The ways in which the early church was connected are almost impossible for us to process. Paul, who clearly considers himself a pastor of this church, hasn’t been with them. People are moving back and forth, going and coming, as if they were neighbors. People who have been gone are being sent back, and Paul’s prize pupil is in the process of being sent to them. This is what it looks like when the church is more than one building full of people in one place, it’s a body that stretches throughout the countryside.