Acts and the Movement of God

[Emma Hodges]

I learned many things about movement missiology from my reading of Acts, but these are some of the main things: 1)The importance of prayer and reaching out in prayer to others – “Movements of God are made up of people who keep their eyes and ears open to where God is at work in their everyday lives, whether in their workplace, in their neighborhood, or at the school gates. A simple offer of prayer—whether for healing, for a grieving heart, or for a person calling out to God for guidance—opens hearts and minds to the gospel.” (pg. 66). 2)The apostles were just ordinary people. They were not some kind of super human, but instead they were people who spent a lot of time with Jesus and aligned themselves with his teachings and methods. 3)It is important to connect with all kinds of different people in your places of ministry – “In each location, Barnabas and Saul connect with all sorts of people: government officials, Jews and God-fearers, idol-worshipping pagans, a magician, the wealthy and powerful, men and women." (pg. 191).

One of the case studies that surprised me was Daw’s story. I was surprised by the amount of persecution, and I was also heartbroken to hear of believers going through such mistreatment because of their faith. But it was so cool to hear of people who still continued to share their faith even in the face of persecution.

I used the four fields approach a couple of times, and I totally see how it would be a valuable tool to lead others in studying scripture. It is an interesting method that I haven’t heard of before today.

[Daycee]

Great observations. I like the 4 fields illustration because it helps us understand the “results” aren’t the same every time, depending on the context. But this doesn’t mean that nothing is happening!

[Jaylen]

Throughout the book, the overarching theme yet still the absolute cornerstone is the call of God. The disciples were a bunch of failures after Jesus had died, and in forty days Jesus reignited them with purpose and hope. Obviously, a dramatic change took place in all of their lives over that period, we see this clearly because of how much more understanding they had about reality itself, for example; Peter’s sermon at Pentecost. Then in each case study it is that much more evident that not only has the Spirit empowered them, but Jesus has called them and had gone before them, the only thing you have left to do when this is your reality is remain obedient to God.

The four-fields approach is a great illustration of how multiplication can take place. It also seems that the book of Acts is evidence that this structure is legitimate because when you get reading through many narratives, you see clearly that this cycle is taking place in many different ways throughout the book. In fact, in just about all of Paul’s missionary tours you can track this illustration through the stories of him visiting different cities. There were either 1) No Christians, and therefore seeds were planted, discipleship occurred, and churches were formed. Or, 2) there were Christians, but they were uninformed, so Paul planted seeds of truth teaching, and discipleship was built around the new truth, and churches formed. I make these two distinctions because it seems that this illustration can be initiated in more contexts than just “empty” fields, but sometimes fields that have the wrong seeds in them, so to speak.

[Taliya]

The four fields Bible study approach looks really cool – very approachable, makes sense, and easy to use. The case studies in the book were very encouraging to me. Through reading it I was reminded that it really is through the power of the Holy Spirit that we can see fruit when sharing the gospel and making disciples. God has prepared people in advance and our role is to be obedient to His leading. The training and structure is important as well in establishing a movement that reproduces, but through those case studies I was just reminded of the goodness of God and His leading in our lives.

These are helpful resources that I will continue to look back on.