Who’s the best Christian you know? Or the church that you think is really impressive? The present model you wish everyone had a chance to experience. Is it your local congregation? Or someone in it? I hope so. But maybe your Christian life and church experience have not been all that special, leaving you without a strong opinion. I hope what you are reading will change that. And us all. This book is about the love of Jesus. How His love, at one time, so characterized a church that its growth and impact were legendary. I’ll show you how God took a group of very diverse people and made them one, infusing in them a love of such power that they became the subject of everyone’s conversation. With the outcome of the Lord Jesus being lifted up as the living Savior personally involved in and through them. He was amazingly “building His church, and the gates of hell could not overcome it” (Matt 16:18).

We know this is what actually happened because Paul and others witnessed and wrote about the Thessalonians. Paul, guided by the Holy Spirit, wrote: “The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia (modern day Greece)–your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it” (1 Thes 1:8). Every Christian who takes the Great Commission and holy living seriously should be challenged and encouraged by this fresh, long look at the Thessalonians. It’s written for all of you who know something is missing. For you who belong to small churches. And this look is needed by many of you in large churches because you still feel that something very basic is missing in your life. This is written for Christians who have never been discipled in the way Jesus, the apostles and the early church made disciples.