«　WEEK 6　DAY 2　»

　　Acts 1:8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

　　8:1 ...And there occurred in that day a great persecution against the church which was in Jerusalem; and all were scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

　　Once the church spreads, problems will disappear. Because of the spreading to the household of Cornelius, the Jews expanded their narrow view. Their narrow view, prejudiced hearts, regional concepts, and things not up to the standard of the Body were eliminated. The church was still not fully formed on the day of Pentecost. After the household of Cornelius was saved, however, it was fully formed.

　　Because the church is universal, it is also spreading. The most blessed church is the church that spreads the most. If there is a local church that never spreads, it will have more and more problems until it becomes very weak. On the one hand, we must be careful and serious about the spreading of the church, not being loose or careless and using human methods to promote it. We must allow the Lord to work. On the other hand, we must be clear that the church needs to spread, and we must do our best to raise up churches in every place....The basic principle of the church is that it is eternal and universal; the church must constantly spread on the earth. The growth of the church and the building up of the church are based on spreading. (Three Aspects of the Church, Book 2: The Course of the Church, pp. 32-33)

　　If a local church does not spread, the nature of that church is too low, and it will lose its universal and eternal character....This spreading is not promoted by human methods, nor is it worked out by human hands. The spreading of the church is brought about by the growth in the Lord's life....Not long after the church in Jerusalem was raised up, God caused His children to be scattered to various places by persecution.

　　The spreading of the church can break through many barriers and eliminate many undesirable practices. In many places where the church is raised up, however, the saints may be narrow-minded. This was the case in Jerusalem. They had many Old Testament traditions and teachings that caused them to close themselves off from others....They sealed themselves up and despised other people; moreover, they did not communicate with others.

　　When the church begins to spread, erroneous concepts are shattered, regardless of whether the concepts are regional, racial, or mutually discriminatory.

　　It is through spreading that all our close-mindedness is eliminated. The New Testament shows that not long after the church in Jerusalem was raised up, God seemed to throw a huge stone into her midst; it seemed like a big "bomb," scattering the saints by its impact and forcing them to leave Jerusalem. God intervened because the church is neither of the Jews nor of Jerusalem; the church is universal.

　　Acts 8 shows that the first step in the disciples' scattering—that is, the first place to which they were scattered—was not to Bethlehem but to Samaria (vv. 1-25). Samaria lies between Judea and the Gentile lands, and the Samaritans were a racial mixture of Jews and Gentiles....After the Samaritans were saved, the saints in Jerusalem were very surprised and sent the apostles to visit them. When the apostles came and prayed for the Samaritans, the Holy Spirit immediately descended; thus, God Himself confirmed this spread (vv. 15-17)....From Acts 8 the second step of the church's spread was through Philip's preaching of the gospel to an Ethiopian eunuch; thus, the gospel spread to Africa (vv. 26-39). (Three Aspects of the Church, Book 2: The Course of the Church, pp. 26-28)

　　Further Reading: Three Aspects of the Church, Book 2: The Course of the Church, ch. 2