I will outline here four factors from the early church, alluded to in Acts 6, that contributed to the growth of the early church. These factors have also contributed to the growth of Resurrection Church in Beirut (RCB) Lebanon and I believe are a model for church growth in the Middle East today. In the context of war, millions of refugees, an economic crisis and a failed state, RCB has grown from 75 people in 2008 to over 4,000 people in 2024. We operate in 13 locations, and we have over 40 communities across the country, along with hundreds of life groups. While there are many factors that God used to do this, I will focus on four that are foundational from the early church.
1. Theological formation happens in the local church
My first observationcomes from Acts 6:2 which says “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables.” Here the apostles’ primary responsibility was to teach the Word within the church community. Acts 2:42 highlights that believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Teaching happened alongside and in the context of fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer.
Effective theological education cannot happen in isolation. It’s crucial, especially for Muslim converts, to receive instruction in the Word within the supportive environment of their local church while maintaining connections with their families, neighbors, and friends. This approach mirrors the practices of the early church, which prioritized teaching within the context of community life.
We shouldn’t isolate believers, particularly those from non-Christian backgrounds, from their everyday contexts and ministry to pursue theological studies for three or four years elsewhere (I’m mainly referring to undergraduate studies). Instead, we should integrate instructional, relational, spiritual, and experiential elements within the community of faith to nurture a generation of influential, Christ-centered leaders committed to the kingdom and the Church. Seminaries should adapt their strategies by offering undergraduate courses within local churches. Additionally, I encourage church leaders to provide substantial spiritual nourishment (not only milk but solid food) to their congregations and to seek assistance from qualified professors when necessary.
Furthermore, seminaries should acknowledge and grant credits for courses taught by qualified pastors within local church settings to emerging leaders. We have enough data to support the notion that leaders who undergo courses in the church, alongside peers who share similar vision and mission, tend to learn significantly more compared to when the same course is conducted online by the same professor. The dynamic environment of the local church facilitates deeper understanding, collaboration, and practical application of theological principles, thereby enhancing the overall learning experience and better preparing leaders for effective ministry and service.
It is essential to bring back theological education to the local church. Unfortunately, some have delegated this responsibility of theological education to others, which is both tragic and detrimental. In regions facing persecution, virtual communities may become necessary, provided that they maintain a balance of instructional, relational, spiritual, and experiential components. Nevertheless, the primary aim remains to foster theological formation within the local church, ensuring that believers are equipped to serve effectively in their immediate contexts.
At Resurrection Church, we have been actively training 50 of our pastors every other week, for the past four or five years, along with over 300 life group leaders every other week. Additionally, we have 30 potential pastors in training pipelines and numerous younger leaders undergoing regular training. Remarkably, many of these leaders come from Muslim backgrounds. We teach them the Bible, character formation, spiritual formation, pastoral care, OT and NT courses, hermeneutics, Islamic studies, evangelism, leadership, and self-management, marriage and parenting courses, Christian theology and doctrine, and counseling. We are committed to bringing theological education back to the local church, and all our professors are Arabs.
2. Holistic ministry happens within the local church.
Our second principle from the early church is in Acts 6:3–4: “Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” What is unique about the early church, and is evident in the passage we are studying, was that the leaders took responsibility over feeding the hungry (as Jesus did with the feeding of the 4000 and 5000), as well as healing the sick, even casting out demons, alongside their ministry of prayer and preaching the word. They did not limit the church’s role to Sunday services or pastoral care alone, delegating other responsibilities to external institutions.
This Western tendency to compartmentalize the church’s responsibilities does a disservice to its holistic mission. Again, dissecting what was once the Church’s responsibility is doing a disserve to the local church. For examplem we might hear “anything beyond discipleship—that’s for the seminaries” or “anything beyond the preaching of the Gospel and worship—that’s for other non-profit organizations to deal with.” Holistic ministry is what Jesus did and what we are called to do. If you read the earliest Gospel, Mark’s account tells us that Jesus did these holistic things again and again and we are to do the same. We serve our community holistically.
So we as a church pray, we love, we listen, we counsel and guide, we serve others, we provide food for the hungry, medication, education, job opportunities, we provide financial aid for critical surgeries, we preach, we teach, we develop, train and equip leaders. We build relationships with our community and with leaders of influence, we protect our people, especially of those from non-Christian background, we build peace, we create healthy communities, and build spiritual tribes. And we worship together, we host one another, we show hospitality to strangers, we honor one another, we dedicate our new born children to our Lord, we bless our people, we baptize converts, we marry couples, we mourn and rejoice together! We even bury the dead which is especially significant and meaningful for refugees who have no place to bury their dead. All these were done by the early church and this is why it grew exponentially in the first three centuries.
Pastor George Houssney, the founder of Horizons, says continuously that “if the church does what is called to do there is no need for para-Church organizations in the World.” And I cannot agree more.
