Starting a church in Philippi (Acts 16)

Sometimes people discuss the kind of persons that could be used in a church plant or in a new congregation to get it going. I doubt if many follow the model used by Paul and his friends when in Philippi. Yet Luke tells us about three of the early members (Acts 16).

One of them was a businesswomen called Lydia. She was a Gentile who was seeking for God and had concluded that the Jewish religion was the best. So she joined a small prayer group of Jewish women who met at the riverside in Philippi. One Sabbath, Paul and his friends joined them and he was asked to address them. During his talk, the Lord opened Lydia’s heart and she discovered that she now loved Jesus. The first member had been found, and her household followed her example.

On a subsequent Sabbath Paul and his friends set out to walk to the place of prayer. They passed a woman who was employed as a fortune teller. Unexpectedly, she announced who they were, and did this for several days whenever she saw them. Paul realised that she was under demonic influence and he delivered her from that bondage. She became a Christian and a second member was converted.

Because of her conversion, Paul and Silas were arrested after her owners complained about lost business. The authorities assaulted them and had them thrown in prison. There, they discovered that the roughest man in the jail was the jailor. But a strange earthquake happened. While all the ground shook, none of the prisoners could move. The jailor was impressed and after some time interacting with Paul was also converted. His way of life changed immediately. He might not have washed himself often before, but now he was washing the wounds he had caused on Paul and his friends. And the third member was found. He became a believer and his household also followed his example.

Not much of a beginning we might say. A couple of households and a woman who used to be a fortune teller. Maybe there were some others as well. It looks as if Luke stayed on to help the new church (note his different pronouns between verse 13 and verse 40). That church became one of the best mentioned in the New Testament and supported Paul financially for years. And his letter to them shows the great affection they had for one another.