Genesis 28:16
Surely the Lord is in this place —
and I did not know it.
The Places
The specific places where God acted and the church was born — what each location reveals about his faithfulness, and what it means for the church in every place today
Surely the Lord is in this place — and I did not know it. The place is not the point. But it is where the point became undeniable.
Genesis 28:16
Ephesus
Where the gospel was unleashed throughout Asia
Antioch
Where the disciples were first called Christians
Smyrna
A principal city vying for the title "First City of Asia"
Pergamum
The city of mythological mystery
Laodicea
A reminder of the lukewarm church
Philadelphia
The city of martyrs
Thyatira
Where Paul established a strong Christian community
Sardis
A place of myriad faiths, creeds, and empires
Colossae
Where the letter still speaks and the ground is still being opened
Hierapolis
Where the land itself illustrates the Word
Miletus
City of philosophers, architects, and rebels
Perga
Meeting place of Paul, Barnabas, and John
Antioch in Pisidia
The city of both joy and persecution
Derbe
Meeting place of Paul and Timothy
Magnesia
Land of Persians, Spartans, and Alexander
Tralles
Onetime base of Alexander the Great
The Story
The continuous narrative of God's faithfulness — from the biblical world through the early church to the present, traced through the places where the story was lived
The church today is not a new institution. It is the same community — the one that stood in Corinth, in Antioch, in Nicea — now in its own place and time.
Ligon Duncan
The church that remembers
Jonathan Leeman
Why Nicea matters: the church before the creed
Ligon Duncan
The God who acts: a biblical theology of place
Kevin DeYoung
Therefore
What God's faithfulness then means for the church today — in its own place, its own moment, its own calling
The same God who was present in Ephesus is present where he has set you — in your city, your moment, your congregation.
Ken Mbugua
The God of real history
The God who sustained the church in Ephesus is the God of the church today — and the ruins of Ephesus are the argument.
Michael Reeves
The church in its place: what the global church teaches the local church
Tiago Oliveira
Faithful in Ephesus: what the ancient church says to churches in hard places today
Mark Thompson
The same God who was present
in Ephesus is present
where he has set you.
God's faithfulness doesn't end with the ancient world. He has placed your congregation in a specific geography, a specific city, a specific moment — in living continuity with the church that stood in Corinth and Antioch and Nicea. And the Lord is still faithful.
Explore this →Surely the Lord is in this place — and I did not know it.
The same Lord who was faithful in Ephesus is faithful where he has set you.
