It has always amazed me to consider how missionaries and pastors know when the Lord is calling them into a different field. I think of Harley and Martha Shield who were called to the mission field of the Alaskan Northwest Arctic. If you ask Martha today how they knew this was the Lord’s leading, she’ll say Harley had just graduated from seminary and this was an opening to work with Native peoples, something he’d wanted to do since he accepted the Lord while working as a school teacher on the Navaho reservation years before. I pointed out that he could just as easily have returned to teaching on the Navaho reservation or applied as a missionary to the reservation. Well, yes, she’ll say, but “God somehow made us know this was where He wanted us.” Sometimes the Holy Spirit moves in mysterious ways, but always to perform God’s wonders.

Chapter 13 of Acts records the first planned “overseas missions” carried out by representatives of a particular church rather than solitary individuals. Antioch was an overseas mission carried out by individuals as they fled persecution. Antioch’s missionary team to Asia Minor was a deliberate church decision, inspired by the Spirit, rather than the result of persecution. Antioch and Samaria, the Ethiopian official, were all examples of evangelism, not missions. The saints shared their faith as they fled to save their lives; they weren’t truly seeking to save souls in their travels. That was an incidental benefit. Now the church at Antioch, prompted by the Holy Spirit, made a conscious decision to send Barnabas and Saul for the purpose of what we would recognize as “missionary work.”

We don’t have all the details here. The account is brief. We should be wary of putting too much emphasis on what might well be a synopsis of events. However, there are several features about this church project that differ from modern-day missions practice, so it is worth delving into those differences so that we might learn somewhat for “missions” in our own day.

“Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. And while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.” Acts 13:1-4

Luke never gave us the names of the evangelists who shared their faith with the people of Antioch. We know they were Hellenistic Jews from Cyrene and Cyprus; perhaps Lucius of Cyrene was one of them. Isn’t it marvelous that Antioch was blessed with five men who fulfilled the vital role of prophet and teacher? This was a key position in churches prior to possession of the New Testament. James’ letter might have been penned about this time (AD 45-47), but it wasn’t in wide circulation yet and Paul wouldn’t write to the Thessalonians for another few years. The three men who would remain in Antioch when Barnabas and Saul departed for the mission field would need to be men of faith and vision. The fact that Luke named these other three tells us clearly that leadership was ready for transition in Antioch. It’s also interesting to note that they seem to have formed a team, none of them more important than the others. Saul, for example, was listed last.

Barnabas and Saul did not receive the missionary call alone. It would appear that the church as a whole received this call. They would send forth the best men they had for the job, even if it challenged the church in its growth and ministry. Such challenges are often very healthy. Antioch was in the midst of service to the Lord. I don’t think this time was anything special. This was their normal way of doing things. I believe this to be the case because Acts records that almost every time God moved sovereignly, the church was looking in the other direction. I don’t think the leadership at Antioch was any different than the apostles, except they may have been a bit more responsive. The leaders were fasting and praying as part of their normal routine. Fasting was a normal part of Judaic life and it seems to have been a normal part of the early church. When the revelation came that they should send missionaries to Asia Minor, the entire church entered into fasting and prayer to determine the meaning of the prophesy. There’s no evidence that God gave them details about exactly what Barnabas and Saul were to do other than “Set apart for the work to which I have called them.”  What was that work? Important decisions require gravity of thought and fasting brings us to that point. They wanted to be certain that they were doing that which would be pleasing to God.

Upon arriving at a clear sense of direction, they acted! There seems to have been little delay. They commissioned their two beloved leaders to indicate that God was with them and they sent them out as the Holy Spirit was guiding.

There are a few things that come to mind from this passage. As I said, missions today are done differently than they were back then.

Barnabas and Saul were divinely appointed by the Holy Spirit. They were mature men of the faith, with proven leadership experience. The church at Antioch received the call to send them out as a team.

I would note that current missionary practice is to send out young, inexperienced people. Why is our practice so different from this Acts account? Note that Mark, the young and inexperienced, left early in the mission trip, though he later redeemed himself as Peter’s assistant and the writer of the gospel ascribed to him.

Current missionary practice is to send missionaries who feel they are led of God to go. I know with the SBC, missionary boards do a vetting procedure to validate this calling, but why aren’t local churches more involved in the process of discerning God’s guidance? Why do we accept a young person’s feeling that they have been called to missions and rarely consult the local church who knows their service, character and theology?

Current missionary practice emphasizes the need to send out a lot of missionaries, but they are usually sent out as singles or husband and wife, rarely as teams. Antioch sent only two missionaries and they sent them together. I would note that the impact of these two men was phenomenal. Maybe more is not always more and quality should be emphasized more.

“So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to Cyprus. And when they reached Salamis, they began to proclaim the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews; and they also had John as their helper. And when they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus, who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elymas the magician (for thus his name is translated) was opposing them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, who was also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze upon him, and said, “You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord? “And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time.” And immediately a mist and a darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking those who would lead him by the hand. Then the proconsul believed when he saw what had happened, became amazed at the teachings of the Lord.” Acts 13:5-12

Barnabas and Saul traveled to Seleucia, downstream of Antioch on the Orontes River, then sailed to Cyprus, where Barnabas had been born. The island is approximately 150 miles long and they traveled from one end to the other, preaching the gospel at every synagogue. This was already an established pattern of evangelism as practiced by the apostles. They were thus enabled to preach the gospel “to the Jew first” (Romans 1:16; Acts 13:46; 17:2; 18:4, 19; 19:8), but also they came in contact with Gentile proselytes and God-fearers, who were already knowledgeable with the Old Testament and the promise of Messiah, and many were prepared to receive Jesus as this Messiah.

In Paphos on the western coast, Barnabas and Paul encountered Sergius Paulus, the proconsul of Cyprus and Elymas, also called Bar-Jesus. Sergius Paulus was identified by Luke as an inquisitive man much interested in religions who kept Elymas around because the Jewish magician seemed to know something about Judaism, which Sergius thought might hold the keys to salvation. Elymas was a non-orthodox Jew who likely mixed his Judaism with pagan worship and doctrine. (It is possible that the name Bar-Jesus indicates that he claimed some relationship with Jesus, but that’s probably not likely. Jesus was a common derivative for Joseph in those days.) When Barnabas and Saul appeared on the scene, the proconsul must have seen this as a golden opportunity to learn more of the Jewish faith from them, so invited them to share their message with him. This threatened Elymas, because his Judaism was not the same as theirs. Do remember that Paul was a very orthodox Jew prior to his conversion to Christianity. Elymas knew that Sergius was intelligent enough to see the differences, so he actively opposed these new visitors, probably correcting every thing they were trying to say.

I have never conceived of Saul as a humble man. I think he was usually the smartest person in the room. Unlike Barnabas, who seems inclined to give a person some slack, Paul took a harder line. Filled with the Holy Spirit, he strongly rebuked Elymas, exposed him as a fraud and demonstrated the power of God by casting a spell on this poser. I have to wonder what was in Paul’s heart as he cast the spell of blindness on Elymas. Did he remember his own time in the dark? How this blindness affected Elymas is not recorded, but Sergius Paulus became a believer in Jesus Christ that day.

“Now Paul and his companions put out to sea from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia; and John left them and returned to Jerusalem.” Acts 13:13

We see a transition at this point. Paul took the lead. It is no longer Barnabas and Saul, but Paul and his companions. Again, God moved sovereignly to structure this team as He saw fit. Note also that Saul is heretofore called Paul. Saul was his Jewish name. Paul was his Gentile name. He had probably used it in Gentile contexts in the past; it was a common Grecianization of a Jewish name. This doesn’t seem to be a change of name as God did Abram to Abraham, but just a change in usage, in the way that people addressed Paul. Paul had become an apostle to the Gentiles, as signaled by this subtle change of names.

Leadership was changing hands in the early church and its first missionary team. Previously, it had been the 12 apostles with Peter as their leader, then it was Barnabas and Saul and now Paul became the leader. As we move from Jerusalem as the sending and supervising church to Antioch, we see Gentile salvations overwhelming Jewish salvations. A new era of church history dawned that profoundly affects almost every Christian alive today.