Lydia

In the home of a woman who sold cloth by a river, the first church in Europe begins.

Lydia was originally from Thyatira — a businesswoman who dealt in purple cloth. Purple dye was one of the most expensive luxury goods of the time, and working in it required both wealth and connections. Her business had brought her to live in Philippi. Scripture describes her as 'a worshiper of God' — not a full convert to Judaism, but a woman who went out to the riverside place of prayer outside the city gate every Sabbath.

That was exactly what happened that day. While the women gathered by the river to pray on the Sabbath, Paul and Silas's group arrived. Paul had seen a vision in the night — 'Come over to Macedonia and help us.' The place where the first step of that response to the vision landed, on European soil, was that riverside. Paul spoke to the women there. Scripture records Lydia's conversion in one line: 'The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.' Not something she decided on her own — an opening that came from above.

What she did was get baptized right away — not just herself, but her whole household. And she invited Paul's group: 'If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.' The Philippian church — the first church on European soil — began in her home. Paul later stopped there again after being released from prison, and the Philippian church became the one that sent support to Paul's ministry most consistently of all. One woman's ordinary Sabbath prayer became the first door of the gospel into an entire continent.