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CHURCHES IN GALATIA

The apostle Paul’s first missionary journey saw him travel across Cyprus then Galatia engaged in 5 Main Practices; Prayer, Sharing the Gospel, Making Disciples, Forming Churches & Developing Leaders [I write more about this HERE]

Churches were the lasting fruit of Paul’s apostolic work amongst new people groups and places in a region. He then writes back to those churches with greetings, prayers and further instructions

‘All the brothers and sisters here join me in sending this letter to the churches of Galatia.’ -Galatians 1:2

After Paul’s first journey across Galatia, he based himself in Antioch leading a church there and then wrote this letter back to the Galatians. Notice how he is connecting the brothers and sisters in Antioch, Syria to the new disciples and churches he and Barnabas had planted in Galatia.

Notice also that it says ‘churches of Galatia’ plural…Paul and team planted more than one church in that region during their 2 year journey

‘Now regarding your question about the money being collected for God’s people in Jerusalem. You should follow the same procedure I gave to the churches in Galatia…’ – 1 Corinthians 16:1

Paul had a common procedure for the way they handled financial giving in all the churches they had planted throughout Galatia and was instructing the Corinthians to follow the same procedure…

CHURCH IN CORINTH

‘The churches here in the province of Asia send greetings in the Lord, as do Aquila and Priscilla and all the others who gather in their home for church meetings. All the brothers and sisters here send greetings to you.’ – 1 Corinthians 16:19

Paul here is again doing the apostolic work of networking the churches in Asia [Turkey] with the church in Corinth

The church in Corinth gathered at Gaius Titus Justus’ house

His house was next door to the synagogue. Gaius Titus Justus made his home available for Paul and his team to use for preaching after they had been kicked out of the synagogue for believing in Jesus

When Paul later writes the letter to the Roman Churches from his base in Corinth, he says;

‘Gaius says hello to you. He is my host and serves as host to the whole church.‘ -Romans 16:23

You can see here how the church developed in Corinth with the first five disciples…

CHURCH IN THESSALONICA

Before going to Corinth to begin his 1.5 years of apostolic work there, Paul and his team had traveled to Thessalonica in Northern Greece. They only spent approx 1 month in Thessalonica due to persecution!

Paul had to flee to the next place leaving behind the new fledgling church plant in Thessalonica meeting in the home of Jason. Jason was dragged out of his house and into court because of his faith in Jesus…(Acts 17:5-9)

CHURCH IN PHILIPPI

Philippi was the first city Paul and his team visited in Northern Greece. They went there because they had a vision of a man dressed in native clothes calling them over to help them. So they concluded that God wanted them to preach the gospel there. After meeting some women praying by a river, Lydia opened her heart and she and her whole household were baptized. The church then began to meet at Lydia’s House. She was a business woman who sold expensive purple cloth.

A prison officer and his entire household also believed in Jesus and were baptized and added to the church there…(Acts 16)

CHURCH IN EPHESUS

On his next trip, Paul and team went to Ephesus. Paul began by meeting 12 disciples who had been baptized in water but hadn’t yet received the Holy Spirit. So he laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit…

Paul then spoke about Jesus the Messiah at the local synogogue…that was, until he got kicked out and moved his operation to the local lecture hall of Tyrannus…

Paul held daily discussions from 11am-3pm for approx 2 years and had members of his traveling team with him who he would send out into the surrounding areas to preach the gospel…(Acts 19)

During those 2 years many churches were planted

The church in Ephesus gathered at Aquilla and Priscilla’s House.

