To the holy and faithful brothers
in Christ at Colosse.
—Colossians 1:2
Colosse was once a thriving city at the crossroads of two high-traffic highways. But when they moved the main road to favor the more-prosperous Laodicea, Colosse began to decline—much like the small towns of our day that have been bypassed by expressways. By the time Paul wrote Colossians, the church was probably small in membership.
J.B. Lightfoot claimed that Colosse was the “most unimportant town” and the “least important church” to which Paul ever wrote a letter.
Nevertheless, Paul wrote this letter to the church at Colosse—an epistle that has blessed all generations since. What may seem small in the eyes of humans is often large in the eyes of God.
So here is a salute to little towns and small churches—which, arguably, have produced more preachers than their big-city cousins.
Small doesn’t indicate unimportant.