death of the Messiah, His resurrection, and the
good news of Jesus’ Messiahship, followed by a call to repentance. (40)

Clearly, Paul was Pentecostal in faith and practice (1 Corinthians 12–14).
I encourage you to complete a careful study of the missionary journeys
of the apostle Paul and a detailed study of his life and ministry. Studying
Paul’s life has provided the greatest inspiration and encouragement for
my own life and ministry—a study that is second only to my study of
the life of Christ. It is impossible to overstate the importance of Paul’s
life and ministry to the spread of Christianity by the apostolic church.

The Antioch Pattern
As we follow the expansion of the church, we must note a few things
about the church in Antioch as recorded in Acts 11 and 13. The Antioch
church set a pattern to be modeled by the church today. Observe the
following characteristics:

Evangelism. Believers won people to Christ in their local community.
“The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed
and turned to the Lord” (Act 11:21).

Church Planting. The church in Jerusalem sent Barnabas to Antioch to
assist in the church plant. “And they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When

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