Arriving in Macedonia, Paul and his companions, Timothy, Luke, and Silas, proceeded without delay to the town of Philippi (see Acts 16:11-40). Philippi was one of the chief cities of Macedonia and a Roman colony, but its Jewish population was small. On the sabbath the missionaries set out for the riverbank where, as Acts says, "prayer was wont to be made." This may have been a synagogue, as the Greek word proseuche could imply, though since the small group gathered there was composed of women, it seems more likely to have been an informal or even open-air meeting place where Paul and the others simply talked with the worshipers. Thus it came about that their first convert in Europe was a woman, Lydia.
Whether Lydia was her name or merely referred to her home district, she had come from the Lydian city of Thyatira in Asia Minor, but now she made her living by selling the rich purple cloth which was in great demand at that time. She was not a Jewess but had been attracted by the monotheistic faith of Judaism, and now she readily accepted Christianity; she and all her household were baptized.
Here was the nucleus of that flourishing and kindly church to which Paul wrote later (Phil. 1:3), "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you," and which he characterized as the only church in Macedonia that again and again supplied his needs (see 4:15-8). Lydia was hospitable as well as prosperous, for she urged Paul and his companions to make her house their home during their visit.
