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SubjectFree lesson

Paul first missionary journey I

ClassNotes Team 2 MIN READUPDATED 5 JUL 2026

Christian Religious Studies JSS3 ThirdTerm

Sub-theme: Paul first missionary journey

Week 1

Paul first missionary journey I

Performance objectives

Students should be able to:

1. Describe the process by which the Jerusalem council was convened and its decision.

Content

The church council at Jerusalem (Acts 15:1-35)

Some people had come down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers, this brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So, Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question, the church sent them on their way, and as they travelled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the believers very glad. When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church, the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them.

Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.”After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.

The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Paul andBarnabastalking about the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. And when they had finished, James spoke up. “Brothers,” he said, “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead, we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood, For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”