02.30. Evangelism in Turkey

Evangelism in Turkey The early missionary activity of Paul, Barnabas, Silas and Timothy in Turkey was in the southern part of the region known in Roman times as Galatia. Paul usually travelled along the highways that the Romans built to connect the main cities, his aim being to plant churches in the chief population centres. With strong churches in these centres, the gospel soon spread to the surrounding countryside. The main cities of Galatia where Paul began churches were Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe.¹

Another region where Paul did some of his early evangelism in Turkey was along the Mediterranean coast to the south, around the towns of Perga and Attalia.² These towns gave access to important shipping routes.

Perhaps the most strategic city Paul wanted to reach was Ephesus, on the west coast, but before he was able to do this, God directed him north to Troas, from where he sailed to Greece. On his way back he called briefly at Ephesus, and later spent three years there.³ For much of Paul’s three years in Ephesus, he taught a group of enthusiastic Christians in a lecture hall borrowed from a local school teacher. These Christians then took the gospel to surrounding areas so that the whole province was evangelized.⁴ In his writings, Paul talks about churches in Colossae, Laodicea and Hierapolis,⁵ places he himself seems not to have visited. Most likely, these churches were planted during this time of outreach from Ephesus. The coast on which Ephesus was located bordered the Aegean Sea and marked the western extremity of the vast continent of Asia. This was where Asia ended, but to the Greeks, coming across the Aegean from the other side, it was where Asia began. They called the area Asia, and the Romans used the same name when they made the areaa province within Asia Minor.

1. Acts 13:14; Acts 13:49; Acts 14:1; Acts 14:6; Acts 14:21-23; Galatians 1:2; Galatians 4:13-15 2. Acts 13:13; Acts 14:25-26 3. Acts 16:6-10; Acts 18:19-21; Acts 19:1; Acts 20:31

4. Acts 19:8-10 5. Colossians 2:1; Colossians 4:13; Colossians 4:16

Ephesus