Acts 11:19-30

Activity in the Church at Antioch

¹⁹Now those who had been scattered because of the persecution that took place over Stephen went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the message to no one but Jews. ²⁰But there were some men from Cyprus and Cyrene among them who came to Antioch and began to speak to the Greeks too, proclaiming the good news of the Lord Jesus. ²¹The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. ²²A report about them came to the attention of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. ²³When he came and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with devoted hearts, ²⁴because he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and a significant number of people were brought to the Lord. ²⁵Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to look for Saul, ²⁶and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught a significant number of people. Now it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.

Famine Relief for Judea

²⁷At that time some prophets came down from Jerusalem ²⁸One of them, named Agabus, got up and predicted by the Spirit that a severe famine was about to come over the whole inhabited world. (This took place during the reign of Claudius.) ²⁹So the disciples, each in accordance with his financial ability, decided to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. ³⁰They did so, sending their financial aid to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.