“Father Help Me Acknowledge You” – featuring Lucy Stimpson- Maynard from the album ” I Look Up To The Heavens” recorded and produced by John Hodgkinson.

Jesus told His disciples to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28: 19) This is termed the “Great Commission” and is a scene featured in Risen!- The Musical. So did the disciples do as Jesus told them?

Simon Peter certainly did – we know from the Book of Acts that he travelled around the country preaching to his fellow Hebrews. From the Book of Revelation we know that John was exiled on the Island of Patmos because of his evangelism.

We have to go to tradition to have an idea of where the other disciples preached – for example, as I said in last week’s blog, James brother of John preached in Spain.

Thomas is said to have travelled outside the Roman Empire to preach the Gospel, travelling as far as India founding the church of Mar Thoma which is still in existence today.

There is reason to believe that Matthew stayed in Jerusalem for fifteen years after which he became a missionary to the Persians, Parthians and Medes.

Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother is  associated  with a number of countries including Georgia, Malta, Cyprus, Romania and the Ukraine and is the Patron Saint of several other countries including Barbados, Romania, Russia and   Ukraine. However, how did Thomas become Patron Saint of Scotland as there is no record of him having been there.  Tradition has it that in 832 AD, Óengus II led an army of Picts and Scots into battle against the Angles. Heavily outnumbered Óengus prayed, vowing that if granted victory he would appoint Saint Andrew as the Patron Saint of Scotland. On the morning of battle white clouds forming an X shape in the sky and Óengus,  taking this as a divine intervention, took to the field and, despite being inferior in numbers, was victorious. Óengus honoured his pre-battle pledge and duly appointed Saint Andrew as the Patron Saint of Scotland. The white saltire set against a celestial blue background is said to have been adopted as the design of the flag of Scotland on the basis of this legend.

Tradition records Bartholomew as serving as a missionaryin Ethiopia, Mesopotamia, Parthia, Lycaonia and Greater Armenia. He is also said to have travelled with Thomas to spread the Gospel in India.

Some sources say that Philip preached in Phrygia, while others say to the North African city of Carthage.

We are told James son of Alphaeus preached the Gospel in Lower Egypt and Syria whereas Thaddeous (also known as Jude) preached in Judea, Samaria, Idumaea, Syria, Mesopotamia and Libya.

Less is known of Simon the Zealot but he is often associated with  Jude as an evangelizing team in Western Christianity; sharing their feast day on 28th October. The most widespread tradition is that after evangelizing in Egypt, Simon joined Jude in Persia and Armenia and Beirut, Lebanon.

So we can see that even if we have to rely on non- Biblical accounts, evidence points to the disciples all preaching that Jesus Christ had been raised from the dead. Surely this makes for a strong case for  His resurrection being  true and next week I will share how something else the disciples did makes this case for the Resurrection even stronger.