- The fledgling church grew dramatically in its first three decades (33-64 AD).
- 5.1.1. There were only 120 disciples pre-Pentecost (Acts 1:15) and 3,000 post-Pentecost (Acts 2:41).
5.1.2. By 35 AD the church reached Antioch and was growing so dramatically that the chief priest sentSaul from Jerusalem to repress it (Acts 9.1-2); the numbers in Antioch had to be substantial or thechief priest would not have sent Saul to deal with them; no one is bothered by a few people meetingin a basement; already the church was engaged in what missiologist Roland Allen referred to at theend of the 19th century as “the spontaneous expansion of the church.”
5.1.3. By the early 50s Paul had planted reproducing churches in the key cities in Galatia, Greece andAsia Minor; Luke says in Paul’s third missionary journey “all the Jews and Greeks who lived in theprovince of Asia heard the word of the Lord” (Acts 19.10).
5.1.4. By 56 AD Paul tells the Romans that “there is no more place for me to work in these regions,” i.e.,in the Mediterranean world (Romans 15.23); Paul thus sets his sights on Spain (Romans 15.24).
5.1.5. Paul had not preached in every city in the region but the reproducing churches he did plant in keycities were engaged in aggressive evangelism in their regions (spontaneous expansion); Paul’sstrategy appears to have been to focus on key urban centers and plant churches there and then let theurban churches evangelize and plant churches in their surrounding regions; thus the first Christians ineach area tended to be urban dwellers (see Wayne A. Meeks, The First Urban Christians (Yale 2nd ed. 2003), and Roland Allen, Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours? (Eerdmans Reprint 1962)).
5.1.6. Paul was not the only apostle at work in the world; by 49 AD a sizable church existed in Romefounded “according to the Jewish rite” so big that Emperor Claudius closed the Jewish synagoguesover disputes by “Chrestus” (said Roman historian Suetonius); see Acts 18.1; if the Emperor noticedthem, Christians had to be numerous and vocal in the Roman synagogues prior to 49 AD – by theway, did Peter found the church in Rome? See Acts 12.17.
5.1.7. With Claudius’ death in 54 AD the Jews (and Jewish Christians) could return to Rome; by thetime Paul wrote Romans in 56 AD the church was a mix of Jewish and Gentile believers;evangelization of Gentiles clearly outstripped ongoing evangelization of Jews in the synagogues; in Romans 14 we see hints of strong cultural tensions between Jewish Christians and Gentile believers.
5.1.8. When Paul came to Italy in 60 AD a church already existed in the port city of Puteoli (Acts 28.14)in regular contact with the Roman church (Acts 28.15), likely its mother church.
5.1.9. In essence, it seems every church planted in the Greco-Roman world in the period 33-60 AD was:1) in constant communication with other churches, and 2) involved in spreading the gospel in itsregion.