Definitely maybe - can our future be in Europe?

Can our future be in Europe?

How fresh manuscript evidence can help us to face today's question . . .

From time to time, scholars poring over fragments of dusty documents startle the world with some amazing new discovery about the origins of the Christian church, and indeed of the faith itself.
We are now able to reveal, exclusively in EN, that years of research into the text of the Acts of the Apostles has unearthed evidence which is bound to have far-reaching consequences for the way we see our present mission. This, we forecast, could well rock the church once more back on its heels.
According to the traditional (and so far, unquestioned) text of Acts 16.9-10, the small band of travelling evangelist-missionaries - including Paul, Silas, Luke and others - took the momentous step of crossing over from what we call Asia into Europe, over the Aegean Sea. The story is told very briefly: 'During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him: 'Come over to Macedonia and help us.' After Paul had seen the vision we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the Gospel to them.'
The first of these two sentences remains uncontroversial. It is the second which is challenged by our newly-revealed data. The alternative text is a much more thorough and detailed account which for obvious reasons has been ignored for more than nineteen centuries. It runs as follows:

'So in the morning, we held a meeting in which Paul told us about his vision and invited us all to share our feelings. After an extended period of singing, the following points were made during a frank and often lively exchange of views:

1. Some members, raising a point of order, said that the proposed move had formed no part of the original motion agreed at the Antioch meeting (15.40). They could not therefore support any such venture until the full voting membership could be first consulted about the change of plan.

2. Others said that while they had no objection in principle, the proposed new venture would involve the whole group in expenditure well beyond anything hitherto budgeted for; as things stood, they were just about breaking even in covering current expenses including travel. Was it responsible stewardship, in troubled times, to branch out in new and unknown directions where further costs were likely to go through the roof? When the time was ripe they would certainly be in favour, but in the present economic climate the need was for caution and some careful financial retrenchment rather than reckless expansion. (A lone voice was heard to mutter: 'Don't think it will end there - they'll be talking next about going to Spain!')

3. Others, while expressing sympathy with this view, felt that with an all-out effort for this one-off venture, enough money could be raised. They suggested setting up an additional fundraising committee specifically for such a project; this could look in more detail at the prospects for some sponsored tentmaking or sale of goods, fishing competitions, donkey auctions, door-to-door collecting, a flag day, sales of second-hand books, parchments and old letters, with a possible small-scale lottery as back-up.

4. A different note was heard from yet another group. These members wished to place on record their sadness at the lack of faith hitherto apparent in the discussion; no one, they pointed out, had mentioned the need for prayer. How could any work of God hope to succeed, they asked, unless sufficient time was set aside for intercession? They would be against any over-hasty decision under pressure from the emotion of the moment or the personality of any individual leader, but were open to what the Spirit might be saying through some more carefully thought-out programme of prayer. They proposed as an initial step a weekly all-night prayer meeting followed in two months by a full week of prayer, after which the situation could be reviewed.

5. Yet a further point was made by those who were concerned that even after prayer, any decision would be that of only a small minority; prayer, after all, could be a highly subjective activity. Full participation in the decision-making process by the whole membership should be an essential pre-requisite of any major new initiative. At the very least, therefore, they proposed a full consultation between the churches of Antioch, Jerusalem and Laodicea, and a series of meetings arranged where opinions could be recorded. A two-thirds majority should be sought among the prophets, apostles, pastor-teachers, evangelists, widows and saints (voting in separate houses) before any action would be taken.

6. At this point, one member urged caution over the question of insurance. He wondered if their joint comprehensive policy had an 'excluding Europe' clause in the small print, which would render this whole debate pointless. If any further sea voyages were contemplated, he asked if someone could be deputised to check if the party was sufficiently covered for storm and shipwreck. This would inevitably mean several days' travelling in order to check the legal position. He was assured that this would be kept under active consideration.

7. The next speaker, after mentioning something we did not all quite catch about rearranging deck-chairs on some ship or other, expressed his total disillusionment about the knee-jerk reactions being shown by so many of his colleagues. Had they not grasped (he enquired) that nothing short of revival was the need of the hour? All this tinkering around with meetings and travelling and consultation and planning was really irrelevant to the desperate plight of the world and the weakness of the church; only the mighty hand of God was able to do anything at this cross-roads of world history, probably very close to its final catastrophe; until we all recognised this, he saw little point in all these motions and counter-motions, which were simply works of the flesh.

8. A final contribution was made by some who wanted it recorded in the Minutes that they had listened carefully to all that had been said, but saw no need for changing the policy which had stood them in good stead up to now. Change for change's sake might appeal to some; but things had been different when Barnabus had been in charge; the older and traditional pattern of mission (Cyprus, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe etc.) had proved itself under the test of time, and novelty had no appeal to them. In any case, Europe could well prove to be a nine day wonder; they felt that in those earlier years the whole enterprise had been better planned and better led than appeared to be the case at the present time.

As a result of what most of those present agreed had been an excellent debate, it was agreed that no common mind existed and a decision was deferred for the time being. After a further time of just worshipping the Lord, they all went home.

Definitely maybe - can our future be in Europe?

Tongue-in-cheek comments on Acts 16 with reference to the current debate on Europe

Can our future be in Europe?

Christopher Idle

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