Laboring Together for the Gospel

Fireflies at night

“People from your church seem different from other Americans,” an Afghan refugee said to my husband and me one evening over a decade ago. “Is it because of your faith?”

My husband and I exchanged surprised glances.

It was like someone lobbing a slow ball as you grip a bat at home plate—what better opportunity to talk about Jesus than to be directly asked?

But this observation was years in the making.

While we had met this Afghan family a few months ago, our church had been investing in their lives for a couple of years.

I was giving English lessons to the wife, and often my spouse would come along to chat with the head of the household.

This question would shape my understanding of the importance of witnessing to nonbelievers as a church.

It’s easier to write off someone as a “good person” than to determine an entire group of people are the same.

The power of laboring together for the gospel is for outsiders to see its transforming power displayed in the lives of church members.

How the Early Church Was Laboring Together for the Gospel

Throughout the book of Acts, we see a pattern in ministry: Christians aren’t going it alone—they work together.

Acts 2:1 HCSB says, “When the day of Pentecost had arrived, they were all together in one place.” The Holy Spirit came when the disciples were together, not sitting in their separate homes.

The coming of the Spirit served as a springboard for testifying about Jesus powerfully to crowds in multiple languages.

Here are multiple examples of how the early church labored together for the gospel:

• The lame beggar was healed when Peter and John were together, and it led to sharing the gospel with a group gathered in the temple (Acts 3).
• Saul was welcomed into the family of Christ by Ananias, praying for his healing (Acts 9:17) and escaped a plot to end his life because believers lowered him down a basket at night (Acts 9:23–25).
• Peter didn’t visit Cornelius’s household solo but brought along others from church (Acts 10:23).
• Barnabas discipled Saul by bringing him along in his ministry (Acts 11:25).
• The church commissioned Paul and Barnabas to share the gospel with Gentiles (Acts 13:3).
• Paul consistently folded believers like Timothy and Silas into his work (Acts 15:40; Acts 16:3).
• Priscilla and Aquila pulled Apollo aside when they realized he wasn’t up to speed about Jesus, resulting in his outreach growing (Acts 18:26–28).

Again and again, the early church members partnered together to live out their faith, and as a result, the gospel flourished.

Read the rest of this article on Living By Design.