He arrived on the scene in A.D. 41. Three hundred miles to the south, outside the city of Jerusalem, Stephen had testified of Christ through his death. Saul, who consented unto Stephen's martyrdom, then made havoc of the church. Some of them relocated in Antioch where, as Jewish believers, they would soon face racial discrimination on the heels of the Gentile rioting. Like many of the greatest evangelistic efforts throughout church history, outreach at Antioch originated from the matrix of hardship, ridicule, and persecution.
Resistance often accompanies the presentation of the gospel.
While we would never seek to be offensive, our message by its very nature will offend some. The good news inevitably makes contemporary people uncomfortable. There is nothing comfortable about Biblical church growth. It is not a technical term, and it does not refer to a special vocation. The task of evangelism does not belong solely to an ordained leadership.