Paul’s Ministry in Thessalonica

2You yourselves know, brothers and sisters,^* that our coming to you was not in vain,²but though we had already suffered and been shamefully maltreated at Philippi, as you know, we had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great opposition.³For our appeal does not spring from deceit or impure motives or trickery,⁴but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak, not to please mortals, but to please God who tests our hearts.⁵As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed;⁶nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others,⁷though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle^* among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children.⁸So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us.

The season of Advent is the time when the Chuch thinks about the coming of Jesus Christ to people. Not just his birth at Bethlehem but his coming into the lives of successive generations and new societies of human beings by way of the Church’smessage. This has become controversial today in that some religions consider the missionary efforts of others as blasphemous and some secular authorities see all missionary work as propaganda or jockeying for position.

In Paul’s letter to the church at Thessalonica we can see he had a clear and definite message, which he regarded as divinely authorised, the gospel of God’s inclusive love for all humanity revealed in Messiah Jesus. In a sense his message is not religious, if we think of religions as offering ways to please God. In Paul’s message people have no way to please God other than accepting the fact of God is already pleased with them and loves them. We can see from all the evidence of Paul’s life and teaching that he wants to leave all religion behind with its rules and ceremonies and sacrifices in order to constitute what the letter to Ephesians calls “one new humanity in Messiah.” a world-wide community of people who trust in God’s love and can get on with helping each other.

Secondly we can see that he had a real love towards these Thessalonians, a desire to care for them and help them to flourish. This outgoing affection for strangers and foreigners is not typical of political or religious imperialism but is rather a sign of the new humanity Paul is representing.

one new humanity in Messiah Jesus

In spite of secular arguments against it, I think that evangelism is integral to Christian faith. Faith in God’s love and its creation of a new humanity is never more relevant and cannot be kept as the possession of the church. That’s why I belive that the Christian message should never descend to widely shared platitudes about goodness or caring, but should always be specific about its origin in Jesus and his life and teaching of all-inclusive love. When Christians truly communicate that message they are not seeking for “converts to Christianity” but rather for “converts to the love of God” who might practice that faith from within Islam or Hinduism, although they would have taken a significant step beyond all religion.

It’s also necessary that those who communicate God’s love should do so by their affection, care and understanding, as Paul did in his mission to Thessalonica.