The Antioch model in our AÉBÉQ Region
Based on the model of the Antioch church presented in Acts 13, we are adopting this inspirational template for all our churches, which generates a new dream.
In that passage, we see a mature church that radiates Christ and has several gifted leaders.
Moreover, listening to the Holy Spirit, this church never hesitated to send workers in unreached areas.
Its most elementary definition would read: “An Antioch church is a healthy church on mission who is getting stronger, who equips its people, radiates Christ, and who plants churches by the Gospel movement.”
A church:
- is radiating, doing evangelism work in a contextualised manner, developing missionary initiatives which aim to reach its town, a target group, an unreached area, or country for Christ.
- is reinforcing itself when it is aiming to live out the Gospel in all aspects of its life.
- is equipping its people when it is training, influencing and deploying leaders according their call and vocation.
- is planting churches when its sends workers to start a new church, because of a missionary initiative which grew and multiplied.
In church planting, an established church becomes an Antioch church, acting as a mother church for a plant project. Such a church takes the entire responsibility to go through all the steps of pregnancy, until the daughter church reaches maturity.
That’s the reason why the focus and care of AÉBÉQ will be emphasized towards Antioch churches, which have evangelism projects aimed at church planting.
Isn’t true that a mother who received good care will produce healthy babies?
— Jean–Pierre Gagné is Director of Church Planting for the AÉBÉQ Region.