News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.
- Acts 11:22

Why did the church in Jerusalem send Barnabas to Antioch?

The apostles held onto the tension between generosity and accountability. They were hopeful that the news they were hearing was good news. They wanted it to be true that a church was planted in Antioch and good things were happening. They didn’t want to exert control over this new movement, but they did have a responsibility to provide leadership to this growth of the work of God. They needed to make sure it was being built on a good foundation and that people weren’t being taken advantage of in Jesus’ name. They didn’t shrug apathetically at the news from Antioch. Instead, they offered accountability.

They sent Barnabas.

We were introduced to Barnabas earlier in Acts. He’s a Levite from Cyprus who sold a field and laid the money at the apostles’ feet so they could serve the poor. The apostles nicknamed him Barnabas (his given name was Joseph) because he was a “son of encouragement.”

Why Barnabas? Well, he was from Cyprus. The people in Antioch who were sharing the gospel with Greeks were men from Cyrene and Cyprus. Barnabas would have been someone they knew and trusted. He would have been one of them. The apostles could trust Barnabas to offer both accountability and generosity.

Where do you experience that tension between open-handed generosity and a desire for accountability? How does that tension flare up when we’re in situations that require “breaking through”?