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Lydia - Paul's First European Convert

At the conclusion of our last lesson from the Book of Acts we left Paul and his missionary companions in the city of Troas where they planned to board a ship in route to “Macedonia.” Luke wrote, “A vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them” (Acts 16:9-10, NKJV). After brief stops at “Samothrace” and “Neapolis,” the missionary team reached the city of “Philippi” where they became the first Christian missionaries to preach the “Good News” on the continent of Europe and Lydia became Paul’s first European convert! Luke wrote, “Sailing from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and the next day came to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is the foremost city of that part of Macedonia, a colony. And we were staying in that city for some days” (Acts 16:11-12, NKJV). True to his character, Paul and the missionary team immediately began to go to the places in Philippi where the people were. On their first Sabbath in the city—by the way that was a Saturday—they attended a women’s riverside prayer meeting. Luke wrote, “On the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there” (Acts 16:13, NKJV). The fact that this prayer meeting was held on the Sabbath Day indicates that it was a prayer meeting for Jewish women. We know that it was a women’s prayer meeting because Luke wrote, “We sat down and spoke to the women who met there” (Acts 16:13b, NKJV). It is then safe to conclude that Lydia, Paul’s First European Convert, was a Jewish woman.