Derbe is something of a mystery in ancient history. The first-century geographer Strabo mentions it as a city of Galatia, though its border location meant it changed hands frequently between the provinces of Galatia, Lycaonia, Cappadocia, and Isauria. Little is recorded about its nature or character in the ancient sources. Two inscriptions found at a low mound in the modern Turkish province of Karaman have allowed archaeologists to identify the site with reasonable confidence, and excavations are still ongoing. What we know suggests that Derbe's primary importance derived from its position on a highway connecting the Roman colony of Pisidian Antioch to the eastern Mediterranean, passing through Iconium, Lystra, and the Cilician Gates. At this junction, Derbe served as a tax collection station on the border between Galatia and Lycaonia.

Today's visitor to Derbe will find little more than a low mound and fragments of pottery in the soil — a quiet place that holds an outsized significance in the story of the early church.

Derbe in Christian History

Derbe holds a unique place in Acts. Paul and Barnabas arrived there after a harrowing sequence of events: fleeing a plot against them in Iconium, then watching Paul be stoned and left for dead outside Lystra. They came to Derbe battered. And in Derbe, something different happened.

When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. — Acts 14:20–23

No riot. No expulsion. No plot. Derbe is the only city in Paul's missionary journeys that accepted the gospel simply and without recorded opposition. Many became disciples. Paul and Barnabas appointed elders and committed the new church to the Lord before retracing their steps back through the dangerous cities they had just fled — a remarkable act of pastoral courage.

It was on a later return through the region that Paul met Timothy, a young disciple from Lystra whose reputation had spread even to Derbe. Timothy would become Paul's closest companion in ministry and the recipient of two of his letters. The quiet city of Derbe — overlooked by history, unremarkable to archaeologists — was the place where the gospel took root without resistance, and where a partnership that would shape the early church began.

Written content courtesy of Josh Ryvers, artofwayfaring.com.