1. The first. The apostle Peter wins the award…for what honor? Do you think his hope of bringing Gentiles into the early Christian church was greeted with unanimous acclaim? What types of issues always come up when working with people from different cultures?
2. Peter at Pentecost. Couldn’t God have worked out a different set of beliefs for the Gentiles? Why was it so important for them as spiritual “foreigners” to belong to the new Christian religion? How was Peter able to speak so persuasively to the Gentiles that a worldwide religious movement was formed? How important is language in reaching those from other countries? Should we learn “their” language or should they learn “ours”? What did God do at Pentecost to solve the language barrier? What are we Seventh-day Adventists doing in this regard? What could we be doing?
3. Cornelius. Quite a man, Cornelius was, wasn’t he? On His own—with the guidance of God, of course—what did this Roman warrior do to follow Jesus? How important was his home-based church to him? What feelings did Cornelius apparently have towards Peter? Ironically, what Christian lesson did Cornelius succeed in teaching Peter? What were the lessons learned in each step to this Roman man’s conversion? A. His home; B. His possessions; C. Meeting Peter.
4. Peter’s vision. What was so unusual about Peter’s staying in the home of a tanner? What was repulsive to the Jews about the tanner’s work? What was repulsive to Peter about his vision? Was Peter eager to accept everyone from every religion? Do we ever assume that all Christian religions are “about” equal in their belief structure? What is dangerous about such an assumption?
5. The Jerusalem decree. Was the Jerusalem Council in any way like the General Conference Session? Considering a membership then of a few thousand members to a membership today of nearly 20 million, is discussion and agreement on timely matters still important to the church? What is the crucial dividing line between matters of interest to church members and those that are core Christian beliefs? Try to imagine the spirited discussion among our church fathers about beliefs some felt were not required for Gentile converts. Compare those thoughts with the way we deal with divisive issues today.

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