Colossians 4:16
And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea. And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea.
A Christian church was established early in Laodicea in connection with the church at Ephesus, and the Colossian and Laodicean churches were linked by the sharing of apostolic letters. The term church is applied to local congregations such as Laodicea without prescribing one exclusive name for the church. The Colossians were directed to have their epistle read in the church of the Laodiceans and themselves to read the epistle from Laodicea, so that both churches could benefit from both letters.
Apostolic churches publicly read the epistles, including the letter sent to Colossae and a letter associated with Laodicea, and this public reading was the means by which the letters reached the communities for whom they were written and were shared among churches. The word cause means to use influence to bring about the reading, not to compel by law, with the Colossians to send the letter onward and use their influence to have it read in Laodicea.
Paul had written a letter to the Laodicean church, but that letter has not been preserved and is no longer extant, while the letter to the Colossians has been preserved for study. The epistle from Laodicea is the epistle to the Ephesians, which was written immediately after Colossians with Tychicus as bearer of both, as a general circular letter for the churches of the provinces of Asia. This is shown by its lack of reference to more than two years of work in Ephesus, its lack of salutations to persons there, and the absence of the words at Ephesus from the first verse in the best manuscripts.