# Day 327

# The Believers Are Called Christians

Acts 11:19–30

When Stephen was killed, believers scattered all over the Middle East. In Antioch, some told the Greeks the good news of Jesus. A great number of Gentiles became believers and turned to the Lord.

The church in Jerusalem heard of this. They sent Barnabas to Antioch. There he saw God’s grace among the people. Barnabas rejoiced. “Be faithful to the Lord,” he told them. “Stay devoted to him.” Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith. A great many people were brought to the Lord.

Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul. He found him and brought him back to Antioch. For an entire year, they met with the church. Barnabas and Saul taught many, many people. The believers there were not at all like Jews. And they’d changed in ways that made them unlike Gentiles. So it was in Antioch that believers were first called “Christians.”

At that time, a famine came. Believers in Judea suffered without food. So the church in Antioch sent Barnabas and Saul. They brought aid to the churches in Judea.

Questions: What did Barnabas tell the new Gentile believers in Antioch? Where were believers first called “Christians?”