“¶ Then tidings of these things came vnto the eares of the Church, which was in Hierusalem: and they sent foorth Barnabas, that hee should goe as farre as Antioch.”
1611 King James Version (KJV)
Ac 11:22-24 Sent forth Barnabas. Barnabas was himself a Grecian Jew, also the friend of Saul, another Grecian Jew (Ac 4:36 9:27). He was chosen as a suitable man to go to Antioch and see whether there had been a real work of the Lord. When he had seen that it was "the grace of the Lord" (Ac 11:23), he rejoiced and gave it Godspeed, and the work grew more and more in this great metropolis. Antioch. Note that this is the first church named outside the bounds of Palestine. It was to become the great missionary center for the conversion of the Gentile world (Ac 13:1-3).