Starting Churches
Three Key Takeaways
The church is built by God's active involvement, not by human effort alone. Paul was proactive in his mission, but sensitive to the Spirit's direction—trying different places until God redirected him to Macedonia. Church isn't just about setting out chairs, preparing and singing songs, and sharing tea, coffee, and food together. It's about God Himself actively leading, speaking, and shaping what we do together.
Radical discipleship produces joy that the world notices. Paul and Silas worshipped God in prison after being beaten. The jailer, watching this, saw something he couldn't explain—joy in the midst of suffering. When Christians consistently display joy regardless of circumstances, it becomes a powerful witness that provokes the world to ask, "What's going on with those people?"
The gospel brings truth, freedom, and joy—redemption. Lydia received truth through revelation when God opened her heart. The slave girl experienced deliverance from oppression and was brought into freedom. The jailer moved from despair to rejoicing. When we preach Jesus, share testimony, and pray for friends, we bring truth, freedom, and joy into people's lives.
GRAB THE FULL SERMON PODCAST HERE:
STARTING CHURCHES
This is the start of a new series called "A People of Joy in an Age of Despair." Over the next ten weeks, we'll be looking at Philippians—a letter to a church in Philippi, emphasising joy and how what Jesus has done in us and for us produces joy.
Everyone wants more joy in their lives, and it’s hard to ignore how much the world needs it right now.
Today, we're starting with Acts 16, which recounts the first 30 years of the church after Jesus's death and resurrection. This chapter describes when the Apostle Paul began the first church in Philippi. Over the next ten weeks, we'll read the letter he wrote to them about ten years later.
It's a fascinating story. It's also helpful because Redemption is starting a new church in London, and Paul was starting one in Philippi. There are things we can learn, things God wants to speak to us as we start this church and shape what we're doing—so we don't just get our ideas from what we see other churches doing or from what we've experienced in our past, but from the Bible itself and how God describes what the church should be like.
God's Active Involvement in Church Life
Acts 16:6-10 says:
"And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, 'Come over to Macedonia and help us.' And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them."
This tells us how Paul got to Philippi in the first place. He's travelling around different parts of Turkey, trying to visit various places. Every time he tries to go somewhere, it doesn't explain exactly what happens. The text simply states that "the Spirit of Jesus didn't allow us to preach the gospel there." At first glance, this may seem unusual. It’s not something we often think about—the Spirit of Jesus actively preventing someone from preaching.
This highlights an important principle: God's active involvement in church life.
It's quite possible to build churches that seem to relegate God to a distant figure, and we just crack on with church—turning up on Sunday, setting out the chairs, practising the songs, singing the songs, preparing the sermon, listening to the sermon, making the all-important tea and coffee and biscuits, drinking the tea and coffee, eating the biscuits, and going home at the end. All of that with little or no active involvement of God in the process.
This stands in sharp contrast to what we see here.
It's not that Paul is unable to do anything without God directing him. He's quite proactive. "I'm going to try to go to Bithynia now. I'm going to try to go to Mysia." He's on a mission that God has sent him on. He's getting on with it. But he is sensitive to what God is saying to him and directing him.
The text doesn’t explain exactly how the Spirit of Jesus prevented him. But in some way, he sensed in his own heart and spirit, "God doesn't want me to go there," and so he didn't. And he tried elsewhere.
A few chapters earlier, it is said that the reason Paul was on this missionary journey in the first place was that he was praying, worshipping, and fasting with other leaders in Antioch when God spoke to them by the Holy Spirit and said, "Go out and preach the gospel and travel around." So the whole thing is shaped by God's active intervention in his life, in their lives.
That's the kind of church we want to be—one where God is actively involved, speaking, directing, shaping what we do.
Lydia: Truth Through Revelation
Verses 13-15:
"And on the Sabbath day, we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshipper of God. The Lord opened her heart to listen to what Paul said. And after she was baptised, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, 'If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.' And she prevailed upon us."
Lydia was a businesswoman, a seller of purple goods—expensive fabric. She was already a worshipper of God, but when Paul spoke about Jesus, the Lord opened her heart. Truth came to her by revelation. She heard someone speaking about Christianity, and God opened up her heart.
She responds immediately. She gets baptised. Her whole household gets baptised. She invites Paul and his companions to stay at her house.
This is the first convert in Philippi. The church begins with a businesswoman whose heart God opened to receive truth.
The Slave Girl: Freedom Through Deliverance
Verses 16-18:
"As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and us, crying out, 'These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.' And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, 'I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.' And it came out that very hour."
This slave girl had a spirit—a python spirit, a spirit of divination. She was being used by her owners to make money through fortune-telling. She was oppressed, enslaved, and exploited.
When she encounters Paul, she follows them around for days, crying out the truth about who they are. Paul eventually commands the spirit to leave her in the name of Jesus Christ.
She experiences profound deliverance from evil. She's brought into freedom—freedom from spiritual oppression and exploitation.
Paul and Silas in Prison: Joy in Suffering
But her owners aren't happy. They've lost their source of income. Verses 19-24:
"But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, 'These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practise.' The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks."
Paul and Silas have been beaten. They're in prison. Their feet are in stocks. They're in pain.
What follows is remarkable.
Verse 25: "About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them."
They're worshipping God. At midnight. After being beaten. In prison.
The prisoners were listening to them. You can imagine them thinking, It’s easy to picture the other prisoners wondering what was going on with them.
This is radical discipleship. This is joy expressed in worship, even in the midst of suffering.
When you see not just one person but a whole community of radical disciples, it's almost impossible not to ask, "What is going on with those people?" There's a joy in them that's different. Other people are joyful when life goes well, but Christians seem to be joyful no matter what is happening in life.
If Christians lived like that consistently, the world would notice. Everyone would notice.
That's a profound challenge. We need to go on that journey of discipleship, saying, "God, transform me, because I know I'm not like that naturally. I only become like that if God's Spirit empowers me to become that kind of person."
The Jailer: Joy from Despair
Verses 26-34:
"And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bonds were unfastened. When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, 'Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.' And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, trembling with fear, and fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, 'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' And they said, 'Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.' And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptised at once, he and all his family. Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God."
An earthquake shakes the prison. The doors fly open. Everyone's chains fall off.
The jailer wakes up, sees the doors open, and assumes the prisoners have escaped. In Roman culture, if prisoners escape on your watch, you face the death penalty. So he draws his sword to kill himself.
Paul calls out, "Don't harm yourself! We're all here!"
The jailer rushes in, trembling with fear, falls down before Paul and Silas. He asks, "What must I do to be saved?"
They tell him about Jesus. He believes. After believing, he is baptised immediately, washes their wounds, and welcomes them into his home.
And then verse 34 says he "rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God."
He moves from despair—about to kill himself—to rejoicing. He experiences joy.
Truth, Freedom, and Joy
These three examples show us what happens when Jesus is at work in someone's life.
Lydia receives truth through revelation. She hears someone speaking about Christianity, and God opens up her heart.
The slave girl experiences freedom through deliverance. She's oppressed and brought into freedom.
The jailer moves from despair to joy. He rejoices.
Truth, freedom, and joy—this is what we're called to bring to the community and the world around us. That's what happens when we preach Jesus, share our testimony, and pray for our friends. We bring truth, freedom, and joy into people's lives.
There's one big word in the Bible that encompasses truth, freedom, and joy: redemption. It's the way God rescues us from slavery and brings us into all that He wants to give us.
Our Church Vision
Paul says at the beginning, "We spent a few days in Philippi." In a few days, Lydia responded to the gospel, Paul cast the spirit out of the slave girl, they got imprisoned, an earthquake came, the jailer and his whole family became Christians, and then they moved on.
This prompts us to reflect on our own church vision.
A God-centred community. Many churches can easily get focused on things other than God Himself. What we see in Philippi is a church where Jesus is actively building it. He's actively involved. Therefore, Jesus Himself is at the centre of their community, their life, and what they're doing together.
Making disciples. The church being formed in Philippi is shaped by radical discipleship—worshipping whatever's going on around them.
Sent on a mission. We've got three amazing examples of what happens when Jesus is at work in someone's life. Truth, freedom, and joy are what we're called to bring.
Learning to love one another. Imagine one of their first church meetings. You've got Lydia—a wealthy businesswoman. You've got the slave girl, a former fortune-teller, just delivered from a python spirit. You've got the jailer walking in with his whole family. They're from different nations. You've got a Roman soldier. All these different backgrounds.
This is the church. They've got to learn how to live together, love one another, serve each other, and pray for each other. That's the church that becomes a community, becoming the light of the world to the people of Philippi.
At Redemption
At Redemption, our dream is to plant a church like that in London—bringing people from all over the city, from every conceivable background, together around the person of Jesus. We're learning to love one another with all the baggage we bring from our own backgrounds, trusting that God will work through us and transform us in the process.
