When Paul and Barnabas were commissioned to be missionaries (Acts 13:1-3), neither they nor the church in Antioch (in Syria) had any idea of the opportunities and challenges they would encounter.  They travelled through Cyprus, from east to west (Acts 13:4-6), and then preached in at least five major cities in what is now central southern Turkey.  They established at least four new churches as the Holy Spirit guided them (a useful chart is found here) and they travelled more than 1200 miles.

The missionary apostles then returned to their home church in Syrian Antioch.  It was a great reunion with so many stories to tell of how God had kept them by His grace and brought many people to new life in Jesus.  This was the first-ever missionary report … but it was modelled on the feedback session which Jesus held for His apostles after He had sent them out in twos to minister in His Name (Luke 9:10).

This time, the report majored on how God had spoken to the Gentiles.  Many of them had been saved.  It was the great turning point for the church.  They realised that Gentiles and Jews were equally welcome to benefit from Christ's death, and when they put their faith in Jesus, they were equally children of God (Galatians 3:14).  The sending church would have heard of Peter’s experience at Cornelius’ home (Acts 10:28-29), but maybe had not realised how much Paul's commission would turn the church from being Israel-based to a world-wide family.

The church is now found in every corner of the world.  The church is not a building or a denomination.  It is the collective name for all the people who have put their trust in Jesus.  It includes people from every nationality, ethnic group, language group, religious background, gender, age, family lifestyle and occupation (Revelation 7:9).  They are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).  Therefore, there can be no discrimination about who can or cannot be saved.  Everybody who believes in Jesus is welcomed into Christ's church.  You too can be a missionary.  Let the Holy Spirit lead you and be willing to tell anybody about Jesus, because He will save whoever believes in Him (www.crosscheck.org.uk).