The church in Philippi began quietly, turned into a roller coaster, and then proceeded into a slow plod of active waiting. Paul and his missionary team arrived in Philippi and just kind of hung out for a few days. On the Sabbath, they went to the river bank - a common place of prayer for Jews when the city didn’t have synagogues.
That’s when the action started to pick up. A rich business woman, named Lydia became a Christian right there on the spot. They baptized her right there right then in that river. Then, being a woman used to getting her way, she insisted that they come and stay in her home.
Things went on fairly normally for a while. It seems that Paul continued his normal missionary pattern of preaching at gatherings of Jews and interested gentiles. But then Paul cast a demon out of a slave girl who told fortunes. Without her demonic connection to the spirit world, the slave girl lost her fortune telling powers. Her owners were furious, so they stirred up a riot and got Paul and Silas arrested.
Then, God rocked the jailhouse with an earthquake and set Paul and Silas free. Except they didn’t leave. They stayed to convert the jailer and his whole household. But the next day, the city officials begged them to leave so they’d stop causing trouble. After a mob riot, a beating with rods, and a night in jail, Paul and Silas understandably decided it was time to move on to another city.
But that left a group of brand new Christians in Philippi. They came from all walks of life. There was Lydia, the elite fashionista ... the unnamed slave girl ... and the jailer who was so limited in job options that he worked in a dungeon babysitting criminals. This motley crew of baby Christians not only survives but thrives.
