Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother: To Philemon our dear friend and coworker, to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church that meets in your home.

Philemon 1:1-2 CSB

How many churches have you been part of?

What makes church church?

Here the church meets in a house. That's it. 

Not sure how big the house is or how many people may have made up the church, what do you think it would have been like?

What would have happened when people arrived?

Would you know if someone was missing? 

Or struggling?

Or celebrating?

Paul introduces us to a few characters here;

He's writing on Timothy's behalf too.

He's writing to Philemon, Apphia, Archippus, and the church. 

And there's labels for everyone:

Prisoner of Jesus 

Brother

Dear friend & co-worker

Sister

Fellow soldier

While they're labels they seem to be more like positioning, that Paul is reducing any power imbalance, putting himself clearly under Jesus, that his life is all about Jesus, and that we're in this together, we've got stuff to figure out, but let's do that together with Jesus heart, teaching, example, & the hope we have in Him as our framework.

#philemon

#church

#jesusatthecentre