In three short verses in Acts 14:21 Acts 14:22 Acts 14:23, we see a summary of the mission that Barnabas and Paul carried out. The mission began in Acts 13 and is just now coming to a conclusion. Luke provides a didactic summary statement, serving not only as a summary but a concise definition of missionary activity:
- When they had preached the gospel to that city and
- had made many disciples,
- they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch,
- strengthening the souls of the disciples,
- encouraging them to continue in the faith, and
- saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.
- And when they had appointed elders for them in every church,
- with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.