In Paul's day, churches (ekklesiae in Greek) were still connected to the synagogue. As Pauline scholar Mark Nanos has said for decades, ekklesiae were actually "synagogue subgroups." Later, yes, churches as we have come to know them have disconnected from the synagogue. But in Paul's day, they were umbilically connected to each other. Where else would Paul's gentiles have access to the Jewish scriptures he instructed them to learn? - Ryan Lambert, The Weird Apostle