What kind of church was the church at Antioch in Acts 13:1?
In Acts 13:1, the church at Antioch was a Gentile church. It operated under the leadership and teaching of Paul, marking a shift from Peter's earlier Jewish ministry in Jerusalem. From this point forward, the narrative focuses on Paul's ministry to the Gentiles, with the church at Antioch as his base.
Les teaches that the church at Antioch in Acts 13:1 was a Gentile church operating under Paul's leadership and teaching. This marks a major shift in Acts: chapter 12 dealt with Peter and Jewish believers at Jerusalem, but chapter 13 returns to Paul. From this point forward, Peter fades from the record, never to be heard from again except for one brief instance in chapter 15, around 51 A.D. Everything now concerns Paul and his ministry to the Gentiles. Paul's practice was to begin at the Jewish synagogue because Romans 1:16 says the gospel is the power of God to the Jew first, then to the Greek; when the Jews rejected it, he turned to the Gentiles.
Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.