Key: Encourage
ENCOURAGE loving fellowship and outreach
New believers were bonded together in love. They discovered their place in God’s family. A new community emerged, made of people pursuing right relationships with God, with one another, and with non-believers.[1]
The new church faithfully prayed “to the Lord of the harvest…to send out workers into His harvest field.”[2] Their prayer was being answered! Workers, from their midst, were mobilized for outreach. They ministered to both physical and spiritual needs in their community.
The believers reached their extended families, following the webs of their own relationships. (Friends, servants, servants’ families, business associates, etc. were typically considered part of the “household”—those they were responsible to reach.) [3] [4]
[1] If there are existing churches or denominations among the people group you work with, consider teaming-up or partnering with them only if they put Jesus’ commands and church reproduction above all human policies. For Example: avoid planting churches with those who prefer man-made requirements which are not in the New Testament for: baptism, serving the Lord’s Supper, becoming a pastor, starting nearby daughter churches.
[2] Luke 10:2b
[3] Acts 16:31-32 “you and your household”
[4] A survey in the 1980’s suggests that 80% of all people who turn to Jesus are the direct result of personal witness from a friend or family member who follows Jesus.