But there were also other churches in the region of Asia too. These were planted during the time Paul spent 2 years holding daily discussions at the lecture hall of Tyrannus. Paul modeled the work to his team, some of whom were sent out to the surrounding areas to preach the gospel, make disciples, develop leaders and churches formed in the process…some of these new churches included the new church plant in Colosse and Laodicea

CHURCH IN COLOSSE

As a result of Paul’s work in the region of Asia, a church met in the home of Philemon (Philemon 1:12) in Colosse. The Colossians first heard the gospel from Paul’s co-worker Epaphras

CHURCH IN LAODICEA

Meanwhile, the church in Laodicea met at Nympha’s House. Later the apostle John writes to this church in the letter of Revelation…

CHURCH IN TROAS

After Paul and his team had spent a significant period of time (approx 3 years) in the Region of Asia (Turkey) whilst based in Ephesus…they decided to revisit the churches they had planted in North Greece (Philippi + Thessalonica) and South Greece (Corinth)

On the way to Greece they stopped off in the city of Troas

‘When I came to the city of Troas to preach the good news of Christ, the Lord opened a door of opportunity for me…’ -2 Corinthians 2:12

But they couldn’t stay long in Troas as Paul was anxious to hear from Titus (a co-worker who he’d sent ahead) how the church was getting on in Corinth

Knowing they had limited time, Paul and team gathered the new church plant in Troas together at someone’s apartment;

‘On the first day of the week, we gathered with the local believers to share in the Lord’s Supper. Paul was preaching to them, and since he was leaving the next day, he kept talking until midnight. The upstairs room where we met was lighted with many flickering lamps. As Paul spoke on and on, a young man named Eutychus, sitting on the windowsill, became very drowsy. Finally, he fell sound asleep and dropped three stories to his death below. Paul went down, bent over him, and took him into his arms. “Don’t worry,” he said, “he’s alive!” Then they all went back upstairs, shared in the Lord’s Supper, and ate together. Paul continued talking to them until dawn, and then he left. Meanwhile, the young man was taken home alive and well, and everyone was greatly relieved.’ -Acts 20:7-12

This should give some insight as to what the church in Troas was like!

CHURCH IN CENCHREA (near Corinth)

A lady called Phoebe hosted the church in Cenchrea. She is described as a deacon of the church there (Romans 16:1-2). Paul later sent her to deliver the letter to the Romans that he wrote whilst at his base in Corinth…

CHURCH IN ROME

Aquila and Priscilla eventually moved from Ephesus back to Rome and a church gathered in their home. But theirs wasn’t the only household in Rome as a whole network of households is mentioned in Romans 16

NETWORKING THE NEW CHURCH PLANTS

This article has been a deep dive into the churches planted by the apostle Paul and his teams throughout Galatia, Greece, Asia and Rome. I’ve identified the key people (Person of Peace) who hosted the church in each place and how Paul connected the new churches planted in one place with the churches planted in another place…

GLOBAL LOCKDOWN & A NEW WAVE OF CHURCH PLANTING

Since the Global Lockdown associated with Corona (Crown), many established churches have shut down their church buildings and worship services. This has led to some church leaders having time to hear from God and re-imagine what church could look like throughout and then post lockdown.

The shape of the church to come is emerging out of lockdown very different to what it was going into lockdown…

Meanwhile, many ordinary people who’ve thus far been sitting in the pews, have felt led to step out and either gather as churches in houses or as church-on-the-streets...

These new emerging churches will be strengthened as they connect with one another and are further strengthened by traveling workers and apostolic teams...

Evangelistic Teams who are beginning to leave the four-walls-of-church-buildings and share the gospel will need equipping on the core practice of Finding the Person of Peace so that when evangelizing new places and people groups, new microchurches can be started around the Person of Peace and their household

WHAT ARE YOU SEEING?

Are you seeing the emergence of new microchurches as a result of lockdown restrictions?

Are you seeing more evangelists going out on the streets and church meeting in public?

How effective are you at starting house churches, missional communities or microchurches with unchurched people?

Do you and your team know how to find the Person of Peace and gather their social circle to form a discipling community?

Is your evangelistic team or microchurch isolated…or are you connecting with others with a similar heart?

LIKE THIS ARTICLE?

If you liked this article, you may also like this on how the apostle Paul organized the traveling workers!