The body of Christ, the called out (Greek, ekklesia) had its beginning in Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:2-3, Luke 24:47) because the gospel was first preached there. When one referenced “the called-out”, it was only the called-out living at Jerusalem for a time because that is where the seed of the kingdom had been sown. It was not the church in Jerusalem because they had formed some corporate business/organization and would later plant other churches like them. Luke reports, “and the Lord added those who were being saved” (2:47). What was added? Saved people were being added, not churches. For this same reason, the concept of planting churches, as it is used today, does not harmonize with the Scriptures.
The saints in Jerusalem grew in number to five thousand men (Acts 4:4). Using our modern model, there are assumptions that do not exist in the text. First, we would expect several local churches in one town, if there were five thousand Christians living in it. However, membership of thousands was still described as the called-out in Jerusalem. The next assumption is that the first local church organization was a large group of over 5,000 people that gathered at the same time and place for worship. Rather than envisioning over 5,000 people forming a local congregation, we have a simple statement of multiplication of individuals who continued to be added to God’s assembly (ekklesia). Luke is not describing a local church organization that has a membership list of 5,000 men in their church directory. By Acts 6:1, “the number of the disciples was multiplied” and verse 7 reads, “And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.”
Following Luke’s record, we later learn that the called-out, then living in Jerusalem, was persecuted (Acts 8) and “they were scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria” (8:1). This same group of people that were scattered “went everywhere preaching the word” (Acts 8:4). Who went everywhere preaching the Word? Referring back to the text will show that the persecution was against the “called-out which was at Jerusalem.” The called-out living in Jerusalem were scattered” and “went everywhere preaching the word.” The ekklesia (assembly) was the individual saints, numbering in the thousands, who fled Jerusalem with the gospel message in their hearts and on their lips and they were previously identified as “the called-out at Jerusalem.” The saints were called the called-out at Jerusalem because Jerusalem was where they lived, not because they had formed a local church organization, there.
Luke records that the apostles stayed behind in Jerusalem. James was killed and Peter was imprisoned with the intention of ridding Jerusalem of his influence, also. There is no mention of John at this time. It isn’t likely that he’s no longer taking a leading role if he was there. We would expect his leadership as Peter, James and John were a part of the inner circle of apostles. Either, he’s in hiding and/or he’s not in Jerusalem at this time. As long as there were Christians in Jerusalem, there was an ekklesia in Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the center of Jewish religion and the dwelling place for the apostles of Jesus. It was the natural place for the Jerusalem conference to be held (Acts 15). The institutional mind envisions Jerusalem as the “mother church” organization who went out and “planted” little seedlings after its kind. This is a common picture of commercialization wherein a franchise is established and branches out to include many locations. Looking through Luke’s eyes, we merely see the multiplication of individual souls whose message influences the souls of others living outside of Jerusalem.