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How A Church Begins - Acts 18
How A Church Begins - Acts 18
"Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized" (Acts 18:8).
How did they start a church in the first century? We see yet again the same basic pattern. A church is a group of believers that have banded themselves together to worship and serve the Lord. Being a collective of believers, you have 'get believers'. Paul came to Corinth and preached the gospel of Jesus. He later reminded them "of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved". He then outlines this saying: "Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day" (1Cor. 15:1-4).
Paul preached, they received the word. In Acts 2:41 we read: "as many as received the word were baptized." In Acts 8, having seen that 'when they believed they were baptized (vs. 12), it then states that the "apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God" (vs. 14). In Acts 10, Peter had commanded Cornelius to "be baptized in the name of the Lord" and the next verse records that the "apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God" (Acts 10:38-14:1). The Corinthians received the word of God = they "believed and were baptized" (1Cor. 15:1 and Acts 18:8).
Before Paul preached the gospel unto them, they were very worldly and ungodly people. Paul wrote to them: " Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you" (1Cor. 6:9-10).
Then, having believed and been baptized, it could be said: "But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God" (1Cor. 6:11). Now it can be said that they are "the church of God that is in Corinth". Now they are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints" (1Cor. 1:2).
How do you start a church? You preach the gospel and baptize those who believe. How do you grow a church? You preach the gospel and baptize those who believe. It still works the same way.
Hugh DeLong
