Last night, I began our mid-week Bible study's study of the Book of Acts. I began with a survey of the book and touched on who the author was (and why we know this), the date of the writing, the theme of the book, the outline and significant events that happen in Acts. Then, I touched on a personal pet peeve of mine: I talked about how persecution is a bad thing for the church. Now, that may not seem like such a revolutionary idea, but I have encountered plenty of folks who seem to think that persecution is a good thing for the Church. I have encounter this in a wide range of people, as well: from the average Christian up to the Seminary professor. I specifically remember attending a Bible study in college, where, when it came time to share prayer requests, one young lady requested that we pray that the Church be persecuted. I was shocked.
The reason I brought this up last night, as we began our study of Acts, is because I believe Acts give us examples of the success of the gospel and the growth of the Church, once persecution ceases. And, negatively, we have examples of times of persecution where we are not told that the Church grew. Let's look at a few of these passages.
First, examples of early church growth are found in
Acts 2 (Pentecost sermon by Peter--3000 converted),
Acts 5 ("Believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women" because of the the apostles' preaching in Solomon's Portico (5:14)),
Acts 5:42-6:1 records the Apostles' tireless preaching "in the Temple, and in every house," and because of this "the number of disciples was multiplying," then in
Acts 6 after the seven deacons were appointed to their tasks, we read that more disciples were added, including a great number of the priests (
6:7), then, we come to the martyrdom of Stephen in
Acts 7. There is no mention of church growth being caused by this persecution. As a matter of fact, the next thing that happens in
chapter 8 is the church being scattered due to the persecution of Saul (
8:1). However, note, that when Saul's persecution ends (through his conversion), "the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and...they were multiplied" (
9:31). It is not persecution that causes the Church to grow, as if persecution is beneficial for the Church, but when the persecution ceases, then the Church grows. Of course, there are examples of the Church growing in the face of persecution, but in these cases, the Church grows in spite of the persecution, not because of it.
If you don't think the case of Saul is sufficient, then read
Acts 12 and the case of Herod persecuting the Church. No where does it mention the church growing under this persecution, but, after Herod dies, "The word of Good grew and multiplied." (
12:24).
Note also that the Proconsul in Paphos converts after Elymas the sorcerer, who opposed Paul and Barnabas, is blinded and no longer able to oppose them (
Acts 13:4-12)
. The persecution of Elymas was not beneficial to the spread of the Gospel in Paphos. The silencing of the persecutor certainly was, though!
Now, all this is not to say that these persecutions recorded in Acts were somehow outside the will of God: obviously He ordained these things to come to pass for our ultimate benefit and His glory; however, I think it does trump the idea that persecution is a thing to be desired, sought after, and prayed for! What we ought to be praying for is that the Gospel can go forth freely and without resistance.
