
Philemon Series
Paul wrote a lot of letters in the New Testament. One of the more unique letters he writes is to a person named Philemon. This is unique because Philemon was a partner in ministry, but not as a pastor or missionary. Rather, he was a wealthy businessman who participated in the work of ministry. On top of this, Paul is writing to Philemon over a touchy, dangerous, and socially charged topic: a returning slave.
For us, this issue is simple and should be addressed simply: slavery is bad. But Paul's world operated different than ours. Slavery was as second nature to them as electricity, cell phones, and our vehicles. How well would it go if I asked you to give up your carbon-emitting car? Not so easy.
Paul does approach the subject of slavery, different than how we would perhaps want him to address it, but his request is still counter-cultural and will be challenging for Philemon to follow through on.
Join us as we walk through the short book of Philemon over three weeks!