Choosing Antioch Over Jerusalem

http://www.faithanglicanchurch.org/thevine.pdf

[The Vine] 19 Jul 2006--When the Rev. Canon Dr. Michael Green spoke at The Way Forward: Equipping the Saints conference in May, one of his talks really challenged me to think about our focus in God’s church. He contrasted the first century church in Jerusalem with the church in Antioch. Jerusalem had been the center of Jewish worship since the year 1000 BC, when King David conquered the city and established it as the capital of Israel. Jerusalem had the great golden temple, the Ark of the Covenant, and giant courtyards from which to worship the Lord God. On the day of Pentecost, 50 days after Jesus rose from the dead, about 3000 committed their lives to Jesus and joined the rapidly growing church. On that day, most probably thought Jerusalem would become the world-wide center of Christianity. Yet, the church in Jerusalem became ingrown and quit reaching out to unbelievers. They became comfortable with the saints, rather than help those with real spiritual problems come to wholeness in Jesus Christ. The church in Jerusalem began to fade.