Acts 16 - The First Christian Businesswoman

Lydia’s Conversion in Philippi

11 From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. 12 From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14 One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. 15 When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

Paul, Silas and Timothy hear God's call to go to Macedonia to preach the gospel.  Rather than going to the synagogue, they went outside the city gate to the river where some Jewish woman were gathered in prayer. The fact that there was no synagogue probably reveals there were not many Jews there.  It only took 10 men to form a local synagogue.  

The apostles began to preach the Word, one of those listening was a woman named Lydia who responded as God opened up her heart.  Lydia was a successful business woman who dealt in purple cloth.  Since purple dye was hard to find it was a very expensive item.  After Lydia came to faith the passage says she and her household were baptized.  She was apparently a woman of great influence, possibly single, though we don't know for sure.  This is one of the passages used as a biblical example of infant or children's baptism. There were most likely kids in the house who were presumably baptized. 

Since they were not of the age to make a decision themselves, did they grow up in a home where they are taught to know and love Jesus?  Timothy, who was one of the three men sent, also grew up in a house with his mother Lois, and grandmother Eunice, who taught him the word of God. Like today, it appears these women were the spiritual leaders in the home.  

Lydia opened up her home to the disciples and the church grew and increased in number. From that point on, the church of Philippi would be an important, strategically located church.  When Paul wrote the letter to the Philippians, he boasted about their faithfulness to the gospel and their generosity to fund his missions. 

Instead of waiting for people to come to them, Paul and his cohorts went looking for a place where people might be open to the gospel beyond the city gate.  Little did they know Lydia the purple cloth dealer would be the key person that would open the doors for the Good News.  I wonder who are the Lydia's in our neighborhoods? Those who are open to God and only need to hear the Good News to become a believer in Jesus.  I wonder where the "places of prayer" are in our culture today, and are we willing to find them.  You never know where the next Lydia might be!