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Acts 1:1-11 - Succession & Success

acts succession vision Jul 21, 2021

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?

Verses 1-5: Succession

Jesus has risen from the dead and spends time proving his resurrection to the disciples. When the time draws near for his ascension, Jesus tells the disciples not to do anything until the Holy Spirit comes.

From a strategic point of view, this is fascinating. Jesus doesn’t hand over leadership of the church to the apostles, he remains in charge. What’s really clear at the outset is that this isn’t a man-lead movement. This will be a Spirit-lead movement.

This is key to our churches. If you’re the Senior Pastor of a church, you’re not really in charge.

There’s a second view to look at this. Many times in the New Testament, the Holy Spirit is referred to as the Spirit of Jesus. They are one and the same. Jesus is also described in the book of John as the Logos, the Word. Now put that into today’s context. It’s the word, the message, living in people that is the true driver.

At thinking.church, we talk a lot about Mission Statements because they are so important. The mission statement works a lot like the Word living in you. Your Mission Statement isn’t Jesus, and isn't a substitute for the Holy Spirit, let’s make that clear. But there is a sense that whenever you’re looking at succession, leaving the message to the next generation of leaders is the best thing that any leader can do.

The methods will change, and as we are to see in the upcoming chapters, they certainly do. However, that word dwells within them and motivates them.

At some point, you’ll need to hand over the reins of leadership to someone else. A mission statement is designed to be something that will live beyond you, something that can motivate generations in a cause, a Christ-based cause. A Senior Leader’s job is to help their cause dwell in the next generation of leaders, and that’s what creates a real legacy.

Verses 6-11: Success

Just before Jesus’s ascension, He tells his disciples that they are to be His witnesses, “In Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

In the upcoming chapters you’ll see this pattern unfold, how the message goes from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the ends of the known earth at that time – represented in the form of the Roman Empire. 

A quick google of the timescales of the Book of Acts appears to suggest that the book takes place over a 32-year timescale. What Jesus does brilliantly, is that he balances his Vision Speech with a mixture of short and long term goals.

When it comes to Vision, you need to clearly articulate what success looks like, and Jesus does just that.

Think of Jesus’s words as concentric circles. At the centre is Jerusalem, the next circle is Judea, the next circle is Samaria, and final circle is the ends of the earth. The ends of the earth is clearly the goal, but to get there will take 32 years. But it only takes them 1 year to get to Samaria, the next circle in.

I think if Jesus had told his disciples to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth and omitted Jerusalem, Judea & Samaria, they would have struggled to get it done. Goal-setting has to have the element of quick wins. They reach Jerusalem within a few months, and then they’re onto Judea and Samaria within a year. Quick wins stoke the fire for further action.

We suggest that you set goals in a similar fashion. Quarterly, Yearly, and 3-5 Yearly. These provide the same style of longer term thinking and shorter-term focus. Whilst you can try to copy Jesus’s 32-year vision, you probably don’t have quite the same omniscience. A good 5-year goal is quite long enough in today’s world.

What if you can see further that 5 years? Great! But beyond 5 years your vision gets a lot foggier, and so does your congregation's vision. Suggesting that “in 25 years we will have a multisite church with campuses across the world” sounds impressive, but it doesn’t mean anything to people who have no idea what they’ll be doing next year, let alone in 25 years.

The great thing about Jesus’s vision statement is that he gives the early church the breadcrumbs of what to do next. Do the same with your church. Reaching a grand vision happens one quarter at a time.