Forming Faith Blog

No Teaching without Learning (Acts 8)

Posted on April 29 2025 by Gregory Rawn

While the story in Acts 8 is about Philip teaching an Ethiopian official, it is impossible, especially in diverse settings, to not learn something in return. I think that Philip learned something about God from the Ethiopian, too.

People riding a horse drawn cart through a barren landscape, much like Philip and the Ethiopian official.
Photo by kendincefotograf on Pexels.com
The Birth of the Church

We are in the season of Easter, the time when we celebrate the birthing of the Church. Trying to make a timeline of the Church’s “birth” process is ultimately useless and subjective, but it can be fun anyway. Our theme “Birth of the Church” doesn’t start on Pentecost Sunday (the traditional “birthday” of the Church) for two reasons:

  1. Practical: Pentecost Sunday is the last Sunday of the Narrative Lectionary, so a theme starting then doesn’t make sense.
  2. Theological: The process of nurturing life from conception through birth and beyond is complex, and sometimes very slow. We can see the actual birth on Pentecost, but that’s not the first step.

Of course, the analogy of birth and the beginning of the Church breaks down, as all analogies do. But I like to think that one moment we can point to as the “conception” is the proclamation of Jesus’ resurrection to the female disciples (initially dismissed by the apostles). Therefore, our theme starts on Easter and moves forward with Jesus’ appearance to two disciples in Emmaus. The Narrative Lectionary jumps over Pentecost (for now) to the short-lived character of Stephen and now to Philip.

Who Is Philip, and Why Is He Here?

Our episode today is often referred to as the story of Philip and an Ethiopian eunuch. But who is Philip? We first meet Philip when the apostles chose seven people to provide organizational support for the fledgling church (i.e., wait tables). The first of these seven was Stephen, “a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit” (Acts 6:5). Stephen didn’t last long as a server and was soon following in Jesus’ footsteps of miracles, preaching, and majorly pissing off the religious officials (note to self, pissing off religious officials can be hazardous to your health).

Philip was the second of the seven named. We don’t know how long it was between the seven being chosen and the trial and execution of Stephen, but in the aftermath of the execution, the later-to-be-apostle-but-now-persecutor-of-the-church Saul started a serious attempt to root the Jesus-followers out of Jerusalem. Many in the Jerusalem church scattered, which had the unintended (for Saul, at least) consequence of spreading this “contagion” across the countryside.

One of these dispersed people was Philip, who went to the city of Samaria. Like in the story of the woman by the well in the Gospel of John, many Samaritans eagerly believed the good news that Philip was proclaiming. Since Philip was just an intern, the supervising pastors (Peter and John) came to check over his work. He got top marks, aside from not giving the Holy Spirit. Then there was a whole episode involving a sorcerer named Simon, but that one’s for another day.

Now we’re all caught up.

The Main Points

The TL;DR version of the story is that the angel/Spirit led Philip to a wilderness road to connect with an Ethiopian God-fearer (non-Jewish follower of YHWH), who was wealthy enough to own a scroll of the prophet Isaiah (or perhaps Queen Candace owned it, and he was borrowing it). At the Ethiopian’s invitation, Philip climbed into the chariot and proclaimed the good news about Jesus. The Ethiopian is excited and wants to be baptized immediately. Philip does so, and the Spirit teleports him somewhere else.

Our Problem

Nine of our ten faith formation resources for the Narrative Lectionary use the same theme and main focal idea (The Point), among other things. The Point for this lesson is:

We can learn about God through the most surprising people.

But there’s a minor problem with that. This is for us (“We can…”), but in the Acts 8 passage, the “surprising person” is assumed to be the Ethiopian. And the “unsurprising” person in the passage is Philip. 

However, it is Philip (the Jesus-follower like us) who teaches the Ethiopian, not the Ethiopian teaching Philip. We came up with this Point a long time ago, so the exact thought process is lost to history. But the more “biblical” version (“We can teach surprising people about God.”) can be problematic. In one sense, it is perfectly good and normal. The problem comes in the power dynamic, especially given that the Ethiopian is of a different nationality (and is Black). We have valuable information, and “they” do not. European and American missionary work (specifically in Africa) has been done with a large side dish of cultural imperialism and “white savior complex.” I discuss this more in my post from the last NL cycle (Philip and an Unnamed Man).

Our Defense

So, we did a little eisegesis (reading something of ours into the text) along with our exegesis (trying to read the meaning of the text alone). We can argue later if pure exegesis without eisegesis is even possible. But in our Point, we took our experience and used that in our understanding of the story. In reality, we cannot teach someone without learning something in return. Often, I have heard a variation of “I’ve learned from my students even more than they have learned from me.” We cannot interact with someone without being changed ourselves. I cannot imagine a reality where Philip did not leave this encounter without being changed.

It is important that we not only acknowledge this but also lean into it. We can approach others with the intent to share (exchange) information and understanding. This is a form of mutuality.

The Complexities of Faith Formation

This does not just apply in the context of evangelism and service; it applies in the many aspects of faith formation, too. 

  • Christian education: While it is very true that the main point of Christian ed is to impart important knowledge and understanding from leader to participant, leaders must approach the task with humility that they have much to learn from both the Holy Spirit and the participants.
  • Intergenerational relationships: If you read this blog enough or look through our catalog, you will notice an emphasis on intergenerational ministry. It’s something that I think is important, if not critical, in forming faith. Older generations have much to teach younger generations, but younger generations also have much to teach older generations. The whole point is that the relationships go in both directions, which leads to faith formation for everyone.
  • Worship: I passionately include corporate worship in faith formation. I also believe that worship is most impactful when it includes interactivity.
  • Service: Yes, I also count service as faith formation, which might be obvious to some and less so to others. This is an especially important place to practice mutuality. Service-givers must carefully approach a service opportunity with the humility to learn as well as to give—to receive love-in-action as well as to give love-in-action.

While it is better to give than to receive, we must approach each faith formation situation with humility, respecting what other people have that forms our own faith.

In faith,

Gregory Rawn (Publisher)

Download a FREE activity for 5/11/2025
Free Resource

During the main Narrative Lectionary year (September 8 to June 8), we provide a free resource download from one of our products to help you in your faith formation ministry. This week, download the activity “Chariot Races” from our Living the Word: Youth (NL) curriculum (2024-2025) and (2025-2026). This can be adapted for children, youth, and intergenerational classes.  

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It’s Easter season, but it’s not too late to order the spring quarters of your favorite products! Our spring quarter covers the seasons of Lent and Easter, ending on Pentecost Sunday. Order spring quarters for the Narrative Lectionary, Revised Common Lectionary, and Classic Sunday School products. If you don’t have much time for full-length children’s Christian education, then check out our Kids Mini Lessons for the NL and RCL.

Planning for the 2025-2026 program year? Our Narrative Lectionary (Year 4, 2025-2026) and Revised Common Lectionary (Years C & A, 2025-2026), not to mention our non-lectionary Living the Word: Classroom (PK-2nd, 3rd-6th) resources are online and ready to order, with the Fall lessons available for immediate download!

Are you looking for resources for VBS, family/intergenerational events, or Sunday school? Check out our newest Learning Together unit: Celebrations!

Celebrations is a recommended VBS curriculum by Building Faith (and the only curriculum they reviewed from a small, independent publisher)!!!

Learning Together is a series of five-lesson units on a variety of topics. You can read outside reviews on both our Do Justice and Created to Care units! Our faith formation resources are easy to use, theologically sound, and inclusive.

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