Acts 13:4-5 - Stick to the stuff you know
Jun 09, 2022
In this blog series, I’m going to take a look at the book of Acts from a strategic point of view. What was going on in the days of the early church and what can we learn from it today in the 21st Century?
“The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. John was with them as their helper.” Acts 13:4-5 NIV
“Stick to the stuff you know” has become a TikTok trope these days, as people mime to the High School Musical song whilst referencing something else about the topic. In this chapter, Saul & Barnabas do just that. This grand adventure into the unknown starts amid very familiar surroundings.
Barnabas was Cypriot Jew, and Paul himself a Jew, it makes lots of sense to start where you know. Barnabas would have had excellent knowledge of not only the island, but also the synagogues on the island.
Starting where you know creates the environment for quick wins. Quick wins are vital for momentum. Barnabas and Saul’s decision to start there gave them a rolling start to their ministry journey.
How can we get some quick wins? Here’s 3 ideas to help you stick to the stuff you know:
- Do what you’re already good at
Start with what you’re good at. If your church has an incredible worship team, then focus on creating incredible environments of worship. If your church can mobilise in the community quickly, do that. If your church is great at teaching, focus on that. We often look at what we’re weak in when things are going badly, but usually we focus too little on our strengths.
It can be hard, especially for smaller churches, to know what they’re good at. “We’re not good at x, there’s the bigger church down the road that can do it better.” However, I truly believe that every church has something unique to offer. That may only be for a small area, but there’s something you can do excellently. A large church can’t give a new Christian one-on-one discipleship with the pastor, but a small church can. And that means you can be really great at discipling the ones and twos. Small churches can mobilise very quickly around a community need and get the whole church moving. If your church is small enough to be a WhatsApp group, you can move a church really quickly.
- Steal content from other churches
Yep, you heard it right. I’m actually suggesting that you take things from other churches. Is your worship team terrible? Use YouTube, or backing tracks. Can’t preach? There are whole libraries of preaches that you can take and use. Is your church bad at organising community events? Find a church that’s great at it nearby and offer your support. Don’t have good small group teachers? Find an online curriculum.
Why? We need to stop trying to do the things we’re not very good at. There’s simply not enough time to be doing the things we think is important but actually is less important than we think it is. It’s not vital that you are an amazing preacher, but it is vital that the church are discipled. It’s not vital to have a worship team, but it is vital for your church to be engaging in worship. The goal is more important than doing it all yourself.
- Prune your ministries back
John Mark Comer famously wrote “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry”, I think I should write a book called, “The Ruthless Elimination of Surplus Ministries” because it’s so important. The more a church grows, the more it tends towards disorder. More people come and want to run ministries, ambition grows, the need becomes more apparent. It can be tough to say no to someone, but it needs to be done. The first way to scale back what you’re doing is to stop saying yes to new things. That means no new ministries. Then you put your current ministries before God and ask Him, “What do You want us to do?” then start to focus on what God’s telling you to focus on and only those. That may only be a small handful of ministries. You’ve got to find what you’re good at stick to it, only changing when the Holy Spirit tells you to do so. And when God tells you to start a new. The benefits of this are that you can put your resources (time, money and people) into a few things and make a much bigger impact than if you were to run double the amount of ministries.
Cyprus Ahoy
Barnabas and Paul make quick wins by starting on familiar ground, and by sticking to what you’re good at, using other church’s content and pruning back your church can make quick wins.
