What Does A Good Church Look Like?

1 Thessalonians 1:4-8 For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. 6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere.

As we start out the letters of 1 and 2 Thessalonians here is some historical context to these letters. Paul started the church of Thessalonica on his second missionary journey when he also went to Philippi, Athens and Corinth with Timothy and Silas. 

While at Corinth, Silas and Timothy came to him from Thessalonica with great news: the church there was strong. Paul became so excited that he dashed off this letter to the Thessalonians, probably his first letter to any church. He wrote it just a few months after he had first established the church in Thessalonica. After writing and sending this letter, Paul enjoyed a sustained and fruitful ministry in Corinth – and eventually returned to the Thessalonians.

This letter presupposes a basic truth: Paul thought it important, (even essential) to organize these young converts into a community of mutual interest, care, and fellowship. Paul “knew better than to leave his young societies with nothing more than the vague memory of pious preaching. The local organization was, as yet, primitive, but evidently it was sufficient to maintain itself and carry on the business of the church, when the guiding hand of the missionary was removed.” (Moffatt)

Paul starts out by saying, "Because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction."  The church at Thessalonica was one of the most effective churches that Paul planted though he could only stay there for a few months.  So it would be good to look at some of those factors that made it such a prevailing new testament church.

First Paul says that the Good News came to them with more than words.  The gospel has the power to change lives, because it is God's word about humanity and what He has done to reconcile humanity to himself.  But without the Holy Spirit the gospel can seem to be only foolishness to those who listen.  It is the Holy Spirit that takes the seed of God's word and plants it in a human heart.  It is the Holy Spirit that convicts someone of their need for Christ.  When we are convicted of who we really are before a holy God, the gospel is a sweet, sweet sound to our ears.  Our hearts are "strangely warmed" as John Wesley once said. 

Though Paul and his companions Silas and Timothy were not at Thessalonica for a very long time, the Thessalonians learned how to imitate their way of life in Christ during their brief stay.  Not only did the Thessalonians receive the Word of the Gospel with power, they started to live it out with the help of Paul and his friends.  A new Christian needs someone on earth to imitate.  This is what it means to be a disciple to find a more mature Christian than yourself and imitate their way of life. Though no one is perfect God puts people in our lives to help us take next steps of faith.  God has certainly done that throughout my life and I will forever grateful for those people.  

We know the process of evangelism and discipleship worked well because the model of the Thessalonians rang out all over the region and beyond.  The Thessalonians received the gospel, lived out the gospel and the gospel rang out from them to the Macedonians, those in Achaia and to the rest of the world.  That is how God mission and purpose works. This is how the church is supposed to look and work. God is looking for more Christians like the Thessalonians so the Gospel can continue to "ring out" to more people surrounding them. 

Whose way of life are you imitating?  Is it leading you to a more vital and powerful life in Christ?  Are you modeling the faith for anyone who might be a newer or Christian who has come back to faith?  One final question: "Is your life worth imitating?"  This is not a prideful thing, it is Christ working through you to lead others to Him.