Ephesiology[n.ih·fē·zē·äləʒē]: The Study of the Ephesian Movement is the story of the church at Ephesus, the most documented of all the churches appearing in the New Testament. Beginning with Paul’s approximate three-year tenure in the city from 53 to 56 AD, we see a movement launched that reaches all of Asia Minor (Acts 19:10).
Indeed, the work that started on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea spread in those years to Colossae, Smyrna, Philadelphia, Thyatira, Sardis, Laodicea, Pergamum, and no doubt beyond. These churches were catalysts for the advancement of the gospel as their hearts’ desire was to see every nation, tribe, people, and language worshipping before the throne of God (Rev 7:9). To maintain such a vision for God’s heart, Paul wrote a letter that we call Ephesians. As a circular letter intended for all the churches in Asia Minor, Paul lays out a theocentric argument for the missiological nature of God’s will. It is his will that the church has been predestined to fulfill with her new identity as sons and daughters corresponding to the responsibility of carrying on their Father’s mission. That mission, Paul states, is the declaration of the news that the nations were included in the inheritance of the gospel (Eph 3:6).
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