Where Might Acts 1:8 Take You?

Much is made about being a good and effective gospel witness in the believer’s own “Jerusalem” first, before attempting to reach one’s “Judea and Samaria,” and then again before attempting to reach “the ends of the earth.”  We need to reconsider this popular interpretation and application of Acts 1:8.

Usually, Jerusalem is defined as one’s nearest geographical region and close natural relationships. The next ring includes those who share similarities, but with marked cultural or social differences, perhaps even a little farther away geographically. Additional effort is needed to build these relationships. The third ring is the true cross-cultural experience, or the “foreign mission” field. As churches, we often aim to develop ministries to each of the sectors in a similarly progressive manner, eventually completing our development with a balanced portfolio, or a comprehensive approach. 

The Traditional Application of Acts 1:8

Is the implementation of this concentric ring paradigm what Luke had in mind for his readers when he compiled the Book of Acts? Probably not. Luke presents a much more compelling vision for missions than the typical evangelical interpretation grasps. The standard use of the text is not only inaccurate, but prevents us from fully living and loving the Great Commission.  We need to change our mission paradigm and move further away from an individualistic application of this verse to a more corporate one.

Mission strategies for churches are built upon this concentric ring idea, but in reality, it is a construction we have imposed upon the Biblical text. Our intentions are good, and this model seems to work well for us. It is compellingly motivational, moving many to the mission field. It also makes the passage easy to preach and immediately applicable. These purposes are understandably appealing. 

However, the model obscures the truest application regarding the mission of the Church. There are even greater accomplishments to be attained. We search the Bible to extract the buried treasure of practical models, but we often end up pragmatically using the Bible rather than learning and following its wisdom. 

Four Regrettable Outcomes

First, the standard viewpoint tends to create and sustain a bias to stay put, when Jesus said, “go.” We end up focusing intensely upon local outreach efforts because we believe God has called us to minister where he has placed us. We become thoroughly absorbed (almost exclusively) in the needs around us. Then, often the “remotest part of the earth” gets the leftovers of our energies and resources, rather than the best. We re-define the Church’s mission in purely local terms for ourselves and our esteem. 

A second regrettable outcome of the old paradigm is that we feel so overwhelmed by the first two mission categories that we pay little attention to the third. The gospel ministry is hard work. We work wholeheartedly and prayerfully to figure out how we might reach others with the truth and love of Christ. In our struggle with local outreach efforts, we may no longer feel competent enough to engage people cross-culturally and actually accomplish ministry. We never get to the ends of the earth because our faithful witness at home seems to be ever faltering. Simply put, we feel we can’t make a difference over there.

A third outcome of the typical interpretation of Acts 1:8 is that we can quickly and easily lose perspective and vision. We no longer see what we are supposed to be seeing. This is because we are actually missing the very point of the text, and even the book itself:  to give first-priority to frontier mission--to plant churches among the unreached peoples of the world. 

The final regrettable outcome of the common understanding of Acts 1:8, is that we miss the corporate calling. As North American evangelicals, we tend to speak too much about the individual and the personal, and not enough about the Church as a whole, and even the local church as a community. 

Shifting to a Truly Biblical Model

First, rather than perpetuating a bias to stay put, what if our churches worked to create and sustain a bias to “go?” Most will end up staying to live for Christ at home, and will further the mission by sending out and supporting their brothers and sisters who go. But assuming that we should go, rather than assuming that we should stay would change almost everything in the life of our churches. We would find that this is really a huge shift and that it would lead to many being called and sent out from our churches. 

Isn’t this what we are already hoping and praying for, anyway? We would find ourselves thinking, talking, organizing, and strategizing quite differently. People would talk about positioning themselves to be able to go, thinking along the lines of how it might be possible and not why it never could be. We would find new energy and renewed perspective for local ministry. The sacrifices demanded would also greatly increase, but God’s supply of our needs from his inexhaustible resources of grace would remain.  

Second, rather than being overwhelmed by the first two circles of mission, what if the last part of Acts 1:8b actually energized our mission endeavors? That is what has happened in our congregation. (For the story see the complete article “To the Ends of the Earth,” Evangelical Missions Quarterly 42:4 (October 2006), 434-439.) Focusing on the unreached peoples of the world has provided the courageous faith and motivation needed for local and nearby missions. 

Third, rather than losing perspective and vision, what if our churches rediscovered Luke's original emphasis? The emphasis of the verse is not on the “Jerusalem,” but upon the “remotest part of the earth.”  

The Book of Acts was written by Luke as the second part of his Gospel account to show the advance of the gospel of Christ’s Kingdom by the Holy Spirit through the Apostles and the Church. Jerusalem is impacted first, by the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and the subsequent preaching and witness in the city by the Apostle Peter and the church. Then, the “Samaritan mission” in Acts 8 was the gospel’s first great advance after Pentecost. The Gentile mission begins here. Luke then shows us further movement through the conversions of the Ethiopian proselyte, and Cornelius the God-fearing Gentile. The full-on ministry to Gentiles begins in chapter 11 with the ministry of the Antioch church, and the Pauline mission flowing out of this and continuing the progression. We, as the Church, are to follow the arrow and continue the mission until the Return of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Acts 1:8b is not about everyone’s three different realms of witness (Jerusalem, Judea/Samaria, and remote), but about these actual historical transitions, which are now over. The Apostles and the early Church completed the first two and started on the third. What remains is the really exciting part--the relentless drive to the mission’s end! Acts 1:8b is meant to rivet our attention on the “remotest part of the earth” section. Our mission ever since the beginnings of New Testament Christianity, is to go to the ends of the earth and hasten the coming of that day of worship by those Jesus purchased with his blood, “from every tribe and language and people and nation.” (Revelation 5:9) 

Fourth, rather than following our inclination to apply the biblical text to ourselves individually, what if we considered its meaning for the global Church first? Replace the question “What does this mean for me?” with the question "What does this mean for us?" Turn the focus from the individual to the Church globally and locally. What if we saw our churches as local teams, not as a collection of individuals trying to accomplish the Great Commission? Understand Acts 1:8b as being not so much about a personal mission, as it is about the group’s mission. 

Individually, we cannot complete the Great Commission, nor do many of us do very well in that which we do accomplish by ourselves. This group approach actually inspires and accomplishes much more in the personal realm in our churches as we all work together to increase our own spiritual health and maturity and usefulness in the mission of planting churches that reproduce. We expand our vision and look at the bigger picture outside of ourselves. We can focus on a specific area in the world and are start to ask longer range questions about how we can even better utilize all of our people and ministry resources.

We live in perhaps the most thrilling time in the history of redemption, when the gospel is actually reaching the very ends of the earth, and God is calling out for himself a people to worship him forever. Convinced that we live to serve the Lord God and his Gospel, may we be willing to take great risks for his glory among all peoples, and let us yearn to see their full enjoyment of him. Let us follow the arrow and go to the very ends of the earth!