Looking for Priscilla and Aquila’s
Priscilla and Aquila are my favourite couple in the New Testament. They keep popping up and making a difference. We first meet them in Acts 18:1 where they are migrant workers in Corinth, having been chucked out of Rome by the evil emperor Claudius. They hear the Gospel in the synagogue where Paul is preaching and through going into business with Paul as tent-makers. First challenge – migrant workers are a good thing. It’s one of God’s ways to spread the gospel by bringing the nations to us.
In v.18 they travel to Antioch with Paul, so are part of his church planting team.
Next they are in Ephesus in v.24-26, where they explain the way of the Lord more adequately to Apollos, who ends up serving the Lord apostolically. They can share the gospel, disciple and cheer people on ahead of themselves. Second challenge – how about you?
In Acts 26, Paul is in Ephesus and writes his first letter to the Corinthians, where he greets Priscilla and Aquila (1 Corinthians 16:19). So they have moved on again and are tent-making and serving the church in Corinth. Once Claudius has died, Priscilla and Aquila go back to Rome to help plant a church there. Paul greets them in Romans 16:3-5. Finally at the end of Paul’s recorded ministry, when he is in prison in Rome and writing to Timothy, he greets Priscilla and Aquila who are now in Ephesus.
This amazing couple are mobile – happy to spend seasons in different places for the sake of the Gospel. They are missional – their lives are not just about their business, they are also about the Lord’s business. They are a passionate church planting support couple. Could you be like them staying in cities for a season to help pioneers plant?
Could you be like them, opening your home for a small group to get together and meet Jesus?
Could you be like them, able to explain the way of the Lord more adequately?
Andy Moyle