A modern-day evangelist lamented, "Whenever the apostle Paul visited a city, the residents started a riot; when I visit one, they serve tea." The church in Thessalonica, like many of Paul's churches, was born amid violent upheaval. An angry mob took offense at Paul's work and chased him out of town, accusing him of causing "trouble all over the world" (Acts 17:6).
Generally, people do not start riots without a good reason, and in Paul's case they had one. Amost everywhere he visited, an enthusiastic church came to life, provoking the jealousy of the Jewish and Roman establishments.
A Concerned Parent
This letter, 1 Thessalonians, give important clues into what made Paul so effective at founding churches. Accepted as one of the earliest of Paul's letters, it probably dates from A.D. 50 or 51 and provides a firsthand account of Paul's relationship with a missionary church barely 20 years after Jesus' departure.
Someone once asked John and Charles Wesley's mother which of her ten surviving children she loved the most. She replied, "The one who is sick until he's well, and the one who's away from home until he's back." If someone had asked Paul which church concerned him most, he probably would have answered, "The one with the most problems until it's healthy, the one I've been separated from longest until I return."
When Paul lived with the Thessalonians, he was gentle and |
