As a kid, I loved watching Ripley’s Believe It or Not (with Jack Palance). If you are a Gen Xer or older, then you know what I’m talking about! You Millennials and Gen Zers will have to YouTube it. Palance would introduce every episode as being about “the strange, the bizarre, the unexpected.”
That phrase describes the journey of the first century believers. Acts was a book about the strange, the bizarre, and the unexpected. I am not referring to matters such as signs and wonders and exorcisms, though those may be included. I am referring to the reality of what the early believers experienced emotionally, socially, psychologically, missiologically, and theologically as the gospel advanced.
The Samaritans became believers and received the Spirit (Acts 8). The god-fearers became believers and received the Spirit (Acts 10). The Gentiles became believers and received the Spirit (Acts 11; 13-14). The gospel and the Spirit were not exclusively for the Jews. The priesthood and God’s holy nation were not limited to Israel (1 Pet 2:9).
Yes. Of course, there were doctrinal constants. The Church did not find Herself in a theological circus, as if the Holy Spirit was in opposition to the Father and the Son. Context was not king over revelation. However, there was a missional-shock to the system. It was a shock that resulted in transformation. The experience was so great that a significant meeting was called in Jerusalem to address the strange happenings on the mission field (Acts 15).
Change, adjustment, and revision are never easy, but part of Kingdom advancement.
The Church does not exist without mission. And being the Church means that She is elected for mission. Her call is not a call to the ordinary.
There is risk involved in going to the Samaritans. It is a strange thing to enter into the homes of the god-fearers. Safety and stability are not found in mission. Lutheran theologian, Carl Braaten once wrote, “Foreignness is an element of the church’s constitution; staying at home is for those in retirement” (The Flaming Center, 56). In a world filled with pressure points, the Church is expected to engage in that which requires Her to change. To innovate. To adjust. To contextualize. Such is simply a matter of wise Kingdom stewardship and not that of the pragmatist.
If Jesus is building His Church (Matt 16) and She is filled with a dynamic Spirit (Acts 2), then we should expect change.
And when the Spirit takes us to the unexpected, will we be humble and nimble enough to adjust our structures, organizations, strategies, and methods as needed? If not, our first century brothers and sisters will one day tell us that what we did was strange, bizarre, and unexpected for the people of God.