Chapter 15: Leadership with God's Vision

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Act 15 is a key moment of the evolution of the Kingdom of Christ as it moves from

Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the Ends of the Earth. During the first 12 chapters of the story of Christianity’s introduction to the world it remains exclusively Jewish. Its traditions, leadership, central headquarters and audience is composed of people with like-minds, like-interests, and like-expectations. There is very low desire or need to change. The mindset of this church is to keep doing Christian things in a Jewish way.

Things begin to change in Acts 10. Acts 10 is the story of Peter being told by God that salvation through Jesus should be available for Gentiles such as Cornelius. It brings the early church to a place where, for the first time, they must stretch in their faith and in their vision. Up to this point, church life and practice had been much easier. Being a leader was much simpler. The “kingdom” was smaller in their minds. But when God begins to send a message to the leaders of Christianity that His vision for the church is greater, it truly causes them to have to realign their vision an