We’ve been going through the book of Acts recently in our church gathering. It’s been interesting to take another look at Paul’s church planting strategy. He was seeking to make disciples, so he’d go to the synagogue where he would find God-fearing gentiles who were intrigued by his message.

It was almost always the people on the fringes of the synagogue society that Paul was reaching. The God-fearing gentiles would come to Christ and then create a bridge to the rest of the gentile community. At that point, the Jewish leaders would then become jealous and a division was created in the synagogue.

The first few times this cycle occurred, it’s probably just how things happened to play out. But then Paul kept seeing this pattern repeated and it became a strategy. The synagogue-splitting strategy, I call it. Read through Acts 13-14 to see how it plays out repeatedly.

How can this strategy unfold in your context? Where are those environments that are the functional equivalent of the gentile God-fearers? When you tap into and reach that community– those on the fringes– a whole new church can emerge.