Intentional Christ Community
The Antioch community of Christ
followers was an intentional community. These types of communities are
inherently fragile. Identity is an implicit issue amid the members because they
belong by choice and not by birth.[1] Johnson writes, “Since converts joined the
community as adults directly from Jewish and Gentile backgrounds and with
already formed religious practices, the problems created were real and
difficult.”[2]
The Jerusalem church, a Judaic cultural expression of ecclesia, is an example
of incorporating already formed religious practices into the Christ following
community. Barnabas and Paul became integrated in this emerging community, “Then
Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him, he brought
him to Antioch. So it was that for an entire year they met with the church and
taught a great many people, and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first
called ‘Christians.’”[3]
Intuitively, Barnabas and Paul’s practices and strategies in Antioch gave an
emerging Gentile church the opportunity to create an identity outside the
containment of the Jerusalem (Hebrew/Palestinian) church. The lack of
containment allowed for a separate identification of the Antioch ecclesia as
the “Christ Cult” demonstrated by the surrounding society naming them
“Christians.”[4]
These intuitive practices and
strategies of Barnabas and Paul mirror the Positive Deviance Approach.[5]
The following is a brief analysis of the Positive Deviance Approach as
demonstrated by Barnabas and Paul in the Antioch context. First, by engaging
the culture from within the culture, Barnabas and Paul become members of the
community, they act as sponsors and local leadership from within and not from
above or from outside as in cultural imperialism. This gave Barnabas and Paul
the ability to have an insider’s perspective and understanding of what it meant
to be one within the culture and the community. Second, the community navigates
creating its own identity as “Christians,” meaning Gentile members did not have
to proselytize to Judaism by receive circumcision and keeping the Law of Moses.
Third, the community designed its own practices. The ecclesia’s identity is
reflected, identified and confirmed by the greater community surrounding them.
Fourth, the community adapts to the internal diversity of both Jewish and
Gentile cultures converging and intermingling, thereby creating a distinctive
culture of acceptance and inclusion in a multicultural context.
Antioch appears to overcome the
intercultural conflict that had been the intractable feature contained within
Judaic Christianity represented in Jerusalem. The Christ following community in
Antioch had created its own criteria for what it means to be a Christian.
Flemming concludes concerning this emerging multicultural church,
This ‘model’
community in Luke’s story reflects an ethos of innovation, evidenced by several
notable characteristics. First, it shows a willingness to embrace uncircumcised
non-Jewish converts and, apparently, partake in table fellowship (including the
Lord’s Supper) across cultural lines. . . . Second, the Syrian community grows
out of a mission that preached Jesus as Lord (Acts 11:20). . . . Third, it is
at Antioch that followers of the Way are first called ‘Christians.’ . . .
Fourth, under the inspiration of the Spirit, the Antioch fellowship launches
the first planned ‘overseas’ mission to Gentiles as well as Jews (Acts 13:1-3).
Finally, the Christians at Antioch maintain an ongoing link to the Jewish
Christian mother church in Jerusalem (Acts 11:27-30; 15:1-35).[6]
Antioch represents a major paradigm shift in the narrative
of the church from a Jewish centric contained faith to a multicultural faith.
The cultural dynamics reflected in the text have significant cultural implication
as the Gospel is identified within Gentile society. What is implicit and
culturally bound is identified amid the Judaic Christians. The Gentile converts
in Antioch are not required to be Jewish proselytes in order to become part of
the people of God. The issue of multiculturalism is still reflected in modern
society today. Human beings have a predilection for associating with those who
hold the same cultural affinities, especially in religious contexts. Antioch
changes the rules and creates an intentional community as God
intended through Jesus Christ creating his church.
[1]
For information on efforts to analyze the growth of Christianity in
sociological concepts and terms see Ramsay
MacMullen, Christianizing the Roman Empire: (A.D. 100-400) (Yale
University Press, 1986); Rodney Stark, The Rise of Christianity: A
Sociologist Reconsiders History (Princeton University Press, 1996).
[2] Johnson,
Among the Gentiles, 138.
[3]
Acts 11:25-26.
[4]
Acts 11:26.
[5] Pascale
et al., The Power of Positive Deviance, 196–198.
[6] Flemming,
Contextualization in the New Testament, 43–44.
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