For you, brothers, became imitators of the assemblies of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus; for you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews;
The church was experiencing persecution in Israel, in Judea. They had already had several persecutions that by which the church was scattered. And so here, these in Thessalonica were having problems, even as the church in Jerusalem had had problems.