Acts 11:20-27

²⁰Some of the believers were men from Cyprus and from Cyrene city in north Africa. They went to Antioch, and although they told other Jews about the Lord Jesus, they also told non-Jewish people there.

²¹The Lord God MTY was powerfully enabling those believers to preach effectively. As a result, very many non-Jewish people believed their message and trusted in the Lord Jesus.

²²The group of believers in Jerusalem heard MTY people say that many people in Antioch were believing in Jesus. So the leaders of the congregation in Jerusalem asked Barnabas to go to Antioch.

²³When he got there, he realized that God had acted kindly toward the believers. So he was very happy, and he continually encouraged all of the believers to continue to trust completely in the Lord Jesus.

²⁴Barnabas was a good man whom the Holy Spirit completely controlled, one who trusted God completely. Because of what Barnabas did, many people there believed in the Lord Jesus.

²⁵Then Barnabas went to Tarsus in Cilicia province to try to find Saul.

²⁶After he found him, Barnabas brought him back to Antioch to help teach the believers. So during a whole year Barnabas and Saul met regularly with the congregation there and taught many of them about Jesus. It was at Antioch that the believers were first called Christians { that people first called the believers Christians}.

²⁷During the time that Barnabas and Saul were at Antioch, some believers who were prophets arrived there from Jerusalem.