BACKGROUND - Peter has used the keys given him by Jesus to unlock the doors of God’s Kingdom to his Jewish brothers and sisters in Jerusalem; recently he has even used his gospel keys of proclamation to allow even Hellenized Jews into God’s Kingdom. But how many other gates will the key open? And how willing is Peter to use his authority to turn the key to open the door? This story pushes the envelope almost off the table! Peter is asked-in a sort of humorous, pushy way-to use his keys once again to open the door to yet another group of people from the other side of the tracks; people whom he would never have placed on his evangelism list-the gentiles. Acts 10 and 11 is the Supreme Court test as to how inclusive the new group called Christians will-or will not-be.

STORY’S PLACEMENT - It is not by accident that Acts 10 and 11 falls in the middle of the book of Acts. It is also worth noting that not only does the event happen in the middle of Acts (chapter 10), but that the story is nearly replicated in the retelling in chapter 11. Such reiteration signals to the reader that whatever the story is about, it is a turning point in the larger story of the spread of Christianity. This important event is key to the survival and to the future impact that the Church will make.

The story of Acts 11 (and Acts 10) raise important theological and missiological questions that still require response:

What does it mean to be an "inclusive church?"

What tensions are raised between institutionalism and the missiological mandate to "Go into all the world?" What "world"?

How far should Christians stretch in their efforts to build bridges between the world of the Church and the dominant culture where people live?

Who shall be admitted to the Church’s table?

Why is it so hard to open the doors of our church to new and un-churched folks? How willing are we to change in order to reach people with the Good News?

What happens to our own vision of outsiders once we’re considered ecclesiastical "insiders?"

The story of Acts 11 reminds us that none of us are lone rangers doing our own thing and following our own visions-answering to no one. To be fair, the leaders and congregations at headquartered in Jerusalem want Peter to account for his actions. They want to know if Peter’s actions are in keeping with the apostolic charge given by Jesus. So Peter has some explaining to do. Even visions isolated from the community are not enough to "prove" that God is working in new ways. Such visions-including Paul’s own personal visions-must be presented to the leaders.

On the other hand, committees, leaders and congregations can sometimes be most resistant to new visions that require theological self-reflection and that often lead to major readjustments. Institutional change, according to Condolezza Rice, is the hardest change to bring about.

The God of Pentecost that Luke portrays seems to be delighted in opening the doors of the Church ever wider in welcome outsiders as family.

Such resistance to God’s missional vision is reflected in Peter’s stubborn conversation with God over what is deemed "clean" and "unclean" food. Peter disagrees with God-at least in principle-so God repeats the vision three times. That’s resistance at the personal level. What about institutions?

Acts 11 reflects how even entire communities can resist new ideas, new things done in ways never considered before. Peter has to give a full accounting-using the vision that is repeated thrice, and the Cornelius piece of the story-to finally convince them that perhaps God is doing a new thing among them.

That’s the good news! The institution changes! They adjust, adapt, change the welcome sign to from "Us only " to "You too!" and move forward forever changing the focus and trajectory of the Church.