First Presbyterian Church Of Baton Rouge

The church in Thessalonica was only a few months old. Paul had been forced to leave the city before he had taught them and led them into maturity. In a city of 100,000 or more people, there were perhaps only a hundred Christians. Thessalonica was a harbor town. And a trading town. All the vices were in full bloom: sex trade, gambling, swindling, drugs. All kinds of pagan religious practices appeared much more dramatic and interesting than the quiet services of the Christians. Their families would have thought they had gone weird on them. They could so easily have been sucked back into their old lives. The Thessalonians longed for encouragement and direction. Paul could not re-enter the city. So after he heard that they were still meeting, still pursuing Christ, he wrote them.