Hi, John - I think it all depends on what Paul meant by "where the apostles were before me." If we buy what Luke/Acts says, we tend to think of a formed community with Peter and James at the head. If we consider Luke/Acts to be a highly theologized attempt to redeem Peter and reconcile two opposing factions, we may think of a smaller community with only a few people present, all of whom drifted toward Jerusalem after several years. I consider the latter more probable and consider the stories of the Twelve founding communities around the world as pious fictions to aggrandize their respective claims to validity. - Monica